Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2000 08:08:20 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Mark Hoffman Subject: Assateague/WC-9/16-17-LaSp,PhVi,MoWa,YBFl,etc. MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit MD birders -- I led (and I use the term loosely with this group) a Carroll County Bird Club trip to coastal Maryland, on Saturday and Sunday, 09/16-17. The advertised bird for the trip was Philadelphia Vireo, which was needed as a lifer or state bird by the majority of the participants (plus we had some folks scheduled for only Saturday or Sunday). Nothing like a little pressure for yours truly -- but it was my idea, after all. Bob Ringler helped mightily with what was a times an almost unruly mob. I always enjoy much more a bird you have to spend hours searching for, for after a successful quest the reward just seems incredibly greater, than if you just drive up, get out of your car and tick. Apparently, my world view is not universal. Our timing could not have been better, with the strong cold front that passed through the area on Friday. Early Friday night I was concerned the winds were too strong, but going out in the pre-dawn in Ocean City the relatively gentle NW wind was perfect for migration. We recorded 10 Swainson's Thrushes and 1 Veery while loading the cars Saturday morning. The Bayside Campground area on Assateague Saturday morning was about as good as it gets in mid-September. Flock after flock of migrant warblers rose from the scrub, circled overhead, and made there way across Sinepuxent Bay. A wondrous treat. Some may not appreciate trying to identify overhead warblers in flight giving there all so distinctive flight notes (Michael O'Brien were are you?), but the heck with them. This beats warbler-neck in spring a hundred fold. The warbler total was about 240, with Magnolia Warbler (20), Black-throated Blue Warbler (15), Black-and-White Warbler (15) and American Redstart (40) the most common, as expected, along with warbler (sp.) (100). The first nice bird of the day was an immature Lark Sparrow, that was most cooperative, my 9th on AI. After that I had a Mourning Warbler, which unfortunately did not cooperate for the group. We also had Warbling (1) and Yellow-throated (1) Vireos, the latter being by far the rarest vireo on Assateague. After considerable effort, we did finally catch up with a PHVI. It was enjoyed by all, with all 5 vireos for the day! We then hit Ferry Landing Road, checked the overgrown ponds behind the State Park Headquarters, and Eagles Nest. Bob took the group to the Berlin Sewage Ponds, Griffin Road and the OC area, while Amy and I did the West OC Pond and Skimmer. Bob also did the 94th Street woods and had a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, always a b----- to find. Amy and I were able to race back to the woods and relocate the bird just as dusk was setting in. The next day, Sunday 9/17, we again started out at Bayside. The wind was much strong (but still from the NW) and the migrant flight was much reduced. Some species, particularly flickers (35) and Baltimore Orioles (45) were more in evidence, but the warbler diversity was lower, but with slightly more redstarts. We did have one Red-breasted Nuthatch, which apparently have been most scarce this fall. Also one Bank Swallow (only the 4th WC record for September and a county bird for Bob). The Lark Sparrow was again present, this time right by the sewage dump station a the SW corner of camping loop C. For the newcomers, we had 2 Warbling Vireos before any luck with the Phillies, but finally had wonderful views (and photos) of 2 Philadelphia Vireos together in the same spot as on Saturday. We then birded in the AI/State Park North area, but had nothing unusual, but did add Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Blackpoll Warbler. That was it for the official trip. On the way home, Amy and I hit Hurlock and did see the Eared Grebe, her fourth state bird of a very successful weekend (Philadelphia Vireo, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Tennessee Warbler and Eared Grebe). Plus Bob got 4 or 5 county