Conowingo Dam: Nov. 1, 1998

rick (rblom@blazie.com)
Mon, 2 Nov 1998 00:20:17 -0500 

        This is the report from Conowingo Dam for November 1, 1998.
Coverage was from 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Windy, partly cloudy, light
generation. Observers were Rick Blom and Gene Scarpulla.

Red-throated Loon               1 (above dam)
Common Loon                     3 (above dam)
Pied-billed Grebe               2 (above dam)
Double-crested Cormorant        20 (most above dam)
Great Blue Heron                100
Canada Goose                    2
Green-winged Teal               3 (above dam)
American Black Duck             4 (above dam)
Mallard                         18
Gadwall                         6 (above dam)
Ring-necked Duck                1 (above dam: arrival)
BLACK SCOTER                    32 (above dam)
Black Vulture                   40
Turkey Vulture                  50
Osprey                          1
Bald Eagle                      15 (4 ad, 12 imm)
Sharp-shinned Hawk              6
Red-tailed Hawk                 5
American Coot                   1
Killdeer                        1
Laughing Gull                   1 (2nd winter)
Bonaparte's Gull                300 (above dam)
Ring-billed Gull                3500 (most above dam)
Herring Gull                    100
Great Black-backed Gull         50
Forster's Tern                  25 (above dam)
Rock Dove                       75
Mourning Dove                   2
Belted Kingfisher               1
Red-bellied Woodpecker          1
Blue Jay                        5
American Crow                   2
crow sp.                        50
Tufted Titmouse                 1
Carolina Wren                   1
Winter Wren                     1
Golden-crowned Kinglet          1
American Robin                  25
Northern Mockingbird            1
Cedar Waxwing                   6
European Starling               100
Yellow-rumped Warbler           1
Northern Cardinal               5
Red-winged Blackbird            3
Common Grackle                  1
American Goldfinch              2

        There were at least 3,000 gulls feeding over the river above the
dam, many at the mouth of Glen Cove, too far away to identify except to say
that many were Ring-billed. The Black Scoters were on the river within a
half-mile of the dam. There appeared to be a steady hawk flight moving
upriver along the Cecil side and when we scanned we consistently found
birds, but we spent only a little time looking for hawks.

Rick

"Everywhere I go I'm asked if the university stifles writers. My opinion is
that they don't stifle enough of them. There's many a bestseller that could
have been prevented by a good teacher."  Flannery O'Connor

Rick Blom
rblom@blazie.com
4318 Cowan Place
Belcamp, Maryland 21017
(410)575-6086