Volume 11 Number 2                                 October 1997

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Found an injured raptor?
Contact Debbie Delevan of Chesapeake Birds of Prey, Inc.

Phone: (410) 692-2794
Fax: (410) 329-1221
E-mail: raptors@bellatlantic.net

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CONTENTS

November Dinner Meeting Looks At Cecil County Site
Largest Picnic Ever
Dues Are Now Late!
Calendar of Events
The Pen Is Mightier Than The ..... (Editor)
The Twenty-Sixth Annual Rock Run Christmas Bird Count
New Members Recognized
Vacation Reports
News From Members
Birdwatching ... on TV?
Birdwatching ... on A Computer?
Annual Meeting- Maryland Partners in Flight
Drink Coffee -- Save the Rainforest!
Harford's Avian Visitors
Field Trip Reports
HARFORD CHAPTER - MOS FIELD TRIPS OCTOBER-DECEMBER 1997
Dinner Meeting Reservation Form

Linda and Paul are well known in the club. As many of you know, the Harford and Cecil Bird Clubs are in permanent debt to Linda and Paul after all of the work they devoted to the 1994 MOS Conference which was located at Sandy Cove. Linda is a biologist and currently teaches at Cecil Community College. She also serves as chairperson of the MOS Education Committee. Paul is an entomologist and is busy tending his farm and crops and trying to figure out what bug is what.

Without stealing their show, I will announce that they and the Nature Conservancy are actively seeking volunteers to work at the preserve.

The meeting will be held on Friday, November 7, 1997 at Churchville Presbyterian Church located at the intersection of MD 22 and MD 136. The dinner will start at 6:15 PM. The dinner reservation is at the back of this newsletter and is due not later than Wednesday, October 29. The cost is $10 per adult and $6 for children 12 or under. The business meeting will start at about 7 PM for those who do not wish to attend the dinner.

Please recall that the club is responsible for at least 50 reservations at all dinner meetings at the Church. At some meetings we come dangerously close to not meeting our obligation. Please come and join us for a delicious meal. There is plenty of room, and we do need good turnouts.

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The Randy Auctioneering Service carried the day. We were overwhelmed with two tables full of items to auction, and Randy talked himself hoarse completing the task. The club realized over $400 from the auction so it was very successful indeed. Many people brought one or more items. Linda Ireland from the Wild Bird Marketplace donated several items, so THANKS to Linda and John. Again, if I overlooked anyone who donated items from a business, please let me know. The auction was extremely successful, but we don't want to wear out a "darn good thing" so we will not have one next year. Lord knows, Randy needs a rest.

After a two-hour auction delay, the bird/owl walk departed for parts unknown and proved to be a non-event.

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MOS State Board Meeting At The Leight Center

We have been notified that the Harford Bird Club will host the MOS state Board meeting at the Leight Estuary Center on March 14, 1998. More about this meeting later.

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This, the twenty-sixth year of this special event, will take place on Monday, Dec. 29, 1997. The Christmas Bird Count is an excellent opportunity to have fun while contributing to one of the largest scientific databases concerning bird populations. You need not be experienced to participate. In fact, many prominent ornithologists have gotten their start with the Christmas Bird Count. The count is simple! The count circle is 15 miles in diameter with center point at the Rock Run Mill in Susquehanna State Park. The circle is divided into sectors in which a group and its leader have 24 hours to count as many species and individuals as they can find. After the count, participants will, once again, descend on John and Lorna Wortman's house for homemade bread and stew to tally the birds and talk about the day's findings.

The fee per participant is $5 which is forwarded to the National Audubon Society in order to compile and publish the results.

If you are new to the count, consider this an open invitation to join us. If you're returning, begin building your enthusiasm and strategies now. Either way, write or call compiler Dave Ziolkowski Jr. at (410) 679-6765 or by e-mail at dziolk1@tiger.towson.edu, to let him know you want to participate in this important event.

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On other trails I saw many Hermit Thrushes, Black-capped Chickadees, Dark-eyed Juncos, White-throated Sparrows (which were wonderful to hear -- such a familiar sound from our winter season) and also many Eastern Towhees. It was a thrill to be hiking solo along a rocky ridge-top footpath, part of the Appalachian Trail, with balsam fir and spruce no higher than 15 feet, and to hear the garglely, rough caws of a Common Raven. I listened as the cawing moved from place to place as he flew about. This assured me it wasn't the growling of some four-footed beast from which I would have to defend myself. I asked at the visitors center if there were ravens in the park, and the guide said that was likely what I had heard.

