Field Report: Eva R. Meng Bird Sanctuary and Wildlife Preserve, June 22, 2013

Once a year we do a bird walk through our own Meng Sanctuary in late June to determine which birds are breeding there. This year we reported 27 species, including good numbers of Pileated Woodpecker, Wood Thrush, Ovenbird, and Scarlet Tanager. The complete list, as submitted to eBird follows:

Turkey Vulture  10
Cooper's Hawk  1
Mourning Dove  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  11
Downy Woodpecker  7
Hairy Woodpecker  8
Northern Flicker  4
Pileated Woodpecker  5
Eastern Wood-Pewee  6
Great Crested Flycatcher  1
Red-eyed Vireo  3
Blue Jay  13
American Crow  7
Carolina Chickadee  19
Tufted Titmouse  13
White-breasted Nuthatch  16
House Wren  2
Carolina Wren  3
Wood Thrush  15
American Robin  10
Gray Catbird  12
Ovenbird  12
Eastern Towhee  3
Scarlet Tanager  6
Northern Cardinal  7
Red-winged Blackbird  1
Brown-headed Cowbird  5

Meng Sanctuary is an important link in the Stone Hill Greenway, an area of preserved contiguous forest in Limerick and Lower Frederick, Montgomery County. As the county becomes more and more developed, these contiguous woodlands play an increasingly important role for area breeding birds such as Eastern Wood-Peewee, Wood Thrush, Ovenbird, and Scarlet Tanager. However, the presence of edge species, such as Brown-headed Cowbird, show the need for more preservation of large wooded areas.