I birded Swan Creek this morning and early afternoon, by myself for awhile and later with Tim Carney and Dan Haas. There were a lot of nice migrants along the gravel road leading down to the wetlands, with the highlight for me being a brief but close view of a Philadelphia Vireo low in a tree next to the road. Also in this immediate area were several Redstarts, Common Yellowthroats, a Magnolia Warbler, several Blackpoll Warblers, and a singing Wilson's Warbler. Down in the wetlands, I heard two Soras and Dan and I briefly saw another foraging on the mudflats in the open.
Shorebirds included small numbers of Least Sandpipers, Semipalmated Sandpipers, four Semipalmated Plovers, one Lesser Yellowlegs, and a half dozen or so Spotted Sandpipers. In the north cell, we saw three or four Dunlin, with three possible Western Sandpipers. The plumage and structure looked right from some distant photos, and the birds were foraging in the deeper water right along with the Dunlin the entire time they were in view (I watched them for 15 minutes or so) as they foraging in the water, and flushed from location to location in the north cell. Also present were the regular Snowy Egret, Little Blue Herons, and Least Terns. There was also a surprising variety of ducks present, including a Black Duck, Green-winged Teal, a male Blue-winged Teal, a few Ruddy Ducks, and a pair of Shovelers.
I also birded several locations around Laurel, with the highlights being six Cliff Swallows off Bond Mill Road West (near the Rocky Gorge Dam) and one distant Common Raven.
Fred Shaffer
<GlaucousGull...>
Crofton, Anne Arundel
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