Volume 15 Number 2 |
March-April 2002 |
Like nature, when the weather warms, people become energized and interested in doing things out-of-doors. The Harford Bird Club's spring calendar is full of interesting activities and events that anyone can be part of.
The Maryland Breeding Bird Atlas project is well underway, but still open to new participants. The Earth Day event on April 20th at Swan Harbor Farm can be a fun way to get involved with only a couple of hours committed. The Havre de Grace Decoy Festival on May 3-5 is another fun way to meet birders and to introduce people to the enjoyment of birding. If you have not attended an MOS Conference (June 7-9), this is a great way to meet birders from around the state and to enjoy the wonderful experience of birding in western Maryland.
Don't forget the May 3rd dinner meeting. Bob Chance will be sharing his slides and his experiences in the Galapagos Islands.
Join in the fun! Share your enthusiasm for birding. - Carol Flora
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The snow is gone
Warm rains fall
Earth awakens from its sleep.
The flowers bloom
And birds sing
Natures promises she keeps.
- CAF
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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 Pacific coast from Big Sur to Morro Bay offers spectacular scenery - high hills with rock outcroppings and dramatic bluffs covered with scrubby vegetation that is full of birds and accessible via hundreds of miles of trails.
The Morro Bay estuary is one of the nation's top birding spots. The town hosts a birding festival each January. I missed the festival, but spent a week in Morro Bay in late February.
Thousands of acres in this region are preserved by the California Coastal Commission as well as local land trusts. Land preservation equals prime bird habitat, and the various micro-climates and diverse vegetation of the coastal environment provides ample touring for lovers of land birds and shore birds alike.
The Morro Bay State Park and the Montana de Oro State Park, almost adjacent, provide some of the best hiking and birding I've found - more than 50 miles of trails here alone, over ridges, through canyons, and along the rugged bluffs with pounding surf just below. Song and white-crowned sparrows were plentiful, as were bushtit, scrub jay, northern harriers, red-shafted flickers, chestnut-backed chickadee, both kinglets, plain titmouse, Anna's hummingbird (with its shocking pink throat) brown towhee and the western rufous-sided towhee.
Also enjoyed good looks at a black phoebe, western meadowlark, wrentit, common yellowthroat, California thrasher, California quail, hermit thrush, and purple finch. At the water's edge, enjoyed watching black oystercatcher and double-crested cormorant, as well as brown pelican. A park docent pointed out holes in the high shale bluffs where barn owls roost. We saw the evidence of habitation, but no owls were visible. - Deborah Bowers
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| April 20 | Earth Day. |
| May 3 | Dinner Meeting at Churchville Presbyterian Church at 6:15 p.m. Guest speaker will be Bob Chance. |
| May 3-5 | Havre de Grace Decoy Festival. |
| May 11 | Annual May Count. |
| May 16 | Deadline - to contribute Harford Birdlife reports to Jean Fry for Mar. 16, 2002 - May 15, 2002. Jean's address is 1202 Ridge Road, Pylesville, MD 21132 or email at ffryjl@aol.com. |
| May 23 | Deadline - to submit articles for the May/June issue of Wrenderings to Rick Cheicante. Rick's address is 1003-F Jessica's Ct, Bel Air, MD 21014 or rickcheicante@cs.com. |
| June 7-9 | 57th Annual Maryland Ornithological Society Conference at Wisp Resort in McHenry, MD (Garrett County) |
| July 12 | Summer Social at the Anita Leight Estuary Center. |
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Invitation - Members of the Harford Bird Club are invited to the Glen Meadows Retirement Community for a spring bird walk on Wednesday, May 8, 2002, at 8:00 a.m. Larry and Jean Fry have again volunteered to lead this trip. At Glen Meadows, there are fields, woods, ponds and streams which have previously provided us with sights and sounds of 42 species. Everyone is invited for lunch at the end of the walk. Come, join us for a pleasant morning! For directions call me at (410-817-4814). - Jean Williams
Special Thanks - Special thanks to Larry and Jean Fry for presenting their slide program, "Sights and Sounds of the Birds of the Seasons", to the residents of the Glen Meadows Retirement Community on Tuesday evening, March 12. The program was greatly enjoyed by the residents. - Jean Williams
Greetings (Correction) - The Harford Bird Club would like to welcome new member: Carol A. Pace.
