Allegany County Birds & Warbler Neck
Ray Kiddy (rrkiddy@hereintown.net)
Tue, 27 Apr 1999 22:03:44 -0400
Hi Everyone,
Western Maryland caught up a little with the rest of the state this
weekend. I visited several spots along the C&O Canal on Saturday, the
24th, with pretty good results. At North Branch, highlights were 1 male
Blue-winged Teal, Swamp Sparrows, 1 La. Waterthrush, 1 imm. male Orchard
Oriole, 13 Rusty Blackbirds, 1 Yellow Warbler, 2 Spotted Sandpipers, 3
Lesser Yellowlegs, 1 Least Sandpiper, 2 Cliff Swallows.
At Spring Gap: Gnatcatchers with their nest nearly finished, 1 Parula,
1 La Waterthrush.
At Oldtown: 1 House Wren, 1 Yellow Warbler, 1 Great-crested
Flycatcher, 2 Broad-wings.
At Town Creek Aqueduct: 1 Osprey, 2 Parulas, 1 La Waterthrush.
At Pinto Marsh: 1 Green-backed Heron, 4 Common Snipe, Swamp Sparrows.
On Sunday, I checked Rocky Gap and suffered the return of an old
affliction - Warbler Neck. The park recently opened the road to the
spillway, built a bridge over the spillway and added trails along the
back side of the lake which was previously pretty difficult to access.
There was a lot of warbler activity in this area including: probably
100 Yellow-rumps, maybe 10 Black-throated Greens, 2 Blackburnians, 2
Black-and-whites, 1 Cerulean and 1 Pine. Also 1 Great-crested
Flycatcher, 1 Blue-headed Vireo, around 10 Ruby-crowneds. The lake had
1 Pied-billed Grebe, 3 Ruddys, 4 Lesser Scaup, 10 Bonapartes, 1
Double-crested Cormorant, 5 Coots, 2 Spotted Sandpipers, 8 Red-breasted
Mergs, 1 Greater Yellowlegs, and 1 Common Loon. 1 Chimney Swift over
the new lodge.
And lots more on the way.
Happy Trails ....
Ray
Ray Kiddy
Cumberland, MD
rrkiddy@hereintown.net