Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2000 19:11:51 -0600 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: marty cribb Subject: Sightings from Smith Island 12/31/00 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hello again, didn't realize I would be back so soon but had a very = interesting observation this AM possibly related to the N'easter = churning up the coast. While my sightings of sanderlings have been = unusually high most of the fall and winter I had an exceptional # today = which far exceeded any count I have previously seen at any location = either in the Mid-Atlantic or on the Gulf Coast. Between 300-350 basic = plumage Sanderlings were observed loafing on a sandbar/mudflat off the = west jetty. The weather conditions at the time of the sighting were = brutal to say the least with temps in the mid teens with a stiff breeze = of 25 knots from the west. Cloud cover was approx 40% and high. The = birds were hunkered down and not actively feeding and the only movement = was occasioned by large #'s of gulls moving about the area. Along with = the Sanderlings I also observed 12 Dunlin flying across the creek as = well as approx 1,000 Northern Pintails, several doz Canvasbacks and = numerous other species of waterfowl. Marty Cribb, Smith Island, Md=20 ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =======================================================================