Date: Sun, 19 Aug 2001 08:23:58 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Mark Hoffman Subject: Assateague Island-08/15/01 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I had the pleasure of birding on Assateague Island, Worcester County, Maryland, this past Wednesday, August 15th, with Stan Arnold. Stan bought a new RAV4 and had visited the ORV zone, but the "old" directions (in Claudia Wilds' book) didn't seem to work too well. I volunteered help get him oriented. The inland road is now closed and the dune crossings have been renumbered. A front passed last Monday, with NW winds (the preferred direction for a dawn flight at Bayside), so Tuesday morning probably would have been the best day for migrants. As usual, a day later (on Wednesday) the winds had shifted to NW. Nonetheless, that's a lot better than SW or SE, and there was a small morning flight at the Bayside overlook. I was surprised when we pulled in at 5:50 am that other birders were already there - Matt Hafner, and one of his compatriots from Chinco Farms. Poachers! They stayed until about 9 am. After Bayside, we birded the South Beach woods and they hit the ORV zone, doing the Little Levels and Hungerford (go it at dune crossing 4 and drive to the end to a small parking area, from here it is 100 yards down the trail to the west that boarders the large gut on the SE corner of the Hungerford flats). We then did the Fox Hill Levels and worked the beach to the VA line. While at Hungerford, my cell phone starts beeping, and I've got a message from Mary Ann Todd, who ran into Matt at Vaughn. She's headed for OC. What's all this activity on a Wednesday in the middle of August? I promise to call her if we get anything really good, but it was not to be. All in all, though, a great day, visiting some of my favorite places that I had not been in some time. I need to replace my SUV, as its 4-wheel drive mechanism doesn't work properly, and get back down there myself. I'll have to check with Amy and see if it is in the budget. Weather: Clear, NE wind, 5-15, temp mid-70s to mid-80s. 08/15/2001 Assateague Island Bayside 0550-1010 Brown Pelican 10; Double-crested Cormorant 35; Great Blue Heron 1; Great Egret 15; Snowy Egret 10; Little Blue Heron 4; Tricolored Heron 25; Glossy Ibis 25; Canada Goose 10; Mallard 2; Osprey 4; Black-bellied Plover 5; Semipalmated Plover 3; Killdeer 3; Greater Yellowlegs 5; Lesser Yellowlegs 4; Willet 5; Spotted Sandpiper 1; Least Sandpiper 60; Short-billed Dowitcher 20; Laughing Gull 120; Ring-billed Gull 15; Herring Gull 20; Great Black-backed Gull 10; Caspian Tern 3; Royal Tern 10; Forster's Tern 15; Mourning Dove 5; Chimney Swift 1; Ruby-throated Hummingbird 4; Belted Kingfisher 3; Downy Woