Date: Tue, 22 May 2001 09:49:48 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Marshall Iliff Subject: Maryland Big Day (Part II - misses) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hi all, The worst misses on our 19 May, 2001, Big Day run by Iliff, Armistead, and=20 Hafner... Coding: Code 5 - About 122 species; not designated in the list; species which are=20 100% or nearly so on any reasonable big day and barring any unfortunate=20 mishaps (running out of time, encountering fog at inlet, rain, etc.). We got= =20 them all. Code 4 - about 69 species; marked with single asterisk (*) on list; species=20 which are 80-90, are predictable to a certain extent, and which could be all= =20 gotten with a good day and excellent scouting. We missed a respectable 6 cod= e=20 4s Code 3 - about 31 species; marked with a double asterisk (**); species which= =20 are unpredictable, rare breeders, and any one of which could be missed on an= y=20 big day. Each one seen is a small triumph and we managed 14. Code 2 - about 44 species; in all caps in the list; these ae the true "bonus= =20 birds", and we managed to find 4, all of which we had found during scouting=20 except the White-winged Scoters at Poplar. Code 1 - Accidental or totally unexpected in May. Not even predicted on my=20 coding list, the only species this rare was the Pacific Loon which George an= d=20 I found at Ocean City 15 May and which graciously hung in until the Big Day. MISSES (worst misses in ALL CAPS) Code 4 NORTHERN GANNET (missed at Ocean City, perhaps due to late (8:15) seawatch,=20 had been regular over past week) BROWN PELICAN (none at Ocean City where they have been inconsitent, few have= =20 moved into Bay waters yet) BLACK RAIL (no luck at two regular nesting sites)=A0 =A0=20 KING RAIL (Truitt's Landing Rd. unproductive, several large rails at Cedar=20 Hall Wharf on the Pocomoke could have been this species, but occur in habita= t=20 that is not clear-cut and had vocal characteristics more consistent with=20 Clapper...thus not included in our list)=A0 =A0=20 PIPING PLOVER (high tide at Eagle's Nest, 15 unproductive minutes spent=20 looking, nest site exclosure easily visible) COMMON RAVEN (one consistent site in Garrett did not produce in our 15=20 minutes there, intense scanning along I-68 was similarly unproductive as wer= e=20 intentional skywatches at Finzel and Rocky Gap; scouting a nest is nearly=20 essential on this one)=A0 =A0=20 Code 3=20 LEAST BITTERN (several nest sites in Worcester and Somerset did not produce) Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (no good sites along route; none at West OC Pond=20 where I had seen one in Apr) Green-winged Teal (one at Pocomoke Sewage Ponds several days before was only= =20 one seen recently) BLACK SCOTER (no luck at Poplar or Ocean City)=A0 =A0=20 RED-BREASTED MERGANSER (none found during scouting, should be at Poplar=20 and/or Ocean City most years) COOPER'S HAWK (scarce breeder in state; no luck; could be better scouted by=20 locating a nest) Peregrine Falcon=A0 =A0 (new route does not include nest sites at Bay Bridge= and=20 Deal Island) RUFFED GROUSE (two drumming sites scouted were clearly inconsistent; could b= e=20 better scouted by finding a regular morning drumming location) SORA (no luck with a bird heard at Hammel Glade; other potential nest sites=20 failed to produce as well) Common Snipe (none winnowing in Garrett since 1998, when O'Brien et al. had=20= 3=20 at 3 different sites!) Bonaparte's Gull (none seen recently) Gull-billed Tern (no consistent site along route) Roseate Tern (no luck with Hoffman's bird at OC Inlet)=A0 =A0=20 Sandwich Tern (no luck at Skimmer Island)=A0 =A0=20 NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL (no luck at known nest sites; found by O'Briens et al.= =20 previous day) Yellow-bellied Flycatcher=A0 =A0 (poor migration day, none seen recently) Sedge Wren (none seen recently at semi-regular sites in Garrett and Worceste= r=20 Counties)=A0 =A0=20 Tennessee Warbler (poor migration day, none seen recently)=A0 =A0=20 Nashville Warbler (poor migration day, none seen recently; may still nest in= =20 Garrett but I have never seen a breeder in Maryland and we found none at=20 potential sites (Cranesville, Finzel) along our route)=A0 =A0=20 Cape May Warbler (poor migration day, none seen recently)=A0 =A0=20 Bay-breasted Warbler (poor migration day, none seen recently) Wilson's Warbler=A0 =A0 (several migrants seen in Garrett during previous tw= o=20 days)=A0 =A0=20 Lincoln's Sparrow (poor migration day, none seen recently)=A0 =A0=20 White-throated Sparrow (poor migration day, none seen recently)=A0 =A0=20 Code 2 GREATER SCAUP (one scouted at Cambridge Thursday was not found Saturday) WILSON'S PHALAROPE (one scouted at Cedartown Rd. was gone by Wednesday) Pied-billed Grebe; Horned Grebe; Sooty Shearwater; Wilson's Storm-Petrel;=20 American Bittern; Tundra Swan (some years present at Hurlock); Northern=20 Pintail; Northern Shoveler; American Wigeon; Redhead; Ring-necked Duck;=20 Lesser Scaup; Common Eider; Harlequin Duck; Oldsquaw; Common Goldeneye;=20 Bufflehead; Hooded Merganser; Mississippi Kite; Northern Goshawk; Merlin;=20 Ring-necked Pheasant; American Coot; American Golden-Plover; Pectoral=20 Sandpiper; Stilt Sandpiper; Ruff; Long-billed Dowitcher; Red-necked=20 Phalarope; Parasitic Jaeger; Long-eared Owl; Yellow-bellied Sapsucker;=20 Bicknell's Thrush; American Pipit; Philadelphia Vireo; Dickcissel; Nelson's=20 Sharp-tailed Sparrow; White-crowned Sparrow Best, Marshall Iliff *********************** Marshall Iliff miliff@aol.com Annapolis, MD ************************ ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================