PG County, 20 MAR 99
Dave Mozurkewich (dm@fornax.usno.navy.mil)
Tue, 23 Mar 1999 17:18:23 -0500 (EST)
Since everyone else is bragging about their recent birding, I thought I
would chip in (even though I haven't seen much).
I went on the Saturday morning Patuxent field trip to Lake Artemesia,
Berwyn Heights, PG MD. There are still a number of winter ducks around
(including a Redhead), but early spring migrants were the main show. The
flashiest were the 31 Swans flying north, but there were also groups of up
to 4 Tree Swallows flying around and a newly arrived Myrtle Warbler. The
latter was clearly a migrant since it wasn't there earlier and later
(Sunday, in the rain) it was joined by 7 more Myrtles (for a total of 8)
along with by 2 Phoebes and a Fox Sparrow.
After that walk, I headed north to the Beltsville Ag center (BARC) to look
for the formerly resident Red-headed Woodpeckers. Unfortunately, they
retained their adverb by not showing themselves. Perhaps this is not
surprising since the beaver pond's forest of dead trees is rapidly giving
way to a field of wet grass. But what was lacking in woodpeckers was made
up in sparrows. My rough count was
145 song
25 white-throated
10 swamp
9 field
4 fox
1 American Tree
Along with the usual Winter Wrens, Phoebes, etc. I call that a good half
hour's count, perhaps even by Bonnie's standards.
The east end of the pond hosts a Great Blue Heron Colony. At last count,
a couple of years ago, there were 8 nests. Saturday, I counted 25 nests
(most occupied) and 40 birds. Both counts are probably low since I didn't
want to get too close and spook the birds.
Dave
David Mozurkewich
Seabrook, MD USA
dm@fornax.usno.navy.mil