Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2001 13:20:50 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Stan Arnold Subject: Common Eider; LBB Gull; & RN Pheasants MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Folks, Joan Decarli and I spent a good part of the weekend birding the eastern half of the state. The highlights were: a return of Common Eider to Ocean City Inlet, a Lesser Black-backed Gull (adult) on Skimmer Island in Ocean City; Six Ring-necked Pheasants in Baltimore; a Barn Swallow near Irish Grove; a Glossy Ibis and an Am. Bittern at Deale WMA; and plenty of Great Egrets, E. Phoebes, and Pine Warblers. Details: Sat., 24 March 2001 Ocean City Inlet COMMON EIDER--female, fairly well seen from the edge of the parking lot at about 8:30 a.m.; it was swimming and diving along the near-side of the rock jetty, about 100 feet in from the jetty's end. There are still plenty of RED-THROATED LOONs, PURPLE SANDPIPERs, and BONAPARTE'S GULLs around the inlet, along with 3 LAUGHING GULLs in the parking lot, but we found no Harlequin Ducks, Razorbills, or scarce gulls. 24 March, Skimmer Island, as viewed from the west end of 3rd St in Ocean City: LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL--an adult, loosely hanging out with the large collection of Herring Gulls which are probably preparing to nest there, and also easily compared with some nearby Great Black-backed Gulls. Also on the Island were several AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHERS and a flock of more than 100 BRANT. 24 March, Assateague Island Nat. Seashore We saw at least 3 GREAT EGRETs and 3 EASTERN PHOEBEs, and at least 5 PINE WARBLERs were singing along the woodland trail there. 24 March, Vaughan WMA, Worcester Co. The north tract was skipped because of hundreds of cars parked along Taylor's Landing Rd. for an auction; the central tract offered more GREAT EGRETs, but nothing else of particular interest. 24 March, Rumbly Point Rd., near Irish Grove Sanctuary, Somerset Co.: GREATER YELLOWLEGS--5 LESSER YELLOWLEGS--8 DUNLIN--75 BARN SWALLOW--1 There is still a large collection of Canvasbacks and scaup in the bay, visible from the end of the road. 24 March, Deale Island WMA, Riley Roberts Rd. Section, Somerset Co. AMERICAN BITTERN--one seen flying around dusk GLOSSY IBIS--ditto GREATER YELLOWLEGS--5 LESSER YELLOWLEGS--15 DUNLIN--40 Also, a huge collection of Boat-tailed Grackles was seen there. 25 March (Sun.), Cherry Hill Park, Baltimore City (Directions: from the Baltimore beltway, I-695, on the south side of the city, exit north onto Ritchie Hwy (Rte 2), and follow this all the way to the Harbor Hospital. Turn right and park in the hospital parking lot, then follow the (trashy) path under the bridges to the park. Once in the park, walk south (left).) RING-NECKED PHEASANT--3, of which one was heard across the Patapsco River in Reed Bird Island Park; one was heard on the south side of Cherry Hill Park, near the railroad tracks (there is a crude grassy path, recently bush-hogged, along here); and a third heard, and then flushed (a male), also along this path. Also in the park were 3 EASTERN MEADOWLARKs and a COMMON SNIPE. Though not reported, last week on 18 March we saw 10 Common Snipe, an American Tree Sparrow, and two male Blue-winged Teal in the park (not seen today). After leaving the hospital parking lot, we drove north on Rte 2, then exited east onto McComas St. in order to take I-95 north through the Fort McHenry Tunnel. While on McComas St., standing in the median of the road was a male RING-NECKED PHEASANT. When we came to a screeching halt, the male bolted, and two females came from across the road to follow him. I've lived in Maryland for six years now, never having seen a pheasant in this state. Today I saw or heard six. Murphy's law of life (or state) birds holds true. (this is state bird #313 for me). Final stop for the weekend was Back River WWTP, and surrounding areas. On Friday I had called for permission to enter the plant, and we were waved in, unlike last weekend when we were turned away. There were about 20 BONAPARTE'S GULLs flying over the property, giving extraordinary looks, but none of the "good" gulls were present. A Red-shouldered Hawk came cruising over the sewage tanks, scattering the larids, but that was all that was of interest. Outside the plant, from Diamond Point Rd., we viewed the mudflats of Back River, where there were a couple hundred Bonaparte's Gulls, but were not able to pick out any Little or Black-headed Gulls from among them (the seeing conditions were poor due to wind and distance). It was a fun weekend. Stan Arnold Glen Burnie 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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================