Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 13:17:24 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Joel Martin Subject: Lower Eastern Shore Sedge Wrens, 2/19 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit On Tuesday I took a day to hunt some target birds on the outer rim of the lower shore, starting at dawn at Irish Grove and ending in Delaware. Found the primary target bird, Sedge Wren, easily at Irish Grove -- up close and personal looks at a pair on the Rail Trail. Thanks to Jim Stasz for the great advice, again. Other highlights at Irish Grove/Rumbly Point were calling Great Horned Owl, a Short-eared Owl at dawn, numerous Harriers, and Brown-headed Nuthatch. At Taylor's Landing/EA Vaughn North, highlights were all 3 mimics, 2 unidentified sharp-tailed sparrows, and one suspicious mouse-like Ammodramous that was probably you-know-who. Most of the surrounding fields there are mowed and didn't have the good sparrow flocks that were present last year. Late in the day I got great scope views of a flock of ~40 Snow Buntings. These birds were almost completely in breeding plumage, with only a few russet smudges on the head and breast. The males were very striking with their black backs and white heads, the females in their gray-striped attire. Now I have to go back for the Eurasian Wigeons! Does anyone know if longspurs are being seen at the Sparks Road site? Joel Martin Catonsville, MD jcdlmartin@aol.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================