Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2000 22:56:57 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: David Mozurkewich Subject: Eastern Shore MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII I've been considering a trip to Assateague all month but kept putting it off because I was too busy. But when I got home mid-afternoon Saturday and heard about the Fork-tailed Flycatcher in Delaware, it was just enoug h to push me over the edge. I ran off to the coast to look for it and to spend Sunday morning on Assateague. When I arrived on Miller Neck Road I was surprised to see I was the only birder there. I walked up and down the street checking the reasonable perches, then ran into the landowner. He told me I had missed seeing the bird depart to the north by an hour. I decided to take his advice and ra n off in that direction checking wires along a few roads and every snag at Assawoman. Time to call it a day and head for Ocean City. But since Miller Neck Roa d is the only reasonable route, I decided to stop for one final look. I arrived at sunset, just in time to see the flycatcher fly from its perch. It flew down, behind a building. I waited another 15 minutes, until it was too dark to reasonably keep watch, but I did not see it come out. I assumed it had flown to roost. I would have liked a better view, but sometimes one has to settle for what one gets. It seems I made the correct decision by returning Sunday morning. Considering the Fork-tailed Flycatcher's sunset-to-dusk behavior, I'm a little surprised no one saw it at dawn Sunday. Does anyone know if this bird is a nocturnal migrant? I would also like to see this bird show up in Maryland, but I think it's more likely to show up at Cape May. Considering his point of origin, it was clearly heading north east; I see no reason why we should expect it to turn around now. Assateague was fun, as always, but either there was no morning flight, or I missed it due to the mist, rain and my old-age-related loss of hearing and eyesight. I ended up with about 100 warblers of 10 species, but with the exception of a nice noontime flock near the ferry landing, they came one or two at a time. The best bird was an immature Dickcissel. I also saw 5 Baltimore Orioles, and a single flock of perhaps 10,000 Tree Swallows passed by in about 10 minutes around 9AM. Dave David Mozurkewich Seabrook MD USA mozurk@bellAtlantic.net ======================================================================== To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================== ==========================================================================