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

Clean Out your Nesting Boxes

Just A quick note . If folks have not done so yet NOW is the time to clean out your nesting birdhouses in your yards . Bluebirds and chickadees are now house hunting or nest building.
get it done ASAP .

Photo above shows female Eastern Bluebird pausing between house hunting in my yard recently .


Best Reguards
Danny Poet
Caroline County Bird Club President

A great birding day for Diane Cole

I took my husky for a walk down the West Side Bypass off Jenkins Creek Rd in Cambridge between noon and 1:00 pm today, and observed the following:

Blue jay

European starlings

American robins

Northern mockingbird

Northern cardinal; singing male

American goldfinches; several

House finch; pair

Song sparrows; singing male

Eastern bluebird; pair nesting on next door neighbor's fence

Carolina wren; agitated fussing

Northern harrier; female

Bald eagles; pair being chased by a red-tail hawk.

Red-tailed hawk; screaming

I heard the red-tail scream, then the eagles call out to each other. I looked up to see the red-tail dive at the eagles. Once the hawk flew away, the eagles did an aerial display. They repeatedly and briefly locked talons while flying side by side. They were very synchronized, like feathered Blue Angels. This is usually a pair-bonding ritual, but maybe today they were High Fiving that the red-tail flew away. This may be the pair that nests somewhere in/near the City.

The harrier flushed from a small stand of cedar and pines located at the edge of the meadow near the small stream that flows through a huge culvert pipe toward Jenkins Creek.

A couple of evenings ago, we flushed woodcock along this road, and a meadowlark called out.

There is now a bermed, stormwater management/sediment trap "depression" at the far side of the field. A place that will attract sandpipers, frogs and herons. I'll have to keep an eye on it.

We had several bob white quail nesting in the tall broom sedge grasses along the bypass last year, as well as eastern meadowlark, field sparrows, and grasshopper sparrows. But the developers have mowed some of the grasses, and unfortunately, these four species will likely leave the area. In fact, they would die off if they didn't find suitable replacement habitat. A local developer has paid the State $2 million to create habitat along Egypt Road, and several meadows will be created this summer as part of that project.

Diane Cole