Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2001 04:47:01 -0800 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Greg Miller Subject: Belated Weekend Rpt (2/23-26) (yeah...it's long) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Howdy All! Well...I finally made it back to Maryland for some birding. I traveled with a group of about 20 of us from the Columbus area down to Virginia Beach for the Patteson Pelagic this weekend. We birded up the coast on Sunday into Delaware. I twisted my carload's arms and we birded Elliott Island before leaving for Ohio on Monday morning. After Saturday, I am still in shock. I thought DOVEKIES were just a figment of people's imaginations (yes, a lifer for me--I have always been on the wrong boat on the wrong day *OR* the wrong side of the boat). We also saw 52 ATLANTIC PUFFINS, which is just shy of the record number of 58 seen in one day for Virginia. CBBT had the usual suspects, but no Harlequin Ducks. We missed the "Eurasian" Green-winged Teal at Eastern Shore Refuge, but tagged the EURASIAN WIGEON at Chincoteague. At Ocean City Inlet was a major cha-ching...a RAZORBILL (Maryland lifer #318) in pouring rain. On to Silver Lake where we whiffed on the female Tufted Duck, but pick up a COMMON BLACK-HEADED GULL. Monday morning found 3 of us wackos out Elliott Island marsh trying to find a February Black Rail. Unfortunately, we met with little success on the rail (my attempts to find Black Rail every month of the year have been dismal, scoring only in April, May, and June). Best birds included some shorebirds: Greater Yellowlegs, Dunlin, and Short-billed Dowitchers in the same pool at the north end of the marsh where the Black-necked Stilts nested last year. Finally, on the way out of Maryland, our carload observed a Rough-legged Hawk a mile east of the Grantsville exit on the north side of Rt 68 in Garrett County. As an out-of-state aside, I have seen Rough-legged Hawks in 10 counties this year in Ohio, with one day yielding a whopping dozen individuals of these handsome birds (nearly half I've seen are dark phase). I miss the great year 'round birding in Maryland the the familiar faces I've come to know. I also miss Maryland's 23 counties. Ohio has 88...ouch. Will I have one county close-out in a year? Hmmm. Best birds in Ohio this year have been a Varied Thrush south of Toledo and a Townsend's Solitaire east of Cleveland. Gulling along Lake Erie has been primo as well with many reports of Glaucous, Iceland, Thayer's, and Lesser Black-backed Gulls and 3-4 rpts of California Gull. Purple Sandpipers are to-die-for great birds here (unlike O.C. Inlet!). Oh, and Long-eared Owls do exist...quite a few of them, in fact...just NOT in Maryland. On a sad note, I lost my father just 2 days after moving to Ohio in November. Not only was he my dad, but also my birding mentor--teaching me about birds and birding since I was a little kid. We birded together in over 40 states, spanning 39 years of birding (that I can remember). I've birded western Lake Erie (Crane Creek St Pk / Ottawa NWR) at least one day of every Spring for the last 20 years with my father. Any of you visiting Ohio and wanting to do some birding are certainly welcome to call/write me. My new contact info: 6006 Inishmore Ln Dublin, OH 43017 H)614-761-7683 Cell) 614-783-8670 -Greg Miller Dublin, Ohio __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================