Just returned home from counting my sector of the Pt. Lookout CBC. As Jane mentioned, the Barrow's Goldeneye, presumarbly the same bird as last winter, was mixed in with a flock of Common Goldeneyes. When we first started counting waterfowl, it was shortly after sunrise. I thought I saw the BAGO from the beach at the Elms Environmental Center classroom building. It was pretty distant to the north so we walked north along the old road bed to a grassy clearing where I found the bird last year on the count. I relocated it for sure noting the crescent on the face and the darker mantle as well as the vertical sloping forehead. After ticking the field marks, I tried setting up for some digiscoping but the bird had moved off to the northwest and we were never able to relocate it even after moving to a neighborhood further north (where I have permission from their neighborhood association) as well as walking much further north on the old road bed.
Anyway, if anyone is attempting to relocate this bird, the only public access is through the Elms Environmental Center at the end of St. James Road (across from Mattapany Road). You will need to park in the hunter parking lot about a block short of the gate. Walk through the gate and before you get to the classroom building there's a wooden gate on the left (north). Walk under/around and continue north looking for a well worn trail to the water. If you can't find the BAGO there, continue north and the water gets much closer to the remnant trail as you get closer to the more northerly set of pound net poles.
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Tyler Bell
<jtylerbell...>
California, Maryland
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From: Jane Kostenko <jkostenko...>
To: "<mdbirding...>" <mdbirding...>; "<md-smas...>" <md-smas...>
Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2012 8:23 AM
Subject: [MDBirding] Male Goldeneye in St. Mary's County
Tyler just called (8 a.m.) to say he found a male Barrow's Goldeneye at Elms Beach in St. Mary's County. He and two others are participating in the Point Lookout Christmas Bird Count and Tyler made a point to look for this bird, having found it at this same location in the past. He said they saw it from the Elms property but that the bird was in a flock of Common Goldeneye far to the north on pound nets. Anyone interested in chasing this bird should just park in the marked hunter parking lot of the Elms property and walk in (free and open to the public this time of year), looking for a trail that heads north.
Just FYI, Tyler's phone battery was dead and he won't be able to take any calls this morning during the count. He will post more details once he finishes.
Jane Kostenko on behalf of
Tyler Bell
<jtylerbell...>
California, Maryland
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