Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2000 16:41:58 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Marshall Iliff Subject: Re: Worcester Birds 9-26-27 (Iliff) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi all, I was asked to forward this to the list... Thge temptation was there to not send it at all, since I am beslandered throughout the post. Nonetheless, Mark's Western Kingbird analysis at th e end is pure gold, and it would be selfish to hoard it all to myself... From MARK HOFFMAN: ************************************************************************* ***** ******************* My response to Marshall's latest visit to the promised land: >>A highlight was finding two LARK SPARROWS together in loop B, campsite #39. It never fails, I achieve some personal best and Marshall ties or betters me. [wait till I add up my catboird and thrasher totals from yesterday! -- MJ I] >>These were my 4th and 5th Lark Sparrows on Assateague, fully half of Ma rk "Mr. Assateague" Hoffman's** total, not that I'm keeping score either, ahem***. >> ** - note that Mark was stripped of his "Mr. Worcester County" title i n June, when he failed the Worcester breeding bird quiz I reject the title "Mr. AI". I prefer to be know as "Former Mr. Worcester County". >> Other Assateague highlights were a single CLAY-COLORED SPARROW just ea st of the Life of the Marsh Trail along the southern woods margin. Mark (and this year, Greg Miller/Bob Ringler) had found most of the previous Clay-coloreds I have seen in MD, so it was nice to get one of my own fina lly. >> *** - I might note, humbly, that Mark FOUND two-four of the Lark Sparr ows I've seen on Assateague, depending on how you count the two today (same a s he had a week ago or not?). It is nice to see that Marshall is finally out birding and finding his ow n stuff. I get tired of these guys who just chase rarities and never find anything on their own!! >> The "Vireo Grove" did not disappoint, but unfortunately produced a WARBLING VIREO instead of the hoped-for Philadelphia. Granted, the Warbli ng is a far better bird on this late date... For Worcester, record late date for Warbling Vireo 9/28, for Philadelphia 10/20. There's still hope! (Marshall needs PHVI for state year list). >>I only wish I had seen half as many Western Kingbirds on Assateague as Mark has... I have only seen one Western Kingbird on Assateague (10/13/1990), so I to o would be fascinated to see one-half a Western Kingbird!! Maybe a Western x Cassin's hybrid?? Could I count that as one-half a state bird?? I know Marshall is hot to add Western Kingbird for his state list, so I thought I might give him (and others) some pointers, with all my experience (having seen a measly 3 in Maryland - 2 in Worcester and 1 in Anne Arundel). The following are my comments ... the data base please. 1) They don't stick. Of the 27 Worcester County records (first recorded i n 1946 on the long defunct Southeastern Worcester County Christmas Bird Cou nt), only one has occurred over a two-day period (09/17-18/1956). 2) They seem to be less common than in the past. The number of records by decade is as follows; 1940s=1 records/1 individual 1950s=5/5 1960s=6/7 1970s=8/12 1980s=3/3 1990s=4/4 Although there was a tremendous amount of field work in WC during the per iod 1955-1969 with the "Operation Recovery" banding station (and many of the reports during that period were from the banding station), I think field work has generally increased, particularly during the 1990s. For example, dur ing 1990-1996 I spent 123 days birding in Worcester County during the period 15 Sep to 15 Nov, roughly the principal range of dates for WEKI, and only observed the one bird mentioned above. 