Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2001 07:13:17 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Danny Bystrak Subject: Western Shore Big Day MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi all, Since there was no "Bad Boys of Birding" Worcester County big day, perhaps you might enjoy hearing of another: Sunday (2-18-01), Sue Ricciardi and i made my second attempt at a Western Shore Big Day. The plan was to start at Jacobs Farm/ Pt Lookout and work our way back north. We were pleasantly surprised by a Palm warbler and a White-crowned Sparrow in a flock opposite Long Neck Rd. Then by a House Wren at Jacobs Farm (who looked really sad and cold, but got to chattering quite loudly, so i guess he wasn't too unhappy). Brown-headed Nuthatch, Brown Creeper and Pine Warbler came more easily than expected in the Park. Ducks really let us down (i have never seen them clear out this early!), and the only scoter we could tick was Surf. Also the very reliable Great Cormorants could not be found. At this point, we were already TOTALLY sick of the wind, which the forecasts had promised would abate during the day. Patuxent Naval Air Station was great for quite a few new species, but we (and Doug & Lisa Lister) could not find the N Shrike or the O C Warbler. Did get the Sanderlings and Dunlin tho. Beauvue Ponds were a total disaster (on Friday they were COVERED in ducks), but Breton Bay had our only Ruddy Ducks and Leonardtown gave up its Forster's Tern (and our only Red-shouldered for the day!) The Johnson bridge gave us peregrine and a flock of Lesser Scaup, as well as a surprising Pied-billed Grebe. We took a chance and wasted 1/2 hour going to Jeff-Patt for the Baltimore Oriole (not seen). Hope was renewed at Stoakley Rd, where the Red-headed Woodpeckers cooperated beautifully (but not the Phoebe), and God's Grace Pt. cooperated with a D-c Cormorant. Things were looking bleak for the magic 100 mark on the way back, but we pursued the plan as if they weren't. The Upper Marlboro ponds came thru on all counts except the somewhat reliable Snow Goose who couldn't be found. However, sue's remarkable raptorized vision caught the most amazing bird of the day at Schoolhouse Pond (no -- not that swan). Soaring over the pond was an OSPREY! My earliest ever by 11 days. Jug Bay provided a very pleasant finish to the day as the nasty wind finally abated and we added 4 more species, bringing our total to 95! On our way to drop Sue off, an owl cruised alongside the car in the failing light, but was too short-notice to get an ID on. After Sue left, i hooted up a Barred Owl behind my house, and later a Great Horned was calling. So i ended up with 97. Remarkable misses included White-breasted Nuthatch, Pileated Woodpecker, Fish Crow, Belted Kingfisher, Common Snipe, Sharp-shinned Hawk and a few others. The next day (Mon, 2-19-01) i managed to see 7 of the 3 species we missed Sunday (grrr). Oh well, next year. danny bystrak bristol, AA Co. MD wiwr@aol.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================