birds. He's is closing in on 300, so he might become a respectable birder yet ... Regards, Mark Hoffman Complete lists for AI/Bayside for each day: 09/16/2000 Assateague Island/Bayside Campground Times: 0645-1200 Brown Pelican -- 60 Double-crested Cormorant -- 40 Great Blue Heron -- 3 Great Egret -- 50 Snowy Egret -- 10 Little Blue Heron -- 8 Tricolored Heron -- 5 Green Heron -- 2 Turkey Vulture -- 2 American Black Duck -- 1 Green-winged Teal -- 4 Osprey -- 2 Bald Eagle -- 2 Merlin -- 2 Black-bellied Plover -- 5 Semipalmated Plover -- 2 Killdeer -- 3 American Oystercatcher -- 2 Greater Yellowlegs -- 2 Lesser Yellowlegs -- 1 Ruddy Turnstone -- 1 Laughing Gull -- 200 Herring Gull -- 20 Caspian Tern -- 5 Royal Tern -- 30 Forster's Tern -- 10 Mourning Dove -- 6 Downy Woodpecker -- 1 Northern Flicker (yellow-shafted form) -- 8 Eastern Wood-Pewee -- 1 Least Flycatcher -- 1 Eastern Phoebe -- 2 Eastern Kingbird -- 3 White-eyed Vireo -- 5 YELLOW-THROATED VIREO -- 1 (the rarest of the vireos on AI, this was only by third YTVI for Assateague) WARBLING VIREO -- 1 (although less common than the Philadelphia in migration, this factoid was little appreciated by the PHVI seekers, as the bird came prior to our find below). PHILADELPHIA VIREO -- 1 (at last, as the morning was drawing to a close we were able to draw a PHVI from the deciduous trees opposite the parking lot for the life of the marsh trail, across the main road). Red-eyed Vireo -- 12 Tree Swallow -- 10 Carolina Chickadee -- 3 Carolina Wren -- 10 House Wren -- 12 Veery -- 1 American Robin -- 1 Gray Catbird -- 60 Brown Thrasher -- 10 European Starling -- 6 Cedar Waxwing -- 25 Nashville Warbler -- 1 Northern Parula -- 8 Magnolia Warbler -- 20 Cape May Warbler -- 2 Black-throated Blue Warbler -- 15 Black-throated Green Warbler -- 1 Pine Warbler -- 3 Prairie Warbler -- 4 Palm Warbler -- 6 Black-and-White Warbler -- 15 American Redstart -- 40 Ovenbird -- 1 MOURNING WARBLER -- 1 (MLH only, made two quick pops and unfortunately not seen by the rest of the group) Common Yellowthroat -- 25 warbler (sp.) -- 100 Scarlet Tanager -- 5 Eastern Towhee -- 12 Chipping Sparrow -- 1 Field Sparrow -- 4 LARK SPARROW -- 1 (a nice imm. bird, at the SW corner of the B camping loop. Vide by RFR). Song Sparrow -- 2 ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK -- 12 (excellent total, normally seen in 1s to 3s. WC record count appears to be 17 banded on 9/13/1962 in OC, record non-banding one-day total.) Bobolink -- 15 Red-winged Blackbird -- 2 Boat-tailed Grackle -- 25 Brown-headed Cowbird -- 20 Baltimore Oriole -- 14 House Finch -- 4 American Goldfinch -- 1 09/17/2000 Assateague Island/Bayside Campground 0640:1000 Common Loon -- 1 Brown Pelican -- 30 Double-crested Cormorant -- 40 Great Egret -- 10 Snowy Egret -- 80 Little Blue Heron -- 5 Tricolored Heron -- 22 Turkey Vulture -- 1 Mallard -- 2 Bald Eagle -- 1 Merlin -- 1 Northern Bobwhite -- 1 Semipalmated Plover -- 6 Killdeer -- 1 Laughing Gull -- 80 Herring Gull -- 20 Great Black-backed Gull -- 4 Caspian Tern -- 4 Royal Tern -- 20 Mourning Dove -- 10 Belted Kingfisher -- 1 Northern Flicker (yellow-shafted form) -- 35 Least Flycatcher -- 1 WARBLING VIREO -- 2 PHILADELPHIA VIREO -- 2 Red-eyed Vireo -- 10 Fish Crow -- 2 Tree Swallow -- 20 BANK SWALLOW -- 1 (only 3 other Sep records in WC data base) Red-breasted Nuthatch -- 1 Carolina Wren -- 5 House Wren -- 4 Veery -- 1 Swainson's Thrush -- 2 Wood Thrush -- 1 American Robin -- 2 Gray Catbird -- 80 Brown Thrasher -- 15 Cedar Waxwing -- 40 Tennessee Warbler -- 1 Northern Parula -- 1 Yellow Warbler -- 2 Magnolia Warbler -- 4 Black-throated Blue Warbler -- 1 Prairie Warbler -- 1 Palm Warbler -- 2 Black-and-White Warbler -- 3 American Redstart -- 60 Common Yellowthroat -- 10 Wilson's Warbler -- 1 warbler (sp.) -- 25 Eastern Towhee -- 6 LARK SPARROW -- 1 (photos, MLH) Song Sparrow -- 2 Northern Cardinal -- 3 Rose-breasted Grosbeak -- 1 Indigo Bunting -- 2 Bobolink -- 2 Red-winged Blackbird -- 10 Boat-tailed Grackle -- 10 Baltimore Oriole -- 45 House Finch -- 2 American Goldfinch -- 1 ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================