Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2000 01:08:29 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Marshall Iliff Subject: Hudsonian Godwit at Ocean City etc. 9/12-13 (and GW Bridge today) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit MDOsprey, A late post, written hours before I leave for 10 days in Hawaii (my first trip there). I was down in coastal Worcester Tues and Weds (12-13 Sep). On the trip down I hit Blackwater. The flats off Rte. 335 at Blackwater River are still interesting with 120+ egrets, 1 Glossy Ibis, 2 White-rumped, 23 Stilt, and 10 Pectoral Sandpipers, and some other shorebirds. On the refuge loop, there were more shorebirds including 9 White-rumps. The Hampshire Rd. Turf Farm still hosted the one juv. Buff-breasted Sandpiper, right where Glen reported it (first field, north side of rd. just west of Wal-Mart). A very active little thing running around chasing bugs. Ocean City itself had nothing too weird. 94th St. woods was dead with only a couple migrants. Skimmer I. was devoid of unusual birds and West OC Pond also had just the standard fare. I birded woodlots around South Point in an hour and a half before dark. 1 Eastern Kingbird and 1 Blue-winged Warbler were the only notables. At dusk I walked around Rum Pointe Golf links, which I thought might be good for migrants. High winds kept the birds low so I didn't find much, other than a Savannah Sparrow (had my first of Fall on Sunday at Smith Island). As I was returning to the car, I crested a small rise and added a bird to my state list (#345). An adult Hudsonian Godwit was feeding right there on the green in front of me. It fed there for a minute or two, then took off and flew around a bit before resettling. Clearly antsy and ready to migrate, it flew again, resettled, then took off and departed to the south, not to be seen again. For the record, the underwings were dark and it was not a Black-tailed Godwit. On Wednesday morning I birded Assateague which was dead save for a Wilson's Warbler, 1 Black-throated Green, a Canada, and a gazillion catbirds at Bayside Campground. Not much else to report oon the trip home - my first two Pied-billed Grebes at Hurlock...my only previous grebe being Eared. Also two Black Terns there. Today I visited Jones Pt., Alexandria VA, at dusk. Looking on the Hydrilla in MD there was a mixed flock of peep (Least and Semi) numbering about 25, a single ad Common Tern, a single Black-crowned Night-Heron, and a ton of gulls which did not get checked as thoroughly as I would have liked. On Sunday, last weekend, Jim and I birded Pt. Lookout and took the boat to Smith Island. Pt. Lookout had: Nashville, Warbling V, and a few other migrants. Smith I. had: Nashville, Least Fly, Blackburnian, Northern Waterthrush, anda few others as well. My first Savannah Sparrow of the Fall was on Smith and the first Palm Warblers (western) were singles at each place. After the boat we explored Saint Mary's a bit. Shrimpy was in place at Sandgates. Best of all was an Olive-sided Flycatcher atop a snag at the beaver pond at Rte. 5/Rte. 4 intersection. As we approached Jim read my mind" Should we stop here for an Olive-sided". "Of course", I replied. We pulled off, got out of the car, and there it was! Good September birding to all! I'll be back 25 Sep and ready for some more warblers! Best, Marshall Iliff miliff@aol.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================