Bird

In early April, Greg and Susan Mason of Clear Spring spotted this robin in their backyard. Although at first they thought it might be an albino, the Masons realized that there is still coloring on the breast. Greg said he had to purchase a new Cannon digital camera just so he could capture the bird for the photo. They sent a photo off to Cornell University experts who confirmed it isn't albino, but the coloring is rare. Even though it doesn't look like the rest of the birds, 'the robin seems to be content and the Masons suspect its a female and is building a nest.

Ninty-three percent of all males love these calls: The lady in distress who needs a man of mechanical ability to get her out of an epic crisis. But it should be noted that there is a small group — my group — that fears these calls like they fear the permitting process on a protected wetland. We are the unfortunates who have no mechanical ability, the ones whose failings in the manhood department will be sorely exposed should we ever have to come within 20 feet of a torque wrench.

The Potomac Valley Audubon Society will sponsor a bird walk in the Bolivar Heights section of the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park on Wednesday, Sept. 19. The trip begins at 8 a.m. The event is free. No registration is required. Participants will meet at the Bolivar Heights parking area. The trip will involve a three-mile hike partly through woods. Participants will have the option to drop out at about the halfway point. This trip will be cancelled in the event of rain.

The Potomac Valley Audubon Society will sponsor a bird walk on the C&O Canal near Harpers Ferry on Wednesday, April 4. The event is free and no  advance registration is required. Anyone with an interest is welcome to come along, regardless of their birding skills. Binoculars will be available for anyone who needs them. Children will be welcome. The walk will cover about four miles of level terrain along the towpath. Participants should plan to meet at 8 a.m. outside John Brown's Fort, where Potomac and Shenandoah streets join in Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.

The Potomac Valley Audubon Society will sponsor a bird walk at the National Conservation Training Center on Saturday, April 28. Event is free and anyone with an interest is welcome to come along, regardless of their birding skills. Participants should wear sturdy walking shoes or boots, dress appropriately for prevailing weather conditions, and bring water and bug spray. Binoculars will be available for anyone who needs them. Advance registration  is due before Monday, April 23. To register, go to www.potomacaudubon.org or contact trip leader Sandy Sagalkin at monsansagalkin@myactv.net or 240-291-6465.

WAYNESBORO, Pa. -- They collected nearly 200,000 pennies from piggy banks, parents and parking lots, and, on Tuesday, students at Hooverville Elementary School were rewarded with the National Audubon Society's first-ever "BioBash. " The elementary school's contribution of $1,915 to the "Pennies for the Planet" campaign earned it recognition as raising more than any other school involved. Donations support Atlantic puffins on the islands of Maine, preservation of the Four Holes Swamp in South Carolina and research of sagebrush in Wyoming.

The Potomac Valley Audubon Society will sponsor a bird walk at Harpers Ferry for Wednesday, June 13. Participants will meet at 7 a.m. in the parking area on Shenandoah Street just below the intersection with U.S. 340. The walk will be free and anyone with an interest is welcome to come along, regardless of their birding skills. Children will be welcome. The walk will focus on the riverfront and old canal areas of Virginius Island. Likely species to be sighted include orioles, various types of vireos and flycatchers, herons, ducks, raptors, and perhaps a few types of warblers.

The Potomac Valley Audubon Society will sponsor a birding trip to its Stauffer's Marsh Nature Preserve in Berkeley County on Saturday, Nov. 17. The trip will begin at 8 a.m. and last several hours. It is free and open to anyone with an interest, regardless of their birding skills. Children will be welcome. The Stauffer's Marsh Nature Preserve is in Back Creek Valley in Berkeley County, one-half mile south of Shanghai, on the east side of Back Creek Valley Road. Meet in the gravel parking area at the north end the marsh.

Hurt bird released owl-right By KERRI SACCHET / Staff Writer photo: RYAN ANSON / staff photographer SHARPSBURG - When Rex Miller's canoe glided down the Potomac River on the afternoon of Friday, July 7, he never expected he and his group would end up saving an injured barred owl caught in a fishing line. It was by chance that Miller turned his head and saw that the bird was in a weird position. "It just didn't look right to see the wing and tail just laying in the water," said Miller, a biologist and administrator for Shepherd's Spring Outdoor Ministry Center at Sharpsburg.

Editor's Note: Tim Rowland is on vacation this week. In his absence, The Morning Herald is publishing previous columns. This column first appeared Jan. 8, 1997. Fully realizing that this puts me in the same category as some very odd people, I must admit that one of my favorite hobbies is bird watching. Only half of the hobby is bird watching, really. The other half is watching the people who are watching the birds. I'm not a fanatic about it; I don't have one of those monopods with the land equivalent of the Hubble telescope so you can categorize the fibers on an evening grosbeak to see whether it may have been involved in the O.J. Simpson case.

