Finally! Fred Fallon relocated the male Harlequin Duck yesterday morning and it was relocated by Joe Hanfman and Jeff Culler. I arrived shortly after 4 pm. I quickly found the HADU in a mixed scaup flock that angled diagonally northwest from Calvert waters into Anne Arundel waters. Where I had it was in an area that I'm not comfortable calling Calvert so I watched him swim further northwest until it was near the piers. It hung out there for a while then I lost it (the bird, not my sanity). After scanning back and forth for a about a half hour, I relocated it as it was swimming southeast. When I finally felt comfortable that it had moved south far enough into Calvert waters, and then some, I packed up.
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There are many large scaup flocks in this area. I watched them diving and coming back up with what appeared to be clams. The Harley dove frequently, too, but I was never able to see it with anything in its bill when it surfaced.
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Although Atlantic Avenue is clearly marked residents only parking, there is plenty of parking on 9th Street. I walked to the far northern end of Atlantic Avenue and scoped from the sidewalk.
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Remember that this is a cartographic nightmare area. Depending on which map you look at, the AA/Calvert line varies. We hashed this out when the immature Yellow-crowned Night-heron was in the marsh�drainage. Depending on which side of the road it was lurking, it could be in either county. North Beach Marsh is solidly in Calvert. I believe we came to a resolution that the line angles 45� to the southeast at the Anne Arundel County line sign on the bridge. What the county line does once it enters the water is a good question. I'm assuming it doesn't angle southeast but proceeds due east? Does anyone know? I found this map that seems to back up that argument:
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http://www.zipmap.net/Maryland/Calvert_County.htm
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Anyway, a very cool bird that hasn't been reported in Calvert County since Marshall Iliff's 12/11/1990 probably in the same area, and Jim Stasz's 12/10/1985 bird at the Chesapeake Beach Marina. Why they're more regular at Pt. Lookout vs anywhere in Calvert, I don't have a clue!
�Tyler Bell
<jtylerbell...>
California, Maryland
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