Hi All,
Although yesterday started chilly and a bit breezy and clouded up to a
humidly chilly sort of day by the end the birdng was good. Water fowl
were the stated target of teh day and we accumulated 20 species in
visits to the Chestertown treatment plant as seen from John Hanson Rd.,
St. Paul's Millpond and the Chesapeake Farms HQ pond off Ricaud's Branch
Rd., and Eastern Neck NWR. Good counts included about 280 shovelers, 80
Ring-necked Ducks, and 100 Ruddy Ducks at John Hanson Rd.; about 200
pintail and 250 Green-winged teal at Chesapeake Farms; and at least 70
Gadwall,100 black ducks, and 150 Lesser Scaup at Calfpasture Cove at
Eastern Neck Island. We also had a few recently arrived Tundra Swans
(13), just on time, at Eastern Neck.
The best finds of the day were among the last as we found two BROWN
PELICANS in the channel between Kent Island and E. Neck. I. as seen from
the platform at the Bayview-Butterfly Trail at the refuge. Mike Bowen
spotted the bird first. It was north of Love Ponit on Kent I. and slowly
headed towards us and the Chester River Sound - perhaps as much as 4
miles away at first. The bird eventually passed inside of Love Point in
Queen Anne's County waters and ended up as close as a mile away on the
Kent County side of the line. As the bird passed southward and started
to land on the water we noted *another* young pelican on the water about
0.6 miles to the southwest of the platform. This bird gave good, if
somewhat backlit, views for about 10 minutes before it headed off for
Love Point and deeper waters.
Among the other good birds of the day were a late juvenile/first winter
ROYAL TERN on the tide flats at Eastern Neck Narrows as three of us left
the island (Louisa Duemling, Nancy, and me); a distant single hen BLACK
SCOTER in the Chester River as seen from Bogles Wharf, 2 each of
Canvasback and REDHEAD at Calfpasture Cove among the scaup and
ring-necks; 12 Bonaparte's Gulls at John Hanson Rd. (over the back
pond); and 20 American Pipits at John Hanson Rd. We also were
mercilessly teased by 5 backlit and high-flying swallows at the
butterfly garden. Based on morphology and a single white flash below,
probably Tree Swallows, but maybe they were more exotic...
Our bird species total for the day was 74. Not a bad outing at all.
Good Birding,
Walter Ellison & Nancy Martin
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