Date: 2/16/13 2:58 pm
From: David Mozurkewich <mozurk...>
Subject: [MDBirding] Jug Bay Birds -- gulls, ducks and pelican



February, 16, 2013

I don't chase a lot of birds but Jeff Shenot's Pelican at Jug Bay,
straddling the PG/AA county line, was just a little to tempting.
Lynette Fullerton and I took his suggestion and went to Patuxent River
Park. After finding a break in the trees behind the Visitor Center, it
took all of ten seconds to locate this wonderful bird which was quietly
resting near the eastern shore of Jug Bay. This was about 1:45. As
soon as we enjoyed our distant view and thanked this welcome visitor, he
began to swim south actively feeding along the way. Lynette reminded
me that it was Saturday, not Sunday. Why is that important? Because it
helps to know what day of the week it is if you want to interact with
the rest of society. More importantly, Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary is
open on Saturdays. We figured we'd have a better view from there and we
were on our way.

The darkening sky, rain and snow slowed us down, but just a little. We
skipped the observation deck and the railroad bed trail and walked down
to Otter Point. We did not relocate the pelican but enjoyed a very
brisk walk and got some practice keeping snow off our optics.

On our way back, we decided to take the Railroad Bed Trail into the
marsh. The view of where we last saw the pelican would be more
distant than from Otter Point but we could also see further downriver.
This is when the afternoon began getting interesting. First, about
3:30, we relocated the White Pelican. It was still hugging the east
shore but well south of where it had been. My guess is it was just north
Selby's Landing and probably not visible from there. The campground
north of Selby's has access to the river and was where we probably
should have been to see it well.

There were hundreds of gulls flying south and perhaps a thousand resting
out in the marsh. I began looking through the flybys and was rewarded
with an ICELAND GULL among the Herring and Ring-bills. Deciding the
afternoon was as good as it was going to get, we headed for the parking
lot but ended up stopping at the observation deck just in case the
Osprey was still there. No osprey but lots of gulls and we quickly
found two Great Black Backed Gulls and two Lesser Black Backed Gulls.
Then we looked through the ducks. Yes, some of us look at gulls before
looking at ducks. There's a big flock of Green-Winged Teal wintering
here. I've been looking through them a couple of times a month trying
to find a COMMON TEAL. And today I did. It came in pretty close to the
deck giving us great scope views and what I hope are good enough photos
to satisfy the records committee (assuming they are interested).

For those who care about such things, all these birds were in that
county east of the river. However, usually most of the Green-winged
Teal I see here are in the marsh at the mouth of the Western Branch in
Prince George's County. Anyone interested in relocating the teal
should probably search from Mount Calvert since the Jug Bay Wetlands is
only open to visitors Wednesday through Saturday.

After a day like this, maybe I should start an AA county list.

Dave
David Mozurkewich

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