Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 21:44:17 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Marshall Iliff Subject: Sandhill Crane and Eastern Shore sites - 24 July MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi all, Headed down to Hooper's Island to see the SANDHILL CRANE previously repor= ted by Les Roslund. I immediately found it right where it was supposed to be= , feeding on the lawn with 6 Canada Geese. As reported by Les, it is in ad= ult plumage and furthermore gives an adult-like call. It was unalarmed when = I parked on the shoulder but at one point when it was close to the road and= I drove up on it, the bird took alarm and flew around calling, eventually settling down in the same yard. Unfortunately I forgot my camera (!) and didn't get any photos. The bird appears heavily worn and has only just b= egun replacing a few of its feathers, namely some upperwing coverts, back feathers, and apparently all the greater secondary coverts, all of which = are pale gray and contrast with the brown-stained older feathers. Probably m= y first time seeing Sandhill Crane and Seaside Sparrow in the same binocula= r field. Looking out to sea from a few Hooper's Island sites there were several Br= own Pelicans and 30 Common Terns over the Bay. Just one Willet on Middle Hooper's Island - perhaps they have already moved away from breeding area= s. I checked a few other sites on a circuitous route home. BLACKWATER NWR 2 Caspian Terns 5 Greater Yellowlegs 60 Lesser Yellowlegs (flybys) 2 Stilt Sandpipers (w/ yellowlegs flock) 50 Great Egrets 70 Snowy Egrets (mostly off Rte. 335) 1 im LITTLE BLUE HERON (off Rte. 335) TOWN OF HURLOCK 2000 Brown-headed Cowbirds (mostly males) 200 European Starlings 250 Common Grackles HURLOCK WWTP 200 Tree Swallows 200 Bank Swallows 50 Barn Swallows 1 CLIFF SWALLOW (my 2nd for Dorchester and long awaited first for Hurlock= ) 2 Snow Geese (present since May) 3 Ruddy Ducks (present since May) OAK GROVE RD 2 Vesper Sparrows 5 Lesser Yellowlegs 2 Least Sandpipers PEMBERTON MANOR, 2 mi east of Starr, Rte. 309, Queen Anne's County 3 Lesser Yellowlegs 1 Greater Yellowlegs 3 Solitary Sandpiper 6 im LITTLE BLUE HERONS 1 Cattle Egret 2 Great Egrets ROUTE 309 POND 1 male Ruddy Duck Best, Marshall Iliff miliff@aol.com Annapolis, MD ========================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ========================================================================= ===========================================================================