It was a nice day to be out so I did some birding on the E Shore, the first visit there for some time.� I didn't find anything new but caught up with some recently reported birds.� These included the female Barrows Goldeneye which was quite close to the locked gates at the Talbot end of the fishing pier.� A sign there says these will not be opened until April.� The Dorchester side is open but if the bird remains in the vicinity of where it was today it will be a long walk.� There was also a nice collection of duck at the usual feeding spot in Cambridge, including one male Redhead.� I also found 3 Common Eider in OC inlet, one immature male and two female.� They were inside the inlet.� I could not find the Harlequin. It was not all that busy but I did get point blank looks at Atlantic Brant floating just off the rocks.� On the way back I checked the Holiday Inn Express at Kent Narrows and there were only 5 Ruddies there.
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I also stopped off at the Salisbury landfill viewing the lake and tip from Naylor Mill Road.� There were not that many large gulls there- perhaps 1000 - and I could not locate any white-winged gulls - but there were 3 ad/sub ad Lesser Black-backs.� The gulls were constantly being put up by the local eagles, and on one occasion as they began to settle and circle around over the road I glimpsed out of the corner of my eye two birds tangling, then one bird plummeting to earth like a stone. It hit the grass verge only 20 feet from me with a big thump.� I went over and saw it was a 1st cycle American Herring, breathing its last. It died very quickly.� I really am not sure what happened here - there were eagles around but I am almost certain the bird this one was tangling with was another gull, and the rest of the birds were not behaving like a raptor had just struck one of the flock. Perhaps in the tangle it broke its wing and crashed to the ground. Its
possible a Greater Black-backed Gull did the damage.
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Good birding,
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Clive Harris
Cabin John, MD
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