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Henry and Nancy Roberts have decided to discontinue their memberships. They have found it difficult to make it to the meetings and to otherwise participate.

Barbara Bilsborough notified us that she is still actively banding at her new home. One unusual bird banded recently was a hybrid between a Baltimore and a Bullock's Oriole.

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As of October of 1997, "Birdwatch with Don and Lillian Stokes" is available to all PBS affiliate stations free of charge. It is a 13 part weekly series that hits on all aspects of watching birds from the backyard to the wilderness. This series is presented in a lively magazine format where tips on identification, attracting backyard birds, bird behavior, and birding hotspots are highlighted.

At the present time, Maryland Public Television is not scheduled to air it. A concerted effort is needed from all who are interested in viewing this series to let our local PBS station know of our interest and that there is an active audience for it. We encourage you to write, phone or e-mail your local PBS station or MPT at 410-356-5600 (Fax: 410-581-4338; e-mail: comments@mpt.org). We need to act fast if changes are to be made before the airing of this first program.

(Editor's note: The series will be aired by PA public TV station WITF, Channel 33 on Saturday mornings at 11:00 a.m. starting October 4 and by DC public TV station WETA, Channel 26 on Wednesday afternoons at 1:30 p.m. starting November 19.)

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For those not familiar with the page, it provides some basic facts about the club including a list of the officers and how to join, past and present newsletters, a list of field trips, and the checklist of Harford County birds. In addition to moving the page, I have made many improvements to the graphics and looks of the page, added a site guide to Conowingo Dam, added links to the transcripts of all the local birding hotlines and added links to the bird related web pages of our members. In the near future, I want to add site guides to all the better birding sites in Harford County, information about all of our local bird counts and pictures of club members enjoying club functions.

I invite everyone to view the page and send me any comments on the current contents as well as suggestions for future improvements. If you are not yet hooked up to the World Wide Web, you can visit your local library and get on-line there. If you have any questions about the web page or getting on-line, call Les Eastman at (410) 734-6969 or send an e-mail message to me at les_eastman@netfox.net.

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Everyone interested in the conservation of birds in Maryland is invited to attend. It will include land management practices available which are useful to the backyard enthusiast to the large land manager/trustee.

Presentations will include forestry practices, grassland management, utility corridor management, and wetland enhancement. A copy of the new Habitat Management Guidelines for the Benefit of Landbirds in Maryland will be presented to each attendee.

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The pressure to develop and thus increase local revenues and the standard of living becomes stronger each day as population densities increase in many Latin American countries. Sun coffee (which include most brands in the local grocery store) requires a deforestation of the landscape and a large scale pesticide plan to keep yields high and to be profitable. Since this effort requires such initiative and maintenance, it often must be large scale to support it. Therefore, the North American demand for coffee has provided an inadvertent incentive to destroy native habitats in the tropics. These habitats are not only critical for local species, but also are important for our migrants which breed in North America yet spend a greater proportion of their lives in the tropics.

Recently, the Wilson Ornithological Society/American Birding Association's Joint Meeting in Costa Rica has provided convincing evidence for the support of shade-grown coffee. Shade-grown coffee stands require that all major canopy trees are left standing; coffee bushes are interwoven beneath it. Few chemicals are used (most are organically grown), though yield is typically lower than that on sun coffee. Bird densities are far greater in shade coffee, and most indications are that this method is consistent with bird conservation, especially given the alternative.

The good part is that shade-grown coffee is reasonably priced, and that farms which grow it are family-based and not the large-scale, mechanized effort characteristic of the sun coffee endeavors.

A list of suppliers of shade grown coffee is presented below. Please write and encourage people to switch. This is a way we all can help conserve birds and small family-owned farms in Central America. Look for the ECO-OK certification.

ECO-O.K. CERTIFIED COFFEE SOURCES

Alterra Coffee Company
Milwaukee, WI
(414) 384-2736

Morning Light Coffee Roaster
Helena, MT
(406) 442-5180

Steaming Bean Coffee Company
Telluride, CO
(970)728-0220

European Roasterie Inc.
New Prague, MN
1-888-LUV-JAVA

Nature's Way Distributing Company
Godfrey, IL
(618) 466-2806

Sustainable Harvest
San Francisco, CA
Green bean sales only
(510) 655-5055
sustainable@earthlink.net

Camp Coffee
Shorewood, MN
(612) 470-9663
www.campcoffee.com

Rainier Audubon Society
Auburn, WA
(253) 852-7766
debbiefisher@compuserve.com

Thanksgiving Coffee Co
Fort Bragg, CA
(800) 648-6491
www.thanksgivingcoffee.com
Their Guatemalan Songbird coffee is ECO-O.K. certified.

