Volume 15 Number 1 |
January-February 2002 |
On a personal note, Charlie and I want to thank you all for the cards, prayers, and well-wishes since he was diagnosed with Leukemia on December 28th. His treatment is progressing well and the prognosis is good at this point.
At the January 11th meeting, 21 people enjoyed delicious home-made refreshments prepared by Carole Vangrin and her baking elves. We then enjoyed Dr. Tim O'Connell's talk on Louisiana Waterthrush which included a short but fun video showing foraging Waterthrush. Our March 1st meeting promises to be another winner. Mark Hoffman will tell us about the "Rare Birds of Maryland" This will be a dinner meeting so be sure to send in the dinner reservation form a.s.a.p. In May, Bob Chance will share his slides and experiences in the Galapagos Islands. If any of you know of an interesting speaker; or have slides of a birding experience you would like to share with the group, please let me know. We are always looking for interesting topics.
I thought it might be fun to introduced a new section in the newsletter called "My Favorite Backyard Bird" and encourage everyone to submit your choice with a short paragraph telling why. I have started the process with my choice - the Carolina Wren.
Here's looking forward to the Spring Migration!! - Carol Flora
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The 5th Annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) will take place February 15 through 18, 2002 in backyards across the country. Celebrate this annual event by participating via their website: www.birdsource.org/gbbc. This program is organized by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society.
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To hear the only known recording (1935) of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, check out www.npr.org/ramfiles/atc/20020116.atc.09.ram.
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From 1983 to 1987, hundreds of MOS volunteers organized and covered the entire state to census nesting bird species. Data were collected using a specific protocol that classified a species as a possible, probable, or confirmed breeder in a block of territory equaling about 5 square miles. This information is now over 15 years old and MOS will begin another Breeding Bird Atlas Project in 2002 to update these data. Harford County's effort will consist of covering about 40 blocks during the next five years (2002 - 2006). Volunteers will be assigned to cover one or more blocks and training in the censusing protocol and the reporting of results will be provided. Bill Russell and Dennis Kirkwood will coordinate the county assignments.
All club members are invited to participate in this important research at whatever level they feel comfortable. Everyone notices nesting birds and bird behavior and taking mental notes and written notes on location and date will be very useful to this project. For those who want greater involvement, a training session will occur on Saturday morning, March 9, at the Anita Leight Estuary Center. For additional information or questions, contact Dennis Kirkwood (410-692-5905 or dkirkw@bellatlantic.net), Bill Russell (410-942-0077 or k.falcon12@home.com), or Mark Johnson (410-692-5978 or msanddljohnson@aol.com). - Dennis Kirkwood
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The 30th annual Rock Run Christmas Bird Count was held on Saturday December 29, 2001. This year 50 intrepid souls, including 15 students from CMW, braved the cold in the never-ending quest for birds. Although the Conowingo dam was closed to our gull watchers, we managed to find 98 species, a very respectable number.
The weather was sunny with temperatures below freezing until early afternoon. Thankfully the wind didn't kick up until afternoon. Eight of the groups went owling and heard or sighted all 4 expected species including Northern Saw-whet.
Group 1 - Kevin Fehskens - Oakwood - __species - Single-handedly Kevin covered his territory and sited the only Golden Eagle on the count.
Group 2 - Les Eastman & Wyatt Wallace - Rowlandsville - 56 species- Starting at 4 a.m., these two veterans Birded for 12 hours. T on point they counted 37 species in one spot! Highlights included Eagles (12) Bluebirds (65) White-crowned sparrows (7) White-throated Sparrow (120).
Group 3 - Brian Moyer - Colora - 42 species- Battling a bad cold, this seasoned birder managed 7 « hours in the field. He turned up Snow Goose (150) Fish Crow (3) and Gray Catbird (2).
Group 4 - Steve Hillyer, Dave Ziolkowski, Nova Shaffer and Chris Smith - Bainbridge - 82 species - This veteran group not only turned in the highest species count of the day, but also found the only Northern Saw-whet Owl. Other highlights include Screech owl (5) American pipits (83) Eagles (17) Robin (40) Red-breasted Nuthatch (4).
Group 5 - Dave and Macrina Seitz and a CMW student - Perry Point - 52 species - This was a new territory for the Seitz, and they had fun. They found the only Horned -larks of the count (8). Other findings include Bufflehead (332), Gadwall (200), Northern Pintail (10) and Rusty Blackbird (1).
Group 6 - Harold Boling - Swan Creek - 35 species- Another solo veteran beat the bushes for 7 « hours. He found our highest Robin count (140) and Red-bellied Woodpeckers (15). Other highlights include Y.-rumped warblers (11) and Downy Woodpeckers (17).
