Date: Sun, 19 May 2002 21:02:30 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: David Mozurkewich Subject: Storm Fallout In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII What happened this weekend? A major storm passes through, timed perfectly for the weekend and near the peak of migration no less, and there's not even one word of excitement on this forum before it hits? Have we become so dependent on Marshall that when he's out of state we don't even look at the weather forecasts? And why is there almost total silence after the event? Did we all sleep through it? Or was the fallout extremely localized as evidenced by the dribble of reports -- a couple of fields filled with shorebirds and a lovely passage of terns and a heron through DC? Or were there lots of birds involved but mostly the expected species so nobody bothered to comment? For me, it was all three. Saturday morning I was leading a walk for the Patuxent chapter MOS at Lake Artemesia. We were to meet at the peak of the morning rain. Surprisingly, I was not standing in the parking lot alone. The three of us walked the area finding migrants whenever the rain let up enough so we could either see or hear. Since the rain didn't let up much, we had a pretty low tally highlighted by a Wilson's Warbler. The rain ended by the time the walk was over so I did a little exploring. I found a wet field, with about 30 shorebirds, but nothing better than 4 Semipalmated Plovers. I also had a quick look at a Lincoln's Sparrow. Then, after a few mandatory early-afternoon chores, I got to the Potomac too late to cash in on the great stuff Rob Hilton et al reported. All I found was a remarkable number of Spotted Sandpipers. This morning I pulled off one of my classic "seemingly good idea, terrible execution" trips. I headed south along the Patuxent to see if the storm was as "kind" to that river as it was to the Potomac. I started by looking for wet fields, but I couldn't find one to save my life; apparently the strong winds yesterday afternoon and last night did a good job of drying them out. So I decided to try the mudflats on the Patuxent. I miscalculated and arrived at the river just in time for high tide. Combined with runoff from the storm, the Spotted Sandpipers were bobbing along the wooden docks. Adding one each, Solitary Sandpiper and Greater Yellowlegs to a dozen Spotteds rounded out the shorebirds. So with two strikes and half the morning gone, I gave up on my plans and settled for looking at songbirds. I was at the Jug Bay section of Patuxent River Park. From Jackson Landing (the one behind the park headquarters), past the Black Walnut Creek boardwalk to the observation tower there were about 100 migrant warblers. But little variety. Perhaps 40 Blackpoll, almost as many Myrtles (isn't it getting late for them?) a dozen Redstarts (perhaps not real migrants, but they don't nest in those kind of numbers there), and a sprinkling of Magnolia, Northern Waterthrush and Black-throated Blue with a single Blackburnian. Also a Swainson's Thrush, a bird I rarely see in the bottomlands. Because it was cold, or perhaps because of the wind, or more likely still because birds are fond of never doing what I expect of them, most of the warblers, including the Blackpolls were feeding within a few feet of the ground. It felt odd examining dozens of these little gems from at or below eye level. And most of the birds were silent. In my experience, Blackpolls don't flock in spring. I rarely see many of them mixed in with other migrants in the early morning flocks. They are common at this time of year; I hear single birds "seet"ing from the top of trees. When I track one down, it is invariably a male (only males sing) making it easy to believe the female-type plumages occur only in fall. But today, with the birds silent and low to the ground, fully half the birds made me think of late September. The weather didn't help any either. Dave David Mozurkewich Seabrook, PG MD USA mozurk @ bellAtlantic.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================