Southern MD: Another Day At The Office

I did quite a bit of driving today for School Specialty. My car and I visited Maryland's Southern-most school, Ridge Elementary in St. Mary's County. In between all of today's many school visits, the birds were showing themselves often (even at the posted speed limits).

TOP HONORS go to: An American Kestrel, two Red Shouldered Hawks, two Red Tailed Hawks, a Coopers Hawk, four Bald Eagles, one Palm Warbler, a Brown Creeper and six Brown Pelicans.

The most cooperative bird of the day (was a tie): An American Kestrel in Calvert County offered me a superb view for several minutes. This brilliantly colored raptor perched on a telephone wire approximately 30 feet away, across the street from my idling car on the roadside.

The other rather cooperative raptor was a Red Shouldered Hawk in St. Mary's County. The bird stood out on the skyline as I drove on Route 5. It was perched in a dead tree near a bar called the Green something or other. Might have been the green 'door' or 'shed'? I'm sure they have excellent food.

In any case, the traffic was light, so I pulled into the parking lot for a much closer look. This Red-Shoulder was having a time of it, jumping around on a junk pile, then to the ground to eat something it pulled from the grass. And then it was back on the junk pile and repeat. It was quite entertaining and since all this was happening some 15-20 feet in front of my car, I snapped two photos from my trusty iPhone. Enjoy!
One thing I feel I should mention: the water on the Potomac side of Point Lookout is clear. The bottom is visible, even where the depths are two feet and more. If only the upper parts of the Chesapeake enjoyed that same clarity.

Good Birding,

Dan