Group 7 - Rick Cheicante- Havre de Grace - 60 species- Turning in the second highest count of the day, this solo birder found territory he "didn't know existed." He also found a new bird for the count Marsh Wren, and he spotted our only Northern Shoveler (6) and sadly Mute Swan (2).
Group 8 - Spike Updegrove, Ryan Lesh, Russ Kovach and 14 CMW students - 50 species - This is the best count from this area. Way to go! The bird of the day was the American pipit (120), followed closely by the Brown Thrasher, the only one on the count.
Group 9 - Mark Johnson, Suzanne Procell - Susquehanna State Park - 57 species - A mere « hour of owling netted these stalwart birders 3 Screech and 2 Great Horned owls. Daytime highlights include Brown Creeper (12), Pied-billed Grebe (5), Common Goldeneye (12) and Golden-crowned Kinglet (42). Marsha Webb watched her feeders in this territory and turned in the counts only Purple Finch (3). Well done!
Group 10 - Dave Webb & Jean Wheeler - Rolling Green - 53 species - Dave once again started at the stroke of midnight. The owl count was 10 with Screech (5), Great Horned (4) and Barred (1) but seen! They observed the highest number of Robins (166). Bill McIntosh mans his feeders in this territory and he found the groups only Fox Sparrow.
Group 11a - Norm Friedman and Carol Nemeth - Deer Creek to Palmer State Park- 28 species. Illness claimed another group. But their 5 hours in the field added Bluebird (18) Killdeer (4) Eastern Towhee (2).
Group 11b - Jon Cupp Sr., Bill Collins & Bill Phingsten - 50 species - Shuresville Rd. to Darlington - This threesome tried to make up for our inability to access the dam. Their valiant effort produced Double-crested Cormorant (5) Eagles (47) Bonaparte's Gull (84). Woodland birds included Pileated Woodpecker (3) and Ruby-crowned Kinglet (8).
Group 12 - Jean & Larry Fry & Eileen Frey - Dublin/Berkley- 44 species- An early start produced 3 Screech and 1 Great Horned owls. The group also saw one of only 3 Cooper's Hawk for the count. Other finds include Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (7) and Red-breasted Nuthatch (2).
Group 13 - Dennis Kirkwood, Greg Buppert, Bruce Kovacs, Peter Jay. Charles Keenan, Barbara & Gary Pensell - 52- species- These are our boat people, covering 10 miles by boat. They flushed out good numbers of water fowl including Tundra Swan (42) Wood Duck (3) American Black Duck (68) Bufflehead (102) and Hooded (21) & Common Mergs (29).
Thanks to Lorna Wortman for the delicious stew and homemade bread. These were some tired and hungry birders. All in all it was a successful day. - Jean Wheeler
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| March 1 | Dinner Meeting at Churchville Presbyterian Church at 6:15 p.m. Guest speaker will be Mark Hoffman. |
| March 9 | Atlas Meeting at the Anita Leight Estuary Center at 9:30 a.m. |
| March 16 | State Board Meeting - Harford County (Anita Leight Estuary Center) |
| March 16 | Deadline - to contribute Harford Birdlife reports to Jean Fry for Jan. 16, 2002 - Mar. 15, 2002. Jean's address is 1202 Ridge Road, Pylesville, MD 21132 or email at ffryjl@aol.com. |
| March 23 | Deadline - to submit articles for the Mar./Apr. issue of Wrenderings to Rick Cheicante. Rick's address is 1003-F Jessica's Ct, Bel Air, MD 21014 or rickcheicante@cs.com. |
| April 20 | Earth Day. |
| May 3 | Dinner Meeting at Churchville Presbyterian Church at 6:15 p.m. Guest speaker will be Bob Chance. |
| May 11 | May Count. |
| July 12 | Summer Social at the Anita Leight Estuary Center. |
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State Board Meeting - The Harford County chapter will be hosting the state board meeting at the Anita Leight Center on Saturday, March 16. Food and beverages are provided (8:30 a.m.) for those attending. If you would be willing to donate some baked goods such as coffee cake, cookies, breakfast rolls, etc., please contact Larry or Jean Fry at (410-452-8539) or e-mail at ffryjl@aol.com. The meeting starts at 10:00 a.m. and people usually start arriving about one hour prior to the meeting. If you would be willing to help set up or clean up that would also be appreciated.
Special Thanks - Dave Powell for doing a great job as chairman of the field trip committee the last couple of years. Good luck at your new post. Jean Wheeler for picking up the tough coordinators role for this past year's Rock Run Christmas Bird Count. Thanks for your tireless dedication to this event.
Greetings - The Harford Bird Club would like to welcome new members: Drew Thornblad, Carol A. Pace and Virginia Cobler.
