Coolest sighting on this rainy day: 2 snow white Turkeys feeding with normally-plumaged Turkeys, just before Lowe's Wharf Rd. on Tilghman Island Rd. I was also surprised to see a male Red-breasted Merganser floating around behind Knapps Narrows marina.
Coolest sightings yesterday: In first place, Marcia Balestri!! I was poking around Assateague when I saw an Actual Birder with scope and bins coming through some pines. I rolled down the window and asked if she'd had anything on that section of the beach and she said, "Well, we're looking at a bird called a Red Crossbill just now." My car parked itself as I leapt out and enjoyed the small flock of male and female RECRs, more than all the ones I've ever seen put together! Moving on to Ocean City, I hoped to find a Purple Sandpiper as I walked along a narrow wall above the rocks, searching every crevice. Some shorebirds came in and I did my imitation of a cartoon character (knees turned to jelly, causing me to wobble on the wall and nearly fall onto the birds) as I realized that I was staring at 35 PUSAs at my feet. I guess this is not unusual, and maybe some day I will be enough of a Marylander to be nonplussed by such a sight, but for me at this moment -- Wow!!
So the Red Crossbills and the Purple Sandpipers are tied for second place behind the lovely and gracious Marcia (and Gentleman Bob too!).
Suzanne Wagner
Wittman
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