Annual Members' Awards - It's that time of year again where we vote for recognized club achievement. The categories include: Birder of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Lister of the Year, Volunteer of the Year, and Bird of the Year.
Conowingo Dam I - This word just in - Conowingo Dam has re-opened! - R. L. Cheicante
Conowingo Dam II - ...And on the literary side, Conowingo has once again made some big press. "Birding" (Apr. 2002), the journal of the American Birding Association, has an article entitled, Inland Gull Sites: One Dam Site After Another, which includes ten of the best dam birding sites, one of which is - Conowingo Dam. - R. L. Cheicante
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Marshy Point Nature Center is a fairly new Baltimore County Park which is within easy access of Harford County. There is a beautiful visitor center, and it is a good place to view Tundra Swans and other waterfowl in the winter.
Two programs that are scheduled there in the near future that may be of interest to some of you are:
Tuesday, April 16, 2002 at 7:30 p.m.- "Snowy Owls or the Truth About Hedwig" Norman Smith, director of Blue Hills Trailside Museum, will speak about his twenty years of banding and recent radio tracking to study the migration of Snowy Owls.
Tuesday, May 21, 2002 at 7:30 p.m. - Tom Horton, writer, and David Harp, photographer, will present "The Great Marsh, an Intimate Journey into a Chesapeake Wetland". This new book, hot off the press, will be available for signing.
Directions to Marshy Point from Harford County: Take Route 40 for six miles south of Joppatowne. Turn left at the traffic signal at White Marsh Double T Diner onto Ebenezer Road. Go for about five miles on Ebenezer Road until you cross over the railroad tracks. Turn right onto Grace's Quarter's Road. There will be a small sign that says "To Eastern Avenue." You will be in the town of Chase. At the stop sign turn left onto Route 150 which is Eastern Avenue. Continue for about one mile and turn left at the sign for Dundee/Saltpeter Creek Park. The visitor's center is about 1/2 mile on this road.
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Weather has been very mild and very dry for the last two months. Four inches of snow fell on January 19; about one inch of rain fell on March 2. Except for a couple of short cold spells and two unseasonably warm spells, the temperatures have been mild. Waterfowl numbers seemed to be down, while American Robins lingered in large flocks all winter.
The only reports of Pied-billed Grebes came from DL on 2/10 (1) and 2/17 (10) at Swan Harbor.
DW noticed quite a few skeins of migrating Canada Geese moving north at high altitude over Aberdeen on 2/21. He also saw two separate strings of Snow Geese. He observed that this is about a week earlier than in recent years. LF saw several flocks of Canadas over Pylesville on 2/26 and 3/2, but reported the biggest day to be 3/8.
PP spotted a flock of over thirty Tundra Swan at Mariner Point at noon on 2/24. JLF saw a flock over Ridge Road in Pylesville on 2/26 at 8:45 a.m. RC heard a flock over Bel Air at 8:30 p.m. on 3/13 and a flock over Creswell at 9:00 p.m. on 3/15. The last flock was followed by a Killdeer.
The only reports of Wood Ducks came from PP who saw a pair on the Gunpowder River in Joppatowne on 3/7 and from LF who saw two females on Lake Mitten in Pylesville on 2/26. DL found an American Wigeon and a Gadwall on Club House Road pond in Perryman on 1/27. Jim Stasz found a male Eurasian Wigeon at Lapidum on 2/23. It was about half way between Lapidum and the I-95 bridge. PP saw a pair of American Black Ducks at Mariner Point on 2/10 and saw lots of Mallards there on 3/14. DL located flocks of about thirty Gadwall, twenty Bufflehead, a Common Goldeneye, and a Hooded Merganser at Swan Harbor on 2/17. LF found Ring-necked Ducks at Lake Mitten in the following numbers: one on 2/4, seven males and one female on 3/7, and four males and one female on 3/14. DK reported nine on Turneys Pond on Harford Creamery Road during the first two weeks of March. LF saw a pair of Hooded Mergansers on Lake Mitten on 2/17 and again on 2/26.
