Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2000 21:10:23 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Stan Arnold Subject: Am. White Pelican at Blackwater NWR MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Folks, I made the rounds this afternoon visiting Ridgely, Hurlock, and Blackwater NWR (Dorchester Co.). I got to Blackwater just before sunset, and while driving the loop, stopped to chat with a fellow with a scope. It turned out to be Levin Willey (sp?), who I've known for years, and who was doing a census of the numerous waders coming in to roost. While chatting, Levin pointed to a pelican flying by, and when I got the bins on it, I clearly saw clean white wings with black wingtips. This is the first pelican of any kind that I've seen on the refuge, and only my second Am. White in MD. The bird essentially flew from over the loop drive, southward over the Blackwater River. By the way, this appears to be a reviewable species; do I need to submit a report? The tally of waders was impressive, and I offer the following estimates based on Levin's numbers and my own observations: Great Blue Heron 15 Great Egret 45 Snowy Egret 100+ TRICOLORED HERON 25 Cattle Egret 10 Black-crowned Ngt Hrn 20 GLOSSY IBIS 2 These are the largest concentrations of Tricolored Herons and Black-crowned Night Herons that I've seen in MD, and also the latest ibises. Ridgely WWTP (Caroline Co.) offered the following shorebirds: Am. Golden Plover 3 Killdeer 75 Pectoral Sandpiper 1 Hurlock had the usual snow goose pair (no migrants), hundreds of Canada Geese, lots of shovelers and Ruddy Ducks, three coots, and only Killdeer in the shorebird dept. An imm. Horned Lark was probably the most interesting bird there. Stan Arnold blackrail@earthlink.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================