Smiles for a Saw-whet - John Malcolm, a member of the Montgomery County Bird Club, forwarded the results of the Christmas Bird Count for Bowie, MD to us. Within the report was the following account:
The next day after the Christmas count after the Christmas tree in the Patuxent Visitors' Center was removed, a Northern Saw-whet Owl was discovered in the rafters above where the tree had been. The owl presumably had been brought into the building in the tree and spent the entire three weeks indoors in it, perhaps feeding on mice found inside the building!
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Temperatures for this time period were above normal until the week before Christmas when the weather actually became "seasonal." Ponds were frozen over from about December 23 until January 15. There had been very little precipitation of any kind until one inch of snow arrived on January 7. A very light drizzle produced black ice on January 9. Some of our migratory birds lingered here longer than usual, while some expected from the north did not appear at their normal times.
A holiday visitor arrived on Christmas day when a Great Blue Heron came to Joe and Carole Vangrin's backyard pond in Bel Air, apparently looking for a Christmas dinner of goldfish. He was scared away, but continued to perch on a neighbor's roof for twenty minutes.
A report of three Black Vultures came from SJ who saw them on 12/31 feasting on a New Year's Eve opossum. The party took place in a cornfield on Pyle Road in Forest Hill. Sorry to have missed it!
Snow Geese seem to have been more numerous than usual in this area this year. DW saw three in flight with a flock of Canada Geese near Glenville Road and MD 155 on 12/15. JLF heard a flock in Pylesville on 12/26 at 8:00 p.m., saw five large flocks on 12/27 in the same area, saw 50+ mixed with a flock of Canada Geese in a cornfield on MD Route 543 south of Emory Church Road on 12/28. Maybe the 84 inches of snow in Buffalo between Christmas and New Year's finally pushed them south. Or is the Eastern Shore getting overcrowded with them?
Sightings of ducks were sparse. Two male Buffleheads were on Lake Mitten in Pylesville on 12/9 (JLF). One Ring-necked Duck was also there on 12/15 (JLF). DW spotted a single drake American Wigeon on Deer Creek near the Stafford Road bridge at Susquehanna State Park on 1/5. I did not hear or see any flocks of Tundra Swans in late November or early December as I usually do in my area.
RC saw an immature Bald Eagle at Broad Creek on 12/16. JLF saw a mature Bald Eagle over Lake Mitten on 12/5. One flew over their house on Ridge Road on 1/14 for a new yard bird! A Sharp-shinned Hawk has made visits to JLF's bird feeders on 12/31, 1/7, and 1/11. So far, they haven't seen him catch anything, but he almost snatched a Downy Woodpecker that was on the suet on 1/11. DS saw a large female Cooper's Hawk sitting on a tree overlooking a neighbor's bird feeder in Jarrettsville on 12/26. In their rambles around the outskirts of Pylesville, LF found a Red-shouldered near the Heaps School Road bridge over Broad Creek on 1/1, JF spotted an immature Red-shouldered on Grande View Drive on 1/3, and LF saw a Northern Harrier on Heaps School Road on 1/10.
A lone member of Galliformes/Phasianidae was seen by DW near Kalmia and Thomas Run Road on 12/23. (It was a Ring-necked Pheasant!) That is not a very common sighting in Harford County anymore in recent years.
Another unusual sighting came from MD, a teacher, duck carver, and hunter. He and his son were goose hunting at Otter Point Marsh in the morning on 11/23 and saw a pair of Sandhill Cranes. They were about one hundred yards from Snake Island and moved deeper into the marsh. The area is difficult to get to without a boat or canoe. Although TC reported this on the Harford information site, there were no other reports submitted.
RC and DL spent part of 1/5 on the lower Susquehanna River and saw an incredible congregation of between 15,000 and 20,000 predominantly Ring-billed Gulls. They estimated that about one in fifty was a Great Black-backed and two in fifty were Herring. They did find one adult Lesser Black-backed in the mix. In two or three hours they saw no white-winged gulls. Since there was a thin layer of ice on the river, many were close to shore for good looks. They also reported almost no ducks on the river that day.
JLF heard an Eastern Screech-Owl in Pylesville on 12/19 and two Great Horned Owls on 12/26. DB had FOUR Great Horneds at her home in Street on 11/30. As she stood on her front porch and listened, each call came from a different direction, and sometimes they all called at once. DS heard and saw two Barred Owls in Jarrettsville on 1/2.
LF saw a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker on Heaps School Road in Pylesville on 12/3. RC and DL found one at Eden Mill on 11/22 and near the lower Susquehanna on 1/5. RC also saw one at Broad Creek on 12/16. On 12/20 there were five Downy Woodpeckers on or near the suet at one time at the Fry's house. They also had two Pileated Woodpeckers on 1/1. On 1/13, 1/14, and 1/15 a pair of Pileated were working on either a roost hole, nest hole, or decoy hole above their house. DS reported having a pair of Pileated on 1/15 digging at the base of an old tree in Jarrettsville. On 1/8 CJV were fortunate enough to have a Northern Flicker, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, a Red-bellied Woodpecker, and twelve American Robins appear in the stream in their backyard all at the same time.
