Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 10:52:38 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: leslie fisher Organization: cecil bird club Subject: Cecil Shorebirds/Courthouse Point Hopping MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi All: I spent part of today primarily searching for Cecil shorebirds and began at the Glebe Rd. boat basin - no shorebirds. Did have FORESTER TERNS still feeding young. On to Mill Rd, which dead ends at a broken dam, and had good habitat in the spring- no shorebirds. Now is overgrown with vegetation and only a trickle of water flowing through. However, I did get a county bird for the year, VESPER SPARROW perched on a wire along this road bordered by fields of corn and soybeans. There were also singing GRASSHOPPER SPARROW. I took 282 over to Stemmers Run Rd, and Pond Neck Rd into Stemmers Run- no shorebirds. The impoundment was overgrown and dry. Nothing on the river. However, did get good looks at BLUE GROSBEAK and YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT. Oh, and an adult BALD EAGLE. From here I travelled over to Grove Neck Rd. to explore the Grove Neck WMA ( permit in hand ). No shorebirds. However, there was LEAST BITTERN calling, PIED BILLED GREBE, imm. LITTLE BLUE HERON, WOOD DUCK, and, another BALD EAGLE. My last stop I hit shorebird pay dirt. At Court House Point, where I should have started my day, I began to get glimpses of lots of little moving things in the impoundment from the top road as I walked. When I broke into an unobstructed view of the impoundment, I was ecstatic. 3 year county birds, boom, boom, boom!! In order- SNOWY EGRET- ( 1 ) Interesting to observe the frenzied hunting action of this bird, compared to the Great Egrets and Little Blue Herons. GLOSSY IBIS- ( 3 ) Had despaired of getting these 2 species this year. PECTORAL SANDPIPER- ( 14 ) Others present were: GREAT EGRET- ( 6) GREEN HERON- ( 5 ) LITTLE BLUE HERON ( 4) adults and ( 5 ) immature Mixed flock of 200+ LEAST SANDPIPER ( juveniles in lovely buffy colors ) and SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER ( try as I might, could not find a Western ) KILLDEER ( 10 ) Conditions are great at CHP right now, lots and lots of mud flats. I will be making a trip back in the near future. Also had more BLUE GROSBEAKS here, a male and 2 imm. Now, if I could have only found that Least Tern for the county today...... Leslie Fisher Cecil Co. ========================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ========================================================================= ===========================================================================