Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2001 08:41:20 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Henry Armistead <74077.3176@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Glaucous @ Hooper's Island MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii April 13, 2001, Dorchester County, 6 a.m. - 5 p.m. Overcast becoming fair then clear. 64-76 degrees. Light rain 8:45-11:45. Wind SW 5-15 becoming NW 5. 96 species in spite of the rain, an hour nap at Blackwater, and no night and minimal woods birding. A lot of birds have arrived, other creatures emerged. Glaucous Gull hanging around a long dock just n. of Riverside Wesleyan Church in the town of Fishing Creek on Hooper's Island, Dorchester County. This is on the east (Honga River) side of the road. The bird has a considerable gray area on its back so it would seem to be a bird that is going out of 2nd winter plumage and into adult breeding plumage. Does that sound right? The bill is still two-toned but not as dramatically so as in most imm. GLGU I've seen in winter. A nice bird, affording me several good looks at rest (on a piling) and in flight. Chunky with wing tips extending slightly past the tail when at rest. Entire length of the trailing edge of wings white. It was discovered a few days ago according to the clipboard at Blackwater. I neglected to make a record of the observers' names. At Blackwater: 1 Pied-billed Grebe (pool 3a), 22 Cattle Egrets, 47 Glossy Ibis (in a field near the V.C. with CG's and 2 Nutrias feeding alongside), 1 Green Heron, 18 kestrels (Egypt Rd. - as many as I've ever seen there even at the peak of the fall migration), 1 bobwhite calling ("singing"), 13 Caspian Terns, 1 Chimney Swift, 1 Grasshopper and 3 White-crowned Sparrows. Also at Hooper's Island: 28 Horned Grebes, 7 Willets and 1 Sanderling. At Elliott Island Rd.: 1 Pied-billed Grebe, 1600 Ruddy Ducks (in Fishing Bay), 1 dark-phase Rough-legged Hawk (a real beauty hovering at close range near the northernmost, un-abandoned hunt club that is on the east side of the road; very dark), 2 Least and 2 Pectoral Sandpipers, 2 Black-necked Stilts (at the "gallinule spot"), 0 Willets and 0 Seaside Sparrows. At Route 50 c. mile 92.7 and just east of Chicamacomico River and north of 50 is a lovely little densely-wooded pond where there were 11 Hooded Mergansers. Other totals for the day: 325 Double-crested Cormorants, 51 Snowy Egrets, 22 Blue-winged Teal, 13 Wild Turkeys (a meagre total but seen at 5 places), 28 Greater and 46 Lesser Yellowlegs, and 5 swallow species incl. 2 rough-wingeds and 4 Banks. Other goodies: the urge to emerge with a splurge. Mud Turtles with their scarab-like shells at 9 places right on the roads, water snakes at 12, and a Black Rat Snake at one, most still unharmed. Numerous Diamondback Terrapins in Fishing Bay sizing up the shoreline. A d.o.r. Red Fox kit on Elliott I. Rd. Loads of Fowler's Toads calling this morning. 1 Fox Squirrel at Blackwater. A few small sulphurs, a Cabbage White and a unid. anglewing in the butterfly department. Rigby's Folly, near Royal Oak, Talbot County, April 12, 2001. All day. Mostly overcast. Winds NE 5 shifting to S 10. 54-73 degrees. Did not bird in the morning. 45 species. 510 Surf Scoters (more present but due to the chop and haze were not seen well enough to crank into the estimate), an ad. Bald Eagle on the nest, a small covey of 6 quail (hardly see or hear them anymore), a Pectoral Sandpiper (flushed from the big field; 4th property record), 3 Chimney Swifts, a flicker at its freshly-excavated nest cavity, 1 Marsh Wren (4th property record; in a small, clumpy "Spartina alterniflora" marsh at the head of the cove), 2 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. Also: big chorus of Fowler's Toads and Spring Peepers in the evening. A few leopard frogs and Green Frogs. A bat flying all around the yard at 8 P.M. Quite a few Winter Jellyfish but not as many as on April 8. 2' water snake basking by the pond. 1 small sulphur, 1 Cabbage White and a unid. anglewing. Best birding to all.-Harry Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA 19119. ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================