Volume 11 Number 4

February 1998

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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

Northern Saw-whet Owl Migration
Leight Estuary Center Project
Calendar of Events
Nominations Needed For Annual Awards
Volunteers Needed
Envirothon Contribution
Loss Of Former Member
MOS State Board Meeting
1998 MOS Conference
Non-credit Courses at Harford Community College
Record Breaking Christmas Count
Delmarva Birding Weekend
Harford's Avian Visitors
Web Page a Hit!
New Phone Chain Coordinator Needed
Field Trip Reports
HARFORD CHAPTER - MOS FIELD TRIPS FEBRUARY - APRIL 1998
Dinner Meeting Reservation Form

The dinner will be held on Friday, March 6 at 6:15 PM at Churchville Presbyterian Church located at the intersection of MD 22 and MD 136. The dinner reservation form is on page 7. Please remember that at least 50 reservations are needed at the dinners in order for them to continue. The business meeting and program start about 7:00 PM for those who do not wish to attend the dinner.

Please remember the inclement weather policy. If Harford County schools are closed or close early for the day, the meeting will be postponed one week. If Harford County schools open late, the meeting will be held.

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The Southhampton Middle School is seeking club members as volunteers to present lectures, slide shows, or to conduct bird walks. They have an annual environmental fair related to Earth Day celebrations. The presentation can be made at any time during the week of April 20. Mark Johnson volunteered last year, and we are seeking additional persons to make a bird or environmental presentation.

MOS has asked for volunteers to work with the Environmental Fund of Maryland in liaison with the various combined fund campaigns. This is a statewide MOS effort and the members of the committee help in fundraising efforts through combined campaigns.

Please inform Larry Fry if you are interested in any of these activities.

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• Local and Migrating Birds of Spring. Saturdays beginning February 28 with an introductory class on February 25. The course will be taught by Russ Kovach.
• Birding Tour of Wildlife Refuges: Lower Eastern Shore. Weekend trip on May 15-17 with introductory class on May 6. The course will be taught by Dennis Kirkwood.

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As the sun fell and the dust settled counters began the annual descent on the Wortman's house for the day's final tally. The tally was just under the count's life goal of 100 species. It wouldn't be until the following week, when all results were in, that the outcome was fully clear, 103 species plus 4 count week birds! The intense effort had paid off as counters had spotted Saw-whet Owls, Double-crested Cormorants, Snow Geese (both blue and white), American Pipits, Peregrine Falcons, and a Thayer's Gull. The four count week birds included Iceland, Glaucous, and Laughing Gulls and a very rare Common Gull.

Thanks to all who volunteered your time for this very important event. Your generous donations allow the data to be compiled and displayed. On the Patuxent Wildlife Center web pages, you can find both Christmas Count data (http://www.im.nbs.gov/birds/cbc.html) and North American Breeding Bird Survey data (http://www.mbr.nbs.gov/bbs/bbs.html). Also, a very special thanks to John and Lorna Wortman for warming the hides and souls of those whose hands had frozen to their binoculars.

Plan to join us again in 1998 and bring along a friend.

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While the number of reports is low for this month's column, the quality of those birds reported is fantastic. As predicted, this year has become quite a winter finch invasion year. It started in early October with Pine Siskins, Evening Grosbeaks and Purple Finches. These same species continued to be reported through this time period as well. An Evening Grosbeak was seen at the Broad Creek Boy Scout Reservation on December 20 (DW), and a male Purple Finch was seen the same day at a feeder in Havre de Grace (MW). Eight Pine Siskins overflew birders at Broad Creek on December 22 (DZ). All the attention given to Broad Creek stemmed from the flock of 7 White-winged Crossbills seen there on December 20 (LE and DW). These continued to be reported through the week, in addition to Red Crossbills discovered at the same location on December 22 (DZ). In that same area were reports of countless other interesting winter birds such as Red-breasted Nuthatch and Hermit Thrush. One Hermit Thrush visited a bird bath from January 5-8, always at dusk (DB).