3) Timing. The extreme dates are 16 Sep and 29 Dec. By 10-day period the records fall as follows: mid-Sep (11-20): 2/3 (records/individuals) late-Sep (21-30): 4/4 early-Oct (1-10): 2/2 mid-Oct (11-20): 5/5 late-Oct (21-31): 5/9 early-Nov (1-10): 2/2 mid-Nov (11-20): 2/2 late-Nov (21-30): 1/1 early-Dec (1-10): 0/0 mid-Dec (11-20): 0/0 late-Dec (21-30): 4/4 Hence, the clear peak is in mid- and late-Oct, although mid-Sep through early-Nov is not that much worse. 4) Location, location, location Ocean City = 10, Assateague = 9, South Point = 2, Snow Hill area = 2, Other mainland = 2 Ocean City might be slightly over represented in the above listing, as ma ny records cited as "Ocean City" are actually from the adjacent mainland. B ut the pattern is clear, OC or Assateague is the place to look, at least dur ing fall, with South Point next best. But 3 (and probably all 4) of the wint er records are from the mainland. 5) A complete listing of the records is as follows (by month/day): 09/16/1958 OC - 1 (Adkins, E., Bauer, B., et al.) MB 14:100 "under obs. a ll day, 3rd cons. year found there in mid-Sep". 09/17/1956 OC - 2 (Cole, R. D., et al.) MB 12:103 Stewart and Robbins 195 8 Observed 09/17-18/1956. 1 banded on 09/18. 09/18/1956 OC - 1 banded. AFN "1 banded during period", no details. (Cole , G. H.) AFN cites no obs. MB 12:103 AFN 11:13 Stewart and Robbins 1958 MB "observed 09/17-18/1956, 1 banded on 09/18". 09/22/1957 OC/BANDSTA 1 (Goodpasture, K., Robbins, C. S., Stauffer, R. B ., Mrs.) MB 13:77 AFN 12:18 AFN "reported from coastal MD", no other details. 09/28/1995 AI - 1 (Dyke, S. H.) MB 53:17 09/30/1961 OC - 1 (Mult. Obs.) MB 17:123 09/30/1962 OC/BANDSTA - 1 (Mult. Obs.) MB 18:106 10/03/1993 AI/BS - 1 AB "AI". (O'Brien, M.) AB 48:97 10/07/1966 AI - 1 (West, R.) MB 23:16 10/11/1958 AI - 1 "first October record". (Wierenga, Harold) MB 15:32 10/13/1990 AI/SPS - 1 AB "AI". (MLH) AB cites MLH, LMD & HLW for two reco rds. MB 47:20 AB 45:86 Unpub. Obs. 10/14/1989 OC - 1 (Joyce, E.) MB 46:21 AB 44:72 MB "only report of season ". 10/19/1975 SOUTHPT - 1 AB "OC". (MLH, DuMont, P. G., Wierenga, H. L., et al.) AB cites PGD, RAR et al. MB 32:23 AB 30:49 Date in MB is 10/17 (incorrect ). 10/20/1975 AI - 1 "just N of VA line". (Ward, F. P.) MB 32:23 10/22/1972 SNOWHILL - 2 "along Rt. 113, 1.5 N of Shad Landing SP". (Amyx, H., Rogul, M., Werrlein, R.) MB 29:28 10/24/1971 WC - 4 AB # italized. "2 m. SW of OC". (Rowlett, R. A.) MB 28: 37 AB 26:44 AN 27:43 Rowlett 1971 AN "9 birds in 2 locations near OC" (other 5 in DE). 10/24/1977 AI - 1 (Rowlett, R. A.) MB 34:58 10/29/1978 AI - 1 (DuMont, P. G.) MB 35:25 10/30/1971 OC - 1 (Rowlett, R. A.) MB 28:37 11/03/1990 AI - 1 (Davidson, L. M., Klockner, W., Scarpulla, G., Wierenga , H. L.) AB cites MLH, LMD & HLW for two records. MB 47:20 AB 45:86 MB "flying south". 11/05/1961 OC/BANDSTA - 1 "late". (Cole, G. H., Hackman, D., et al.) MB 18:14 "seen". 11/12/1963 SOUTHPT - 1 "on the South Point road". (Scheider, F. G.) MB 19 :20 11/14/1954 SOUTHPT - 1 AFN no details. AN "sitting on wire on SOUTHPT highway". (Sommers, R., Sutton, H., ASDC Field Trip) S&R58 cites HS as ob s. AFN 9:16 AN 10:154, 162 Stewart and Robbins 1958 ASDC Field Trip Reports. AN "1st MD record in 5 years". 11/27/1972 OC - 1 "near OC", MD? (Rowlett, R. A.) AN 28:71 12/23/1946 SNOWHILL - 1 "4 m SW of Snow Hill". (SE WC CBC, Overington, R. B., Robbins, C. S.) MB 3:3-4 AFN 1:56-57 Stewart and Robbins 1958. Collected, USNM. Meanley 1949b refers to w/out details. 12/24/1964 OC - 1 AFN "very late". (Probst, J. R.) MB 21:51 AFN 19:367 MB "second winter record for state". 12/28/1985 DOWNSRD - 1 (OC CBC, O'Brien, J., O'Brien, M.) AB cites MOB. M B 42:52 AB 40:725 Accepted by MDDCRC #91-17. AB SPNAME in bold. 12/29/1981 OCCBC - 1 (OC CBC, Droege, S., Meleney, H., Pyle, P., Weber, D .) AB 36:509-510 SPNAME bold. Good luck Marshall!! Regards, Mark Hoffman ======================================================================== To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================== ==========================================================================