Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2000 07:15:40 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Marshall Iliff Subject: News from the MD Coast MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi all, Made it out to do a bit of birding this weekend, with a few birds to make it feel like it was all worthwhile braving the sub-freezing temps. On the evening of 2 Dec 2000 I found a Marbled Godwit at Eagle's Nest Campground, though the bird was nearly all the way across on Assateague. With luck this bird will hang on until the Xmas Count, when it has been recorded (Mark help me here!) only 2-3 times. I have not seen Willlets or Semipalmated Plover in the past week, but both may still be present. George Armistead and I refound this bird easily today when it was on the sandbar very close to the boat landing. Only 23 Black-bellied Plovers was lower than the previous evening (63). On Ironshire Station Road I photographed an apparent _hutchinsii_ Canada Goose with a huge flock of Snow Geese. The pale breast and broad ale back edging should suffice to eliminate _minima_. Today I birded with George and Harry Armistead. Notables were 3 Rusty Blackbirds at E.A. Vaughn (central), immense blackbird flocks around Girdletree, Snow Hill, and the Central Landfill. Alas, no rarities I could be certain of. We also successfully located the "old reliable" Le Conte's Sparrow near Girdletree and the Rufous Hummingbird at Alan Deward's feeder. Also a late Osprey flew southbound over Alan's house as did two Great Egrets! An interesting late season flight! Herons seem to have totally withdrawn from the Ocean City area, and it has been more than a week since I saw my last egret, Tricolor, or Little Blue. Good Birding, Marshall Iliff miliff@aol.com Ocean City, MD ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================