Female Black Throated Blue Warbler Tuckahoe State Park Bottom photo Semipalmated Sandpiper ridgely sewage Ponds on Fall count sept 20 , 2008

Here are a couple of photo from the fall bird count on Sept 20, 2008

Blackwater Wildlife Refuge reports migrating Canada Geese arriving

On Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 p.m., Steve Stack and Tod Adams observed the first flock of Canada Geese moving into the area. Geese were very high in altitude and moving south. Conditions are right for the first movement of birds due to the recent frontal passage with north and west winds as well as a full moon. This is right on schedule for our traditional arrival
dates. Keep a lookout for additional birds now on each cold front.

Message sent 9-18-08 by

Maggie Briggs
Visitor Services Manager
Chesapeake Marshlands NWR Complex
Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge
2145 Key Wallace Drive
Cambridge, MD 21613
http://www.fws.gov/blackwater/

Bird Banding observation great fun

Eight of us visited the Foreman's Branch Bird Observatory Banding Station Sept 14, 2008.
Due to the high heat of the day, the bird count was lower than usual. That meant that Jim Gruber and his team were able to take more time to spend with us, answering questions and taking us around some of their 100 nets.

What I didn't know, is that this station is now part of a non profit organization called
Chester River Field Research Center
P. O. Box 421
Chestertown, MD 21620

They depend on donations to pay for nets, supplies and salaries for two staff who are paid. Jim and the rest of the crew volunteer their time, but the volume of work requires full time staff.

They send in all their data to Patuxent Research Center and also gather ticks removed from birds to send to another research group, I think at Harvard.

We will gather our photos soon and try to provide a short slide show of some of the birds we got to see up close and personal. The photo here is of Jim Gruber holding a brown thrasher covered in poke weed juice.

Dan provided us a list of what they banded that day --

Ruby-throated hummer- 3
American Redstart- 7
Least flycatcher- 1
Yellow bellied Flycatcher- 1
Acadian Fly- 1
E. Woodpewee- 4
Mag. warbler- 2
Am. Goldfinch- 1
Yellowthroat- 14
House Wren- 1
Black and white- 3
Field Sparrow- 1
Chickadee- 1
Red-eye vireo- 3
Indigo- 2
Phoebe- 2
Carolina Wren- 1
Veery- 4
Blue Grosbeak- 1
Yellow-breasted Chat- 1
Scarlet Tanager- 1
No. Cardinal- 2
Wood Thrush- 1
Catbird- 9
Thrasher- 2
Mockingbird- 1

Highlights from Sept 7 Bird Walk

9 - 7 - 08 the Caroline County and Talbot County Bird Clubs held a bird walk at Tuckahoe State Park. We found 47 species but no storm birds [left from Tropical Storm Hanna]. Danny Poet lead the walk. Our thanks to Bobby Wells for the great brunch after the walk .

Highlights are as follows:

Great Blue Heron
Wood Duck 12
Red Shouldered Hawk 1
American Kestrel 1
Killdeer
R. T. Hummingbirds several
Belted Kingfisher
Pileated woodpecker 1 heard
Red bellied Woodpecker
Downy woodpecker several
Hairy Woodpecker
Flicker
Eastern Wood Pewee several
Great creasted Flycatcher 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
E. kingbird 1
White eyed Vireo
Red eyed Vireo
Carolina Chickadee several
Tufted Titmouse 2
Blue gray Gnatcatcher 3
Eastern Bluebird
Robin 6
Gray Catbird 4
Mockingbird 2
Brown Thrasher 2
Pine warbler
Black and white Warbler 1
A. Redstart 1 yellow type
Chipping Sparrow 30
Cardinal several
Rose Breasted Grosbeak 1 female type
Blue Grosbeak 1
A. Goldfinch 12

Happy Birding
Danny Poet

New bird story from our friend South of the Border

Anis to the Rescue!

