Update on baby osprey in St. Michaels

First there were two ........................ ..................... Then there were three!


Please check the great comment on our last posting of the rescue and finding of new home for our osprey chick, who's nest was lost to the river. Thanks, Aubrey!

I'm not sure all we have to thank, but for sure Chris, Peter McGowan, Marc Barto, Suzi and Tristate, and Rob Brownlee-Tomasso for photos and Dawn for keeping the emails coming! Thanks to anyone else who had a hand in this thoughtful deed!

Baby Osprey rescued in St. Michaels

Dan Sutherland and Marc Barto work in CBMM's boatyard and live aboard their boats out in the harbor. On his way out to his boat last night, Dan saw an osprey nest with a baby in it come detached from its daymark and plunge into the water. He rescued the baby and he and Marc put it into a nest Marc built for baby ducks, and they made up a fish concoction in a caulk gun and fed it all through the night. It's looking much better this morning, and the DNR should be coming to get the baby today. Here's a couple pictures. Check out those talons!

Marc Barto 6/24/2008 update:

For those of you who are interested, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was here this morning to reintroduce the baby osprey that Dan and I saved last Thursday. I was able to accompany them out to the Red #2 marker and they allowed me to climb up into the nest and place the fledgling with it's two new brothers. The parents then returned to the nest and adopted the new bird. It was a successful reentry. Peter McGowan was the biologist that helped us. He said he would send us photos of the nesting sight. Very heartwarming experience.





Information provided by Dawn Brownlee-Tomasso
Photos byRob Brownlee-Tomasso
Graphic Designer
Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum

May 26 Youth Bird Walk and IBA Dedication at Adkins Arboretum

Fifteen members from the Talbot and Caroline Bird Clubs, plus 5 youngsters from Queen Anne's County middle and high schools, finished off the spring season with a bang on Sunday, 25 May, at Adkins Arboretum. We enjoyed one of the finest late migrant fallouts anyone can remember, highlighted by 12 warblers (plus at least two more) and 5 thrushes. The youth-oriented bird walk was actually a "habitat competition" pitting the bottomland forest and swamp against the upland field and scrub. But this year there was no contest due to the presence of the late migrants in the forest and woods edge; the score was 53 species for the forest vs. 38 for the field, with 19 species seen in both habitats. Total species seen: 70.

This glorious morning ended with dedication of the Tuckahoe Creek Important Bird Area by MD-DC Audubon. The IBA encompasses all of Adkins Arboretum and most of Tuckahoe Creek State Park. The IBA certainly lived up to its name! What a gem of a place for all of us to enjoy. Special thanks to the following persons who contributed field data that qualified these lands for IBA status, particularly with reference to Prothonotary Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, and Louisiana Waterthrush: Christina Brinster, Amanda Spears, Danny Poet, Karen and Bill Harris, Forrest and Martha Bogan, Margie Steffens, Jessica Furlong, and Andrew Clark.

Here is the species list for the morning:

Heron, Great Blue
Vulture, Turkey
Hawk, Red-shouldered
Gull, Laughing
Dove, Mourning
Cuckoo, Yellow-billed
Hummingbird, Ruby-throated
Woodpecker, Red-bellied
Woodpecker, Downy
Flicker, Northern
Woodpecker, Pileated
Wood-pewee, Eastern
Flycatcher, Acadian
Phoebe, Eastern
Flycatcher, Great crested
Kingbird, Eastern
Vireo, White-eyed
Vireo, Yellow-throated
Vireo, Red-eyed
Jay, Blue
Crow, American
Swallow, Barn
Swallow, Tree
Chickadee, Carolina
Titmouse, Tufted
Nuthatch, White-breasted
Wren, Carolina
Gnatcatcher, Blue-gray
Bluebird, Eastern
VEERY
THRUSH, GRAY-CHEEKED
THRUSH, SWAINSON'S
Thrush, Wood
Robin, American
Catbird, Gray
Mockingbird, Northern
Thrasher, Brown
Starling, European
Waxwing, Cedar
WARBLER, MAGNOLIA
WARBLER, BLACKBURNIAN
WARBLER, BAY-BREASTED
WARBLER, CAPE MAY
Warbler, Pine
Redstart, American
Warbler, Prothonotary
Warbler, Worm-eating
Ovenbird
Warbler, Kentucky
Yellowthroat, Common
Chat, Yellow-breasted
Tanager, Summer
Tanager, Scarlet
Towhee, Eastern
Sparrow, Chipping
Sparrow, Field
Cardinal, Northern
Grosbeak, Blue
Bunting, Indigo
Blackbird, Red-winged
Grackle, Common
Cowbird, Brown-headed
Oriole, Orchard
Oriole, Baltimore
Finch, House
Goldfinch, American

In addition to the above, individuals reported CANADA WARBLER,
BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER, and WILLOW FLYCATCHER.

That a way to end the spring season!

Yours -- Dave Palmer, Wayne Bell, and Debby Bennett

What are those white birds flying around the Easton Giant?

The birds that nest on the roof of the Easton Giant are Least Tern. This species has taken to nesting on several flat-roofed buildings in the Chesapeake region due to a lack of sandy beaches undisturbed by people and predators. Despite what must be intense

heat during the summer, nesting is quite successful and the colony is growing. The original Least Tern colony in Easton nested on the roof of the High School. Nesting was disrupted when a new roof was put on the school but I understand that the contractor took some pains to restore the original gravel design. As far as I know, the colony did

not return but apparently "migrated" to the newly built Giant. I know of smaller but also successful colonies atop Queen Anne's County High in Centreville and Rose's in Chestertown. These colonies are monitored by DNR and access to the rooftops during the nesting season is generally denied.

Information provided by Wayne Bell, incoming President of MOS and member of Talbot Bird Club.

Recent bird sightings from Chiapas, Mexico

Chiapas bird news - I have a new bird ID book - A guide to the Birds of Mexico and Central America - it is very large and too heavy to take farther than the porch - someday I will feel courageous and cut it into 3 parts, extracting the center illustrations from the descriptions.

I was surprised yesterday by a Black and White warbler hopping up, and around, the trunk of a tree - acting just like a nuthatch. Two Roadside hawks are patrolling my 2 acres of yard looking for a nesting site. They spotted a Melodious blackbird nest in a ficus tree ten feet from my porch. One hawk landed on a wall just beyond the tree and immediately found itself surrounded and attacked by Boat-billed flycatchers, White-winged doves, Great-tailed grackles, and other blackbirds- all screaming at it. A dive-bombing flycatcher finally sent it off to a distant tree from where it screamed back at its attackers - it was a war. The presence of the hawks has totally disrupted the dove's morning feeding of rice and corn.

I usually put the food on the ground under a tree - NO WAY! They won't go near food that isn't under open sky. The hawks will nest in May - then it will be the Brown jay's turn to do the molesting - they are large, feisty, and can kill hawks. At the moment the jays are eating my mangos and the agoutis (small animals) are eating my squash - there are several wars going on - only the iguanas are peaceful.

Charlotte Hignutt (formally of Denton, MD)

Black Vulture Near The Nest

Black Vulture Nest

Black Vulture Nest with 2 eggs found on Wye Island in Queen Annes County Maryland