PP spotted the first Osprey at Gunpowder State Park on 3/8. He also saw two mature Bald Eagles perched in a large birch tree on the Gunpowder River on 3/7 and again on 3/8 at the same location. MW saw an adult Bald Eagle fly over their house in Webster Village near Havre de Grace on 2/18. DK watched Harford County's first Bald Eagle nest away from the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay on 3/10. It is located on a farm near the Bradenbaugh Flats in White Hall and apparently is a first attempt for this pair of newlyweds. The nest overlooks a large pond and Little Deer Creek. It was DK's first confirmed atlas bird for his home block and the new atlas project. DB reported a Bald Eagle over her back yard in Street on 3/15, and there continue to be more and more sightings of them in the northern part of the county. Heads up!!! DS said that he has had nothing unusual around his yard in Bel Air other than a Red-shouldered and a Sharp-shinned Hawk. JLF had a Sharp-shinned visit their feeder on 1/20, and on 2/20 he managed to catch a Dark-eyed Junco and fly off with it while it was still alive. On 2/12 JLF saw a Red-shouldered Hawk eating prey by Lake Mitten. LF saw two Red-shouldered Hawks and one Red-tailed Hawk on Heaps School Road near the Broad Creek bridge on 3/2. On 2/9 RC saw an immature Northern Goshawk fly in and perch at a friend's wooded/agricultural homesite in the Bel Air/Creswell area. It hung around for about twenty to twenty-five minutes perching at different locations while all the time actively hunting the ground. It dropped down to the ground a couple of times, one time picking up an earthworm and then flying back up to a conspicuous perch. Curiously, but perhaps not surprisingly, the other birds seemed not to be bothered by its presence. Cardinals, woodpeckers, and nuthatches continued to feed undisturbed nearby and in the open. A titmouse or two did go in for a few scolding looks, but most birds flew past it as if it weren't there. It never gave them a second look as it focused on studying the ground. He got as close as twenty-five feet from the bird and had looks at it from the first and second floor windows with lots of nice flight looks as well. Unfortunately, his camera was in the car! Another report of a Northern Goshawk came from BP. He had one sitting in a dead tree in the 700 block of Broadway in Bel Air at 4:40 PM on 3/3. He observed a large gray hawk-type bird stretching its wings and preening for about ten minutes. As he approached with binoculars it flew directly overhead showing long narrow tail and making a quick call note. He confirmed the call note by playing the call from Thayer's Birds of North America. The bird flew to the west over some trees. DW reported that at 8:24 AM on Wednesday, 2/6, the next generation of Webster Village's Red-shouldered Hawks were conceived on a tree limb at the property next door to his house. We'll look forward to a birth announcement.
JKK saw sixteen Wild Turkeys along Jerry's Road in northern Harford County on 2/18. BM's neighbor in Churchville saw a Chukar in his back yard on 3/14. The bird was very tame, allowing him to approach it to within twelve to fifteen feet. It did not appear to be injured. This bird was obviously an escape, perhaps from a game farm.
DL saw a flock of approximately seven hundred American Coots at Swan Harbor on 2/17.
PP found his first shorebirds for the year with a Greater Yellowlegs and a Killdeer at Mariner Point on 3/14. RC also saw Killdeer along the airstrip at the Edgewood area of Aberdeen Proving Ground on 3/14. On 3/16 PP had two Greater and three Lesser Yellowlegs at Mariner Point.
The lone report of a Great Horned Owl came from DB in Street on 3/15. It swooped down on some prey in her back yard. This was about an hour after she saw the Bald Eagle at the same location. A good day for DB!!
JLF had three Red-bellied Woodpeckers around their feeders in Pylesville at one time on 1/31. A Hairy has visited daily all winter. DW had two Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers on 2/4 in Webster Village. PP saw a flock of Northern Flickers at Gunpowder State Park on 3/8. JLF had a Pileated Woodpecker working hard on a tree and another fly-by on 1/16 in Pylesville. On 3/6 they had a pair working on nest/decoy/roost holes above their house. DB saw a Pileated in Street on 3/8. HB reported a Pileated on their fat feeder on 3/13. It landed on a tree trunk about fifteen feet from the window and then went to a sassafras tree in the side yard where it made three holes in less than an hour, the largest being about 3"x 5" and extending 6" to the center of the tree where it was rotten to a diameter of about 3".