Tropical woman's best friend is not a dog - it is an ani. Anis tell me where the ants are. When I see a group of anis progressing across my field I know they are just in front of a large, invisible, invasion of ants. They do not eat the ants but they find the crickets, who are frantically trying to get out of the ant's path, absolutely delicious. And so it was this morning, but the invasion was from my lower yard, up an 8 foot retaining wall, across the upper yard and toward the house. The ants were of a species named Ronda. How did I know this was happening?

Suddenly all the anis were screaming and dropping down to eat crickets - 15 or more in a tree and more on the ground. It was a Labor Day feast but Labor Day does not exist in Mexico. Duly alerted, Chencho(works for me) and I mounted our counter-attack. First the hose to push them back with water and, as a last resort, an on-the-back- tank of insect spray. We needed both. In about an hour the invasion was repulsed and the anis returned to their trees. We regret having to use insect spray on the Rondas - they eat insects and are useful - but their numbers are in the thousands and they are very determined about their instinctive pathways, which can be 20 feet wide. According to Chencho, they may try to invade again this afternoon. I hope the anis know this and tell me about it.

Charlotte Hignutt, our birding friend in Mexico

For information about the Ani, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ani_(bird)

September full of great activities!

Check out our Fall 2008 schedule

Below is just September's events --

Sunday, September 7. Bird Walk at Tuckahoe State Park (Tuckahoe Creek IBA) Co-sponsored by the Caroline and Talbot Bird Clubs. Leader: Danny Poet. Meet at the Woods Trail parking lot near the lake at 8 am. Dress comfortably and bring binoculars if you have them. Questions, contact Danny Poet at (410)827-8651 or birder231@hotmail.com.

Sunday, September 14 ¬ Trip. Bird Banding observation in Chestertown. Jim Gruber, Bander. 8:30 AM .

Great for kids. Adults welcome too. Rain date is Sept 21. Contact Danny Poet to register and for directions at (410)827-8651 or birder231@hotmail.com.

For carpooling, meet at Roses parking lot, Denton at 7:30 AM. Contact Debby Bennett at w:410-479-1343 or firefly5845@hotmail.com.

Thursday, September 18. ¬ Meeting. Ray Bivens, Chief of Interpretation and Environmental Education, Delaware State Parks presents “Cape Henlopen Osprey project”

7:30 PM, Caroline County Public Library, 100 Market St., Denton.

Saturday, September 20. ¬ Caroline Fall Bird Count. If you would like to participate, please contact Debby Bennett at w:410-479-1343 or firefly5845@hotmail.com.

For a copy of the Count Checklist, go to the Maryland Ornithological Web site at: http://www.mdbirds.org/counts/fall/fallcounts.html and click on Checklist.

Farewell to Dick Kleen

We are sorry to say, our friend, Dick Kleen passed away July 9, 2008. There is a wonderful tribute to him in the Sunday Star Democrat, July 13, 2008 written by some of his closest friends.

Les Roslund wrote a great article about Dick for the May/June 2005 MOS Yellowthroat, page 15, which you can find online on the MOS website. Here is a portion of what Les wrote about Dick -

Dick has been a tower of strength and a major source of inspiration for the Talbot County Chapter of MOS since its inception back in 1955. He led the push to establish a chapter in Talbot County and was president of the chapter most of the time for the next 20 years. He established the St Michaels Christmas Count in 1954 and has actively participated in it every year since then. With superb leadership skills, he developed an admirable record of getting young people as well as adults excited about the birds. He carried his birding interest intensely throughout the state, becoming very familiar with where birds of Maryland could be found. Such activity put him in touch with most of the birders of Maryland, and surely contributed to his becoming the 3rd State President of the Maryland Ornithological Society.... The interests of birding and birders in Talbot County have benefitted greatly from the energy, dedication, and enthusiasm of Dick Kleen.

— Les Roslund, Talbot County Bird Club


Memorial Service to be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 19,
at Christ Church in St Michaels, MD

Memorial Donations may be made to the Dick Kleen Fund of the Mid-
Shore Community Foundation, 102 East Dover St, Easton, MD 21601,
or to Talbot Hospice Foundation, 586 Cynwood Drive, Easton, MD 21601.