Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 22:50:33 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Stan Arnold Subject: Am. Bittern @Halethorpe; Whip-poor-will @ UMBC Comments: cc: Charles Kucera , Karin Readel , Sandy Parker , Hollis48@comcast.net MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Folks, With the cesation of the rain, I spent a few hours this afternoon/evening along the south side of the Patapsco River (AA County), birding from Snyder's Restaurant at I-695 to the BW Parkway. An AMERICAN BITTERN flushed from the reeds along the east side of Pond #9. Also there was a BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON along the river, and another was found later on the Balt. Co. side of the river at the small pond on the NE corner of Hammond's Ferry Rd. and the Patapsco River. I've never heard of anyone birding this area, but the habitat is exceptional. Based on the overgrowth along the path, even the fishermen don't seem to use this area much. It looks like a place to find rails in my book. The only drawback is the constant traffic noise, making distant warblers tough to find. Later in the evening, UMBC was hopping with activity. New arrivals in the area included GREEN HERON, WOOD THRUSH, and BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER. Sparrow activity was good with 4-5 SAVANNAHs, one or more singing FIELDs, a SONG, many WHITE-THROATs, and an exceptionally beautiful SWAMP decked out in his Spring finery, with a deep rusty cap, dark chestnut wing patches, and brilliant white throat. As darkness fell, I sat down on my camping chair, hoping tohear some woodcocks and owls. While doing so, a local fellow named Mark Hollis came by, apparently now in the habit of stopping there ever since the woodcock activity earlier in the season. We positioned ourselves at the edge of the field south of the research park, and though there was no woodcock or owl activity, at about 8:15 p.m., a WHIP-POOR-WILL sang for about ten seconds, from the woods to our south. This was the bird of the day for me, and a new item for the UMBC comprehensive bird list. Stan Arnold Glen Burnie dy.dx@verizon.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================