DB saw an Eastern Phoebe in Street on 3/8, and DW reported a Eastern Phoebe in Webster Village on 3/10.
DL found a Horned Lark on Canning House Road in Perryman on 1/27, and saw six there on 2/17. He also saw some at Swan Harbor on 2/10.
JLF had a Brown Creeper on trees above their house in Pylesville on 1/26. They have a pair of Carolina Wrens singing vigorously all winter. PP found all three wrens- House, Carolina, and Winter at Mariner Point on 2/23.
PP saw a Hermit Thrush on 2/23 at Mariner Point. DB had one in Street on 3/15.
There were loads of reports of flocks of American Robins. ACM sent a message that there was a large roost of thousands of them on Chelsea Road in Perryman. JLF saw a flock of twenty to twenty-five robins on a holly tree in Pylesville on 2/3 and 2/10. On 2/3 they were joined by about ten Cedar Waxwings. RC had a chorus of American Robins at 6:00 a.m. in Bel Air on 3/13, 3/14, and 3/15.
PP found a pair of American Tree Sparrows at Mariner Point in Joppatowne on 2/23. He added a Fox Sparrow to his Mariner Point list on 2/10. BM reported that a reddish phase Fox Sparrow has been coming to his feeder for white millet since the Christmas count. He has had few White-throated Sparrows this year with a maximum number of four. A Fox Sparrow visited the backyard of JLF in the eastern suburbs of Pylesville on 3/12. DL saw about twenty White-crowned Sparrows in Perryman on 1/27 and some again on 2/17. RC found a dozen or so at that location on 3/2. BM reported that Dark-eyed Juncoes are especially numerous in Churchville this year with regular flocks of twenty-five or more. RC noticed Dark-eyed Juncoes singing and calling around his home in Bel Air starting the weekend of 3/9.
RC located an Eastern Meadowlark in Perryman on 3/2 and noticed Red-winged Blackbirds calling and singing from the tops of remnant cattails near his home in Bel Air in early March.
On 1/18 BM spotted a female Baltimore Oriole in his yard in Churchville. It fed like a woodpecker on the suet-oatmeal-cornmeal-peanut butter mix that he stuffs into holes on sections of logs. It has been there continually ever since and has ignored raisins, grapes, and sections of oranges provided especially for it. (Sounds like BM's birds eat well!) EF reported an adult male Baltimore Oriole in full breeding plumage at her feeder south of Bel Air eating sunflower seeds on 2/8, 2/9, and 2/10. What a colorful winter surprise!
DW had two Pine Siskins in his backyard in Webster Village on 1/25 and 2/8; they have continued on an almost daily basis as of 3/12. He reports typically having about forty to sixty American Goldfinches at their feeders; on 2/21 he counted 102 at one time. DW also had a maximum of four Purple Finches on 2/6, and up to five had continued on an almost daily basis as of 3/12. Danny (age six?) identifies the Pine Siskins as he eats breakfast, and identified a male Purple Finch for his father on 2/16. He might be leading field trips in a couple of years! DB from Street saw a Purple Finch in the snow on 2/9 and one again on 3/7.
We had an assortment of backyard sightings from Dana Burrough, Carolyn Sullivan, and Laurie Gray. Thanks, but please be sure to send dates and locations with your sightings next time.
Contributors to this column were: Debbie Bowers (DB), Henry Burden (HB), Rick Cheicante (RC), Les Eastman (LE), Eileen Frey (EF), Jean and Larry Fry (JLF), Dennis, Jean, and Kristin Kirkwood (DJKK), Dave Larkin (DL), Bill McIntosh (BM), Art and Charlotte Mayfield (ACM), Bill Pfingsten (BF), Phil Powers (PP), Dave Seitz (DS), Jim Stasz (JS), and Dave, Marsha, and Danny Webb (DMW).
The next deadline for submissions is Thursday, May 16 for sightings between March 16 and May 15. Please send reports for this column to Jean Fry, 1202 Ridge Road, Pylesville, MD 21132. E-mail is: ffryjl@aol.com Telephone: 410-452-8539.
***Please remember to take note of any confirmed breeding activity as you bird this season and report the date and location to Dennis Kirkwood for inclusion in the atlas data. His e-mail is: dkirkw@bellatlantic.net.
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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, April 24, 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