2007 Christmas Count Highlights

I have the best of news to report. We finally broke 100 for the Denton Xmas Count! I didn't think it was possible. We got 101 species!! Unbelievable! The planets or whatever must have all been in the proper alignment or something. The weather was certainly better than what had been forecast earlier in the week and with a lot of effort we had a great day.

What made this new record possible is not missing any of the birds that we should get if conditions were good. It's so easy to miss Catbirds, Brown Thrashers, Snipe, Woodcock, and that sort of thing. We didn't see a Great Black-backed Gull and that was the biggest disappointment that comes to mind--we didn't have them last year either. We had a Mute Swan, a Pied-billed Grebe, and a Goldeneye in the count period and with just a tad more good fortune we could have added them to the total.

Here are the good birds we did see: Green-winged Teal, Canvasback, L. Scaup, Hooded Merganser, (missed C. Merganser but they showed up on Tuesday) Golden Eagle (a first for the count), Saw-whet Owl, Pine Siskin, Rusty Blackbird, Red Crossbill, Lapland Longspur, Snow Bunting, Vesper Sparrow, Black-headed Gull and Ross's Goose.

Thanks again to all our counters!

Steve Westre

Possible Important Bird Areas in Caroline County

Wayne Bell reports that Adkins Arboretum and Tuckahoe State Park will qualify as an Audubon IBA due to the number of Prononotary Warblers found there.

I checked in with David Curson, Maryland Audubon Society's Director of Bird Conservation responsible for the Maryland-DC Important Bird Areas Programs. David said he thinks it will.

As for Idyllwild Wildlife Management Area, he thinks that site will also qualify, thanks to the efforts of the Bird Blitzers. Prothonotary warblers and Whip-poor-wills will be the species for which it qualifies. David did a nightjar survey in June and heard 7 whips in one evening so he's sure the actual population would be about twice that.

Species totals from the Bird Blitz done on 27 May2007 at Idyllwild
Primary targets - At-risk species
Prairie Warbler 2
Prothonotary Warbler 11 (also a FIDS)
Worm-eating Warbler 6 (also a FIDS)
Louisiana Waterthrush 4 (also a FIDS)
Wood Thrush 2 (also a FIDS)

Secondary targets - species assemblages
a) Forest interior dwelling species (FIDS)
Red-eyed Vireo 5
Ovenbird 6
Acadian Flycatcher 10
Summer Tanager 2
Pileated Woodpecker 2
(So we saw 9 species of FIDS altogether because 4 of the at-risk species are also FIDS)

b) Shrubland species assemblage
Field Sparrow 2
Eastern Towhee 2
Brown Thrasher 2
White-eyed Vireo 7
(So we saw 5 species of shrub land birds because Prairie Warbler is also in the shrub land assemblage)

They will be reviewing the IBA nomination for Idyllwild at the next IBA Technical Review Committee meeting in a couple of weeks.

What's an IBA? Go to: http://www.audubonmddc.org/SciCon_IBAs.html

Fox Sparrows

Karen Harris of the Talbot Bird Club reported seeing three Fox sparrows in among the White-throated and Song sparrows in the North Meadows field at Adkins Arboretum recently.

Here is a photo of a pair of Pine Siskins taken at my feeder in Queenstown a few weeks ago . I thought folks might enjoy seeing it .

Danny Poet

Fox Sparrows, Rusty Blackbirds and Lark Sparrow sighted

This afternoon as I returned from the morning of birding with the Talbot Bird Club, I found two Fox Sparrows beside my driveway, feasting on the seed that I had tossed there earlier in the day. Other species there included many Juncos and White Throats, several Cardinals and a Blue Jay. While watching them, I heard some high pitched squeeky calls, and on looking up found four Rusty Blackbirds in a tree above the feeding site.

Yesterday the Purple Finches had found my place - one adult male, and one "brownie". Good numbers of Goldfinches were around this afternoon, but I could not find any siskins.

A message from Blackwater today on MDOSPREY indicated that several people successfully re-located the Lark Sparrow that has been hanging around the visitor center for at least the past week. The bird was pretty well hidden in trees beside the parking lot, but after it was found it stayed around for great views. It seemed to not be bothered at all by the presence of the birders.

Les Roslund

Talbot County

Easton MD 21601

Whooping Cranes

The speaker at the Talbot Bird Club's November Bird Club meeting was Kathy O’Malley, who for many years managed the Crane chick flock at Patuxent Research Refuge. She showed short videos and described her work as part of the program to reestablish a strong population of Whooping Cranes. In 1941 the world’s population of Whoopers was 41 birds. The flock was well known in the winter at Aransas NWR in Texas, but the birds’ destination as they migrated north was unknown until about 1960 when the breeding grounds were found in northern Alberta. The US-Canadian effort to save the species started at Patuxent in 1966 with one bird. The total population is now about 500. A non-migratory flock has been building in Florida since the early 1990s with birds raised at Patuxent. A new migratory flock is building now with chicks hatched at Patuxent and reared in northern Wisconsin. The birds follow an ultralight aircraft to Florida where they winter. These birds now successfully return to Wisconsin’s Necedah NWR. This year’s cohort of young Whoopers left Necedah in mid-October with ETA in Florida of early December. Check their progress plus learn more on: http://www.learner.org/jnorth/crane/index.html

Message from former Caroline County resident

Now living south of the border - Charlotte Hignutt reports on the recent flooding near where she lives and recent bird sightings in her neighborhood of Palenque, Mexico.

All safe and semi-sound for 83 years old - actually we didn't have an unusual am't of rain - Villahermosa had problems because it is like New Orleans - built in a swamp where no city should be. Also it, like New Orleans, had become used to a little flooding so it just sat there without realizing that this time the water would be 12 feet deep throughout most of the city. There are 4 dams on the Grijalva River that runs thru the city but there had been so much rain up in the mountains that all dams had to be open or collapse - this flooded Villahermosa because they had also had a lot of rain. Villahermosa is only 70 miles from Palenque but rain can be in spots here - a flood in one place and nothing in a place 50 miles away.

The Denton [Caroline] bird people should really get together and visit me while I am still mobile. I have so many birds just on my property. A group of oropendulas have arrived - also a lot of small birds - blackheaded siskins and such - plus various flycatchers and hawks. There are always melodious blackbirds and Zenaida and ruddy ground doves - I feed about 50 each AM - they like raw rice. The other day I watched an ani sitting in the top of a tree drying its wings with a large yellow leaf in its beak - I think the beak was to disguise its presence - it was hiding under it. There is a Continental flight fr. BWI each day about 1:00 PM to Houston and a Houston flight direct to Villahermosa that arrives at 9 PM - cost is about $600 round trip - I could meet you at the airport - which is now above water!!! My house sleeps 4 or 5 guests - it is quite large.

Charlotte