Jeannette Pearce, of Funkstown, hasn't always been a loyal Baltimore Orioles fan. In fact, she never really got into baseball until last May, when she was 88 years old. On May 6, 2012, the O's were looking to complete a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox in Fenway Park. Baltimore won the game in thrilling fashion, defeating Boston 9-6 in 17 innings. It was this elongated marathon that fascinated Pearce, sparking her Orioles fandom. “I didn't really become a baseball fan until last year.

Christian Walker stroked an RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning Sunday to lead Delmarva to a 2-1 walk-off victory over the Hagerstown Suns. The victory allowed the Shorebirds (3-1) to win the season-opening series over the Suns. Walker drove in both Delmarva runs in the win. Delmarva pitching - led by Branden Kline, a Thomas Johnson graduate and the Baltimore Orioles' No. 2 pick in the 2012 draft - held the Suns to three hits. Hagerstown's only run came on Brandon Miller's first home run in the seventh, a leadoff shot to center that tied the game at 1. Kline pitched six innings, allowing two hits, while walking two and striking out three in the no decision.

The Delmarva Shorebirds edged the Hagerstown Suns 4-3 on Thursday night in the teams' South Atlantic League season opener. The Shorebirds broke a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the eighth inning against Suns reliever Brian Rauh. With two outs and the bases empty, Joel Hutter hit his second triple of the game and scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch. Delmarva went up 2-0 in the second against Suns starter Dixon Anderson. Hutter hit an RBI triple and scored on a sacrifice fly by Roderick Bernadina.

The Potomac Valley Audubon Society will sponsor a birding trip in the Snavely Ford section of the Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg, on Saturday, April 13. The trip will begin at 8 a.m. and last about three hours. It is free and open to anyone with an interest, regardless of their birding skills. Children will be welcome. Registration is not required. Snavely Ford is on Antietam Creek in the southern part of the battlefield, near the Burnside Bridge. Trip participants should meet in the Burnside Bridge parking lot. The trip will involve moderate hiking, mostly on level ground.

The Potomac Valley Audubon Society will sponsor a birding trip to the Altona Marsh in Jefferson County, W.Va. at 8 a.m.  Wednesday, March 20. The Marsh is a 70-acre marl wetland protected by a Nature Conservancy easement. It is a good site for birding, not only because it harbors a rich variety of species but also because the terrain offers easy viewing. Species likely to be seen at this time will include waterfowl, winter visitors and year-round birds. The trip is free. Children ages 12 and older must be accompanied by an adult.

The Potomac Valley Audubon Society is accepting applications for its 2013 "Birding 101" course for beginning birders. The course will focus on bird species found in the Eastern Panhandle area. The classroom sessions will start Thursday, April 4, and continue April 11, 18 and 25. All of these sessions will be from 7 to 9 p.m. at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Conservation Training Center north of Shepherdstown. The field trips will be at various locations around the Panhandle on Saturdays, April 6, 13, 20 and 27, from roughly 7 a.m. to noon.

The Potomac Valley Audubon Society's February program at the National Conservation Training Center, off Shepherd Grade Road, Shepherdstown, will feature a presentation about wild bird conservation and research in West Virginia.  The program will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 13, in Room 151 of the Instructional West Building. Admission is free. The speaker will be Richard Bailey, state ornithologist with the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources. He will review his agency's efforts to work with other agencies, universities, nonprofit organizations and volunteers to conserve and protect birds and their habitats.

Interested members of the public are invited to participate in the annual C&O Canal Midwinter Bird Survey on Saturday, Jan. 26. This survey, which is coordinated by the District of Columbia Audubon Society, is designed to provide a snapshot count of birds present along the entire, 185-mile length of the canal. Locally, the Potomac Valley Audubon Society will count the birds on a three-mile section of the canal between Antietam Creek and the Rumsey Bridge at Shepherdstown. The group conducting this count will gather at the large National Park Service parking lot on Canal Road just south of the railroad bridge, and leave from that location at 7:45 a.m. sharp.

Most gardeners enjoy sharing their gardens with birds. From cardinals flashing crimson at our feeders to goldfinches plucking seeds from our coneflowers, our feathered friends make us smile. Why not honor them with some holiday gifts? Start with a long, cool drink of water. Fresh water is hard to come by in the winter, so start with a birdbath. Then tuck a birdbath heater inside. Splurge on a sturdy one and it will last for years.     Location matters. Place your birdbath so you can see birds sipping and splashing from a window.

The Potomac Valley Audubon Society will sponsor a birding trip to its Stauffer's Marsh Nature Preserve in Berkeley County on Saturday, Nov. 17. The trip will begin at 8 a.m. and last several hours. It is free and open to anyone with an interest, regardless of their birding skills. Children will be welcome. The Stauffer's Marsh Nature Preserve is in Back Creek Valley in Berkeley County, one-half mile south of Shanghai, on the east side of Back Creek Valley Road. Meet in the gravel parking area at the north end the marsh.