Google Earth shows that this is indeed Our Lady of Victory. There is, according to the aerial view, a large section of lake with unimpeded viewing from the back of the OLV property. Perhaps someone should talk to somebody at the church/school and ask permission before a large onslaught of tresspassers arrive? I would recommend trying the Giant access first since this is truly public.
 
Tyler Bell

California, Maryland 




________________________________
From: stanley arnold <>
To: 
Sent: Tue, July 6, 2010 1:27:28 PM
Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] BBWD--another vantage point

Hi Folks,

Ed is correct, there is another vantage point from which one could
view the whistling ducks, but it is less public than the Giant lot.  A
little further down (towards the city) Wilkens Ave, maybe two blocks
past the Giant is a Catholic school, and I think it is called Our Lady
of Victory.  Though, of course, this is private property, it is
somewhat public private property because there is a produce vendor set
up in the parking lot.  Anyway, if you drive onto the property, stay
left, and then go around to the back of the building to the
maintenance parking area, you will get as close as possible to the
fence of the Charlestown Center.  Walk around the short fence and up
the hill to the Charlestown fence and you can see another part of the
pond that is not visible from the Giant.

Since this is somewhat private property, all due defference should be
displayed, and courtesy exhibited.  Good luck.

Stan Arnold
Ferndale (AA Co.)
 [or]



On 7/6/10, Ed Boyd <> wrote:
>  I was there this morning with Jim Stasz @ 9:45 and we had no luck from
> behind the fence at the Giant Food Store. The problem with this view
> point is that you cannot see the far right side of the pond from there.
> Luckily for us we have a contact in the site that was able to provide
> access and it is unfortunate that I can't give this information out. I'm
> truly sorry but I can't. We went inside, parked and walked down to the
> pond, and there we found . . . no Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks. We sat
> on one of the benches on the east side and watched Chimney Swifts over
> the pond for about 10 minutes when we heard a familiar whistling sound
> from behind us and to the right at 10:06. A moment later 5 BBWDs landed
> on the shore in the northeast corner of the pond. We watched the birds
> for about 30 minutes before leaving.
>
> The problem with where the birds were is that they weren't likely
> visible from the Giant Food vantage point while they were on the shore.
>  From inside of the property we noticed another bare knoll that
> overlooks the pond from outside of the fance that probably would provide
> viewing of most of this corner of the pond. From home looking on Google
> Maps there does appear to be another business or facility a little
> farther east off Wilkens Avenue in which the back northwest corner of
> the property appears to be the location that abuts the fence in this
> corner of the pond. If someone gets a chance to investigate this and run
> down the name of the business, we might be able to get permission from
> these folks to access this viewpoint if the birds are not visible from
> the Giant Food vantage Point. Google Maps shows information on Wilkens
> Avenue that this might be Our Lady of Victory School.
>
> When we left the birds had moved into the open water and they were
> gradually moving over to where they probably could be seen from the
> Giant. From our observation it seems that the birds must be moving into
> the trees somewhere on the east side of the pond at times and coming and
> going to the pond at their whim. I wish everyone luck that tries for
> these birds.
>
> Ed Boyd
> Westminster, MD
>
> On 7/6/2010 11:38 AM, Jessica Morgan wrote:
>> I checked the pond behind the Giant this morning at 8:45 and 10:15.  No
>> sign
>> of the BBWD at those times, just some Canada Geese.
>>
>> Jessica Morgan
>> Arbutus, MD
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Maryland Birds&  Birding [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
>> Behalf Of Bill Ellis
>> Sent: Monday, July 05, 2010 9:05 PM
>> To: 
>> Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] BBWD
>>
>> At 7:30 PM on 5 July no Whistling Ducks could be seen; there were two guys
>> fishing from shore.
>>
>> Bill Ellis
>> Billellis
>> At ellislist dot com
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Maryland Birds&  Birding [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
>> Behalf Of Fred Shaffer
>> Sent: Monday, July 05, 2010 1:01 PM
>> To: 
>> Subject: [MDOSPREY] BBWD
>>
>> My wife and I saw the five Black-bellied Whistling Ducks in Arbutus this
>> morning a little after 11.  They were at the previously posted location
>> behind the Giant.  They were easily visible from the parking lot
>> immediately
>> behind the Giant.  We found the location with no trouble using the
>> directions posted by Tyler Bell and the site is probably less then a
>> minute
>> from the Baltimore beltway.  All five birds were easily visible and
>> together
>> on a small spit of land extending out into the far side of the pond.
>> Although most of the birds slept while we were there, at one point they
>> were
>> all awake, looking around, and preening.  I was interested to note that
>> when
>> we walked up to the fence from which we could view the birds, almost all
>> the
>> geese immediately came up to us (some swimming from across the pond)
>> expecting handouts, while the BBWD remained stationary at their pondside
>> location.  Also present were a few Mallards, Eastern Kingbird, House
>> Sparrow
>> and Song Sparrow.  It was a fun stop and thank you to those who posted
>> about
>> the birds and the directions to the location.
>>
>> Fred Shaffer
>> 
>> Crofton, Anne Arundel
>>
>