RC and DL found the only two Eastern Phoebes reported on 11/22 at Eden Mill.
A Red-breasted Nuthatch was seen by RC at Broad Creek on 12/16, by DW at his feeder in Webster Village near Havre de Grace on 12/21, and by DB in Street on 1/11. A Brown Creeper was spotted by JF in their front yard in Pylesville on 12/15 and by LF on 1/11.
A pair of Carolina Wrens has continued to visit tube feeders and suet feeders at the Fry's during this time period. RC saw Winter Wrens at Eden Mill on 1/6.
RC found both Ruby-crowned and Golden- crowned Kinglets at Broad Creek on 12/16.
DB reports having a Hermit Thrush in her bird bath in Street on 11/17 and many times since then. RC saw one at Broad Creek on 12/16; RC and DL also saw one on their lower Susquehanna trip on 1/5, and RC found one at Eden Mill on 1/6. Large flocks of American Robins lingered in the area, probably due to the mild weather conditions. JLF saw thirty-three on 12/16, ten on 12/27 and 12/28, twenty to thirty on 1/3, and eight on 1/14. All of these sightings were on Grande View Drive in Pylesville.
On 1/5 RC and DL found a Gray Catbird on the lower Susquehanna. DB saw one along Telegraph Road near the Hidden Valley section of Rocks State Park.
SJ reported about twenty Cedar Waxwings making a daily visit to Pyle Road in Forest Hill on 12/17. They were after the marble-sized fruits of the Bradford pear. JLF saw thirty-five on 11/19 and a huge flock of sixty on 1/5; both sightings were on Grande View Drive in Pylesville.
A lone report of a Yellow-rumped Warbler came from RC at Broad Creek on 12/16. RC and DL found three American Tree Sparrows in the upper fields at Eden Mill mixed with Field Sparrows on 11/22. RC also found one at Eden Mill on 1/6. Fox Sparrows continued to be seen with RC and DL reporting twelve in the lowlands at Eden Mill on 11/22. JLF found one near Lake Mitten in Pylesville on 11/19, 12/2, and 12/5. RC saw one at Broad Creek on 12/16 and noted that a large number continued to be present at Eden Mill on 1/6.
DW observed two Purple Finches at his feeder in Webster Village on 12/21 and four males and two females in the same location on 1/6. Also on 1/6 he had forty-five American Goldfinches. DP had a Pine Siskin at his feeder near Falling Branch in Pylesville on 11/18. (We will miss his reports!) After a ten day absence, DW had Pine Siskins in his yard in Webster Village on 11/28.
Contributors to this column were: Debbie Bowers (DB), Rick Cheicante (RC), Tom Congersky (TC), Mike Duke (MD), Jean and Larry Fry (JLF), Sam Jones (SJ), Dave Larkin (DL), Dave Powell (DP), Debbie Saylor (DS), Carole and Joe Vangrin (CJV), and Dave Webb (DW).
The deadline for the next Harford Birdlife column is Saturday, March 16, 2002. Please send sightings and interesting observations to Jean Fry, 1202 Ridge Road, Pylesville, MD 21132. E-mail address is: ffryjl@aol.com. Phone number is (410-452-8539).
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In rusty red coat
With turned up tail
White eye line
Both male and female
It trills and chatters
And breaks into song
In all kinds of weather
All year long
Cheerful and curious
Energetic and bold
Eating seeds from the feeder
It postures and scolds
Roosting in flower pots
Old shoes or the hedge
Serenades me at dawn
From the deck rail or ledge.
- Carol Flora
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Highlights of the trip were White-crowned Sparrows, Horned Grebes, Common Goldeneye, hundreds of Ruddy Ducks in the distance, a Red-throated Loon, and seven Tundra Swans. Warm weather had apparently kept the swans and ducks farther north and noticeably absent. There were hundreds of Snow Geese on a field south of Cecilton. South of Route 213 on Duck Puddle Road on the way to Chestertown, numerous American Pipits were on the plowed fields mixed in with Eastern Bluebirds and Horned Larks. A total of 68 species was seen. - Jean Fry
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Here are the Harford Bird Club field trips for the next few weeks. If you would like further information about a particular field trip, please contact Mark Johnson.
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Please send any comments to Les Eastman.Please return to Barbara Siebens, P.O. Box 68, Pylesville, MD 21132-0068 by Wednesday, February 20, 2000. __________ Number of adults ( at $11.00 each ) __________ Number of children 12 and under ( at $7.00 each ) Please make checks payable to Harford County MOS. _______________________________ Print your name(s) Include address and phone number if you would like transportation to the meeting. _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ Dinner Meeting Reservation Form