After a few days’ leave to help with the Maryland Biodiversity Project’s Dan Rock morning flight bird count, I returned to a week where the weather cooperated for outdoor adventures around the Blackwater watershed. When a cold front moved in on Thursday, we saw the first true signs of fall around the Canyon. Winds out […]
Another short week for me paired with good weather led days filled with field surveys. Bird surveys led to picking through multiple flocks of passerines, a testament that fall is right around the corner, and in my opinion is quite welcome. Places along the Blackwater Rail Trail were abundant with groves of Staghorn Sumac which […]
The summer showers in this week of July meant many days being in away to the confines of my office. However, as in life, there were breaks from the storm. Mornings were luckily when many of these breaks occurred, which led to me being able to complete several bird surveys. While many local breeders continued […]
Despite some rainy periods, I was able to conduct two very successful butterfly surveys this week, along with plenty of good birding. On the afternoon of July 19th produced the warm sun rays finally broke through the clouds enough to aid in butterflies being on the wing. The highlight of this survey came in the […]
This week I completed my first bird transect, that fell along the Thomas section of the Blackwater Rail Trail. July is an interesting time of the year to be out birding as you can note the breeding behavior of birds and start to see the first trickling of bird movements. In saying this, July is […]
This week’s adventures featured the last of the bird point count surveys on the Blackwater Rail Trail. Highlights included birds that were already proving that post breeding dispersal and failed breeding movements are starting to occur. Post breeding dispersal occurs when species have finished up their nesting for the season and disperse out from their […]
This week I completed the second survey of the 12 points along the Blackwater Canyon Rail Trail with good results. Wednesday morning started off with delightful summer temperatures as I worked my way along the Blackwater Canyon Rail Trail from Douglas to Thomas. Each of the twelve survey points consisted of a 10-minute period where […]