Winter finches were not the only exciting reports from Harford County, however, especially if you are a gull fan at Conowingo Dam. Excitement brewed on the Christmas Count (December 29) when both Thayer's Gull and Lesser Black-backed Gull were witnessed (RB). The end of the year parties brought out a first-winter Iceland Gull on December 31 (ES), and the new year was celebrated with the identification of a Common Gull on January 1 (MG and BP)! A little late for the new year celebration was an immature Glaucous Gull that posed for the gull watchers on January 3 (DZ). Finally, the non-gull watchers had some birds to watch at the dam too, with a Peregrine Falcon being seen consistently since December 14 (LE) in addition to a spattering of Canvasbacks, Tundra Swans, Bald Eagles, and thousands upon thousands of Common Mergansers.

Finally comes the "strange or unusual" bird sightings from Harford County over the past few months. On November 26, a neck-banded Canada Goose was recorded on a pond at Oak Farm Road near Churchville. The same bird/band combination was recorded at the same pond on December 28, 1995 (DW)! Partial albino Red-tailed Hawks always provide some excitement and one was seen at Aberdeen Proving Ground on December 10 (DW). The Peregrine Falcon at Conowingo Dam has been reported several times as chasing Rock Doves from the steel works above the dam, but has anyone witnessed a capture? A capture of a different kind was witnessed on January 6 when a Sharp-shinned Hawk was seen taking a bat on the wing (GF)! It seems that the bat was enjoying the unusually warm January weather when .... Interesting activities such as this help to emphasize the importance of taking time to watch even the more common birds. One never knows when something strange or unusual may occur.

OBSERVERS: Rick Blom (RB), Deborah Bowers (DB), Les Eastman (LE), Greg Futral (GF), Mary Gustafson (MG), Bruce Peterjohn (BP), Ed Sigda (ES), Dave Webb (DW), Marsha Webb (MW), and Dave Ziolkowski, Jr. (DZ).

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Since its move to the new server on November 28, the Harford Birdclub website has registered over 1500 "hits." A hit is a request for one web page file. The site consists of about 25 different files or pages. This represents over 400 individual visits to the site. The most popular pages requested are the "Home page," which is the entry page to the site, followed by the site guide to Conowingo Dam and the hotlines page that gives the web addresses of the various local birding hotlines. The site has been visited by birders from all over the United States and Canada and even one from Denmark!

If you have not visited the web page, you can do so at http://birdclub.harfordhasit.com.

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The phone chain that informs interested birders of rare birds in the area is in serious need of revamping. I have been the coordinator for several years but lately, I have been very lax in initiating the chain and would like to pass this duty on to someone else. The ideal person for the job would be someone with a phone extension that is a local call from anywhere in the county (if one exists) and who also monitors the Internet bird mailing lists for rare bird reports. Increasingly, the Internet is the preferred means of spreading the word about rare birds. However, you don't need to be the ideal candidate to apply. All you need is the desire to do the job.

Initial duties will be to contact everyone on the existing chain to see if they still want to be on it and to see if any new people want to be on it. Then you must construct a chain that includes all the interested parties and mail them a copy so everyone knows who to call. After the new chain is constructed, the coordinator will be responsible for receiving bird reports and starting the phone chain calls. This duty is presently shared with Jon Cupp, Sr. Anyone interested, please contact Les at 410-734-6969 or by e-mail at les_eastman@netfox.net.

Anyone not on the present phone chain who would like to be included on the new chain can let me know and I will pass the information on to the new coordinator.

I also maintain an e-mail mailing list to inform interested people of bird sighting in the area. I will continue to maintain this list and will forward any phone chain reports. Contact Les if you want to be included on this list.

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Dinner Meeting Reservation Form

Please return to Barbara Siebens, P.O. Box 68, Pylesville, MD 21132-0068 
by Wednesday, February 25, 1998.

                __________ 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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