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Cooper's Hawks are known to breed in Harford County, and were reported several times including a spot near Ridge Road on June 27 (J&LF) and in a back yard near Jarrettsville on June 28 (MJ). A Spotted Sandpiper was reported on June 15 at Lake Mitten (J&LF), and a pair of Hooded Warblers was avoiding the heat in the woods near Street on June 29 (DB). July didn't "cool off" bird-wise as a Grasshopper Sparrow made an appearance near Fallston on July 13 (MJ), and a Northern Bobwhite was heard off Grandview Road on July 7 (J&LF). Perhaps the most impressive report of this column was the American Wigeon, a winter resident duck, hanging out at Tydings Island for over a month this summer, first reported on July 23 (DW)! Aberdeen Proving Ground offers plenty of good bird habitat, some of which attracted a Wild Turkey that was photographed on July 26 (GF).

Not all birds wait until autumn arrives to begin fall migration. Common Nighthawks are often early migrators, but one seemed to start unusually early this year with a report from Havre de Grace on July 30 (DW). Shorebirds typically move through in August and early September, and this year they didn't disappoint. Two Pectoral Sandpipers were marsh-mucking in the Michaelsville area of Aberdeen Proving Ground on August 15 (DW), and another was on the Susquehanna between Rowland and Bird Islands August 17 (DW). A true surprise was the Willet at Tydings Island on August 21 (DW), a first for Harford County! Tydings Island, in Havre de Grace, is without a doubt Harford County's shorebird hotspot. In addition to the Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Killdeer, and assorted peeps that are commonly seen there, an American Golden-Plover, two Sanderlings, and two Western Sandpipers were observed on September 4 (DW)! Tydings was also a stopping point for a Black Tern on September 2 (JW), that remained to be seen the next morning (DW). Birds also were active away from Tydings Island, such as a juvenile Cliff Swallow on a line at Spesutie Island on August 18 (DW), and a singing Louisiana Waterthrush at Conowingo Dam on August 17 (DW). September 5 saw a unique ALBINO Barn Swallow show off to the rest of the swallows on the power lines at Conowingo Dam (LE).

Fall migration offers a true challenge to birders as many of the year's young and winter-plumaged adults move through the area. Among these southward flyers were a Black-and-white Warbler and Scarlet Tanager near Street on August 30, and a Whip-poor-will in the same area on September 19 (DB). A Red-breasted Nuthatch made an appearance at Street on September 19 and again on the 21^st (DB). Common Nighthawks were moving through in mid-September, with a report of at least eleven birds over Jarrettsville on the 16^th (MJ), and one over Joppatowne on the 14^th (DZ).

Finally, raptors dominated the skies over Harford County during September. An American Kestrel and a Sharp-shinned Hawk overflew Joppa on Sep 14, in addition to an Osprey on the 15^th (DZ). Broad-winged Hawks were reported several times over the middle of September, including 75 on the 14^th and 38 over Joppa on the 15^th (DZ), an estimated 100 soaring over Magnolia on the 15^th (AO), and 150 over Joppa on the 22nd (JR). And, the list just wouldn't be complete without listing the Ruby-throated Hummingbird that stopped at a feeder to say good-bye on Sep 6 (J&LF)!

OBSERVERS: Deborah Bowers (DB), Les Eastman (LE), Jean and Larry Fry (J&LF), Greg Futral (GF), Mark Johnson (MJ), Amy O'Connor (AO), Joanna Rawlings (JR), Dave Webb (DW), and Dave Ziolkowski Jr. (DZ).

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The hawk migration was not as strong as hoped. A Sharp-shinned Hawk came through, giving all an excellent look. A number of immature Bald Eagles; several Red-tailed Hawks; and a lone Osprey were also sighted, though, these may have been resident birds.

Other highlights included a conversation between an Eastern Screech-Owl and Jeff's imitation; a number of good looks at Wood Ducks; and an unusually large number of Great Egrets in the shallow water of the Susquehanna.

The species total at day's end was 55.

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Dinner Meeting Reservation Form

Please return to Barbara Siebens, P.O. Box 68, Pylesville, MD 21132-0068 
by Wednesday, October 29, 1997.

                __________ Number of adults ( at $10.00 each )
                __________ Number of children 12 and under ( at $6.00 each )

                Please make checks payable to Harford County MOS.

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                         Print your name(s)

Include address and phone number if you would like transportation to the meeting.
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