Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 02:24:50 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Mark Hoffman Subject: Maryland/Worcester County March Big Day-Part 3-The PM MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit At the Worcester County Central Landfill, Marshall got us our Lesser Black-backed Gull, but we didn't have time to try for anything better, leaving at 12:57 p.m. Quick stops at old sapsucker, House Wren and Orange-crowned Warbler stake-outs in Newark proved fruitless. The Evans Road sparrow spot came through with the requisite White-crowned Sparrows, leaving at 1:27 p.m. Low tide at Ocean City was at 10:25 a.m., and we wanted to hit Eagle's Nest as quickly as possible. We bolted for there, with wheel-man Hoffman's many hours of watching Formula 1, NASCAR and CART races coming in handy through-out the day, although like in an endurance racer, performance waned as the hours passed. (He's practicing for Jersey already). At Eagle's Nest we added Dunlin, Black-bellied Plover, Piping Plover (7) and oystercatcher to our meager shorebird list, but could do no better. West OC added Rock Dove (poor Jim was harassed for adding a bird to the day's list), while the pond produced the usual suspects - Black-crowned Night Heron, Canvasback, Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked Duck, Ruddy Duck and a stake-out (from 3/22) immature Mute Swan. Marshall had a great pick, with a female hooded merg buried in the edge of the willows on the pond's southwest corner, our only one of the day. Marshall had the wisdom (of youth?) to wander off to the evergreens just north of the pond along Horn Island Drive (I thought you were suppose to stay together for a big day?!?). But still in ear shout, Jim and I quickly followed as he nailed a Red-breasted Nuthatch, Golden-crowned Kinglet (which we missed) and ultimately a Dark-eyed Junco. Amazingly, the only time we recorded any of these three species all day. A key find. We checked the Riggins Ridge Road pond and marsh but added nothing. On to Skimmer Island from Hooper's. The herons were back, with both Little Blue and Tricolored in the marshes to the north as new to the day's list. Jim pulled a couple Oldsquaw from the far side of the bay to the north, again unique for the day, to answer Marshall's distant Brant. It was amazing how many species (included many "common" ones, we only saw once all day). The OC/Inlet was bare-bones. The requisites, Red-throated Loon, Northern Gannet, Purple Sandpiper and Ruddy Turnstone were there, but we struggled for anything else. A lone female Black Scoter out by the rock pile and a single fly-by drake Surf Scoter were the best we could do. The Harlequins present last week were either gone or hiding. We left at 3:45 p.m. We made a quick run up to the 23rd St. flats and Heron Island, hoping for Cattle Egret, but dipped. At dusk, this probably would have been a shoe-in. Then on to the Ocean Pines Ponds and the staked-out Snow Goose, or more properly geese, as there were three. En route, we decided it would be mandatory to try and do some clean-up land birding. We still needed phoebe, catbird, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, waxwing, as the most likely. Last March's attempt had missed phoebe and we did not want to suffer the same indignation. Marshall argued for checking a waxwing spot along Gum Point Road that had been productive in December. Again, we voted him down 2-1, as the trail seemed way too cold for this nomadic species. Additionally, a return to the south would allow us to check the critical shorebird field pond that had been so productive yesterday, but dead this morning. We tried an often very productive field/pond area at the northeast corner of the Routes 90 and 113 intersection, but it was dry. We hit the Berlin Sewage Ponds on the way south. The nice flock of Bonaparte's Gulls (as seen on 3/30) were still there, but no additions, like Northern Rough-winged Swallow. Then farther south, we stopped at a creek crossing on Five Mile Bridge Road that had been productive for Jim and Marshall in the past. Marshall pulled the much-needed phoebe from the scrub. Species #130. On to the Pocomoke! The day was getting late and we were running out of time. We arrived at Old Furnace Road @ Nassawango Creek at 5:05 p.m. A nice passerine flock came into the owl tape (a gnatcatcher, Yellow-throated Warblers, etc.), but no new birds. Where are the kinglets? Old Furnace Road @ Pusey Branch was more of the same. We left the forest at 5:32 p.m. Stopping at the Rt. 12 @ Rt. 113 field/pond again, a quick scan reveled there were shorebirds! Not as many as the day before, but they key species were there: Greater Yellowlegs (5), Lesser Yellowlegs (42), Pectoral Sandpiper (1) and dowitcher (sp.) (1). We had had yellowlegs (sp.) at George Island Landing, but otherwise they were all new. That brought the total to 133 and we felt the record was all of a sudden in reach. Then Marshall, scanning, spotted a distant sharpy, perhaps the pick of the day. #134! Another landbird stop at the entrance to Truitt's Landing was unproductive. Arriving at the marsh, the Rusty Blackbirds were again in the trees on the south side of the road, right at the juxtaposition of the woods and marsh. Yes! #135 We walked the road, looking, praying, for anything. Jim nailed a Short-eared Owl flying high over the marsh south of the road. The state record was tied! My walking through the marsh failed to produce a bittern and we just couldn't get anything else as the darkness enveloped us. We left at 7:05 p.m. A quick discussion (and check of the data base) indicated our best shot for American Woodcock was on Assateague. We had to go there for Northern Saw-whet Owl anyway. Despite the general fatigue, we bolted. Arriving at the Assateague Causeway at 7:40 p.m., multiple stops at the State Park, Bayside, Ferry Landing Road and South Beach failed to produce a single timber doodle. I had dropped my tape recorder in the marsh at Truitt's (with the back-up doing me no-good in the hotel room), so we had to play saw-whet from the car tape deck with the doors spread open. Poor Jim was zonked in the back seat (man that teddy bear looked comfortable) and had to put up with the loud tooting, the interior car light and the always annoying door open chime. He slept through it all. Finally at 8:54 p.m. we decide that enough was enough. We were hungry and tired. We had tied the state record and set a Worcester record. We feasted at Boomer's and headed back to Pocomoke City to crash after putting 260 miles on the odometer. Weather: The day was nice with just slightly cloudy conditions throughout. Wind was light and pre-dawn and in the morning with a slight increase in the afternoon. Temperatures were low, however, with a real chill during the night. ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================