My wife and I spent an enjoyable afternoon birding the roadsides in the
northwest corner of Carroll County today (June 2). We had two Red-headed
Woodpeckers along Ruggles Road about a mile west of Rte 194 and one close
to Keysville Road in a farm woodlot just north of Sixes Bridge road (possibly
the same bird reported by Bob Ringler on May 24). We saw a Vesper Sparrow
in fields along Baptist Road just north of the Monocacy River and south of
Harney. A male and female Bobolink were perched on wires at a sharp bend on
Walnut Grove Road about 3/4 mile north of Bowers Road. Other interesting
sightings were a Wood Thrush feeding 3 nestlings and a calling juvenile Red-
tailed Hawk at Ruggles Road, and a Warbling Vireo near the Baumgardner Road
bridge over Piney Creek. The trip ended with 2 male Baltimore Orioles, a Ruby-
throated Hummingbird and a male Indigo Bunting at our last stop along Bullfrog
Road southwest of the Roop Road intersection.
Jim Wilkinson
Columbia, MD |