I visited the McKeldin Area of Patapsco Valley State Park this morning. Non-resident birds found were:

Black Duck  1
Great Blue Heron  1
Sapsucker  1
Brown Creeper  1
GC Kinglet  1 or 2, heard only
RC Kinglet  1 male
Myrtle Warbler  1
White-throated Sparrow  6
Purple Finch  4

   In the afternoon, returning from Brighton Dam, I stopped at Piney Run Park where there were more than the usual number of people and dogs out for a spring stroll. The heat shimmer was particularly bad. The amount of ice cover on the lake has diminished to about 50%. Most of the birds seen previously were there with some new additions. Numbers are very rough estimates only of birds that were close enough to identify in the shimmer.

WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE  6, same as seen last Sunday and reported by others on Tuesday
Greylag Goose  4, same as before
Canada Goose  2,000 - more than I have seen there this winter
Gadwall  10
Baldpate  20
Black Duck  20
Mallard  200
PINTAIL  4, three males & a female
Canvasback  10
REDHEAD  4 males
Ring-necked Duck  10
Bufflehead  10
Hooded Merganser  150
Common Merganser  50
Ruddy Duck  10
Pied-billed Grebe  5
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT  1, probably frozen out of the cove where I usually saw it
Great Blue Heron  4
Bald Eagle  1 immature
Coot  200
Ring-billed Gull  300
Herring Gull  4
ICELAND GULL  1 first-winter, watched in the 'scope as it flew off, first here in many years

   In the Harvest Farms subdivision of Eldersburg this morning there were about 30 Turkey Vultures and 4 Black Vultures roosting in small trees and on the roof of a house at the intersection of Ridge Road and Cable Drive.

--
Bob Ringler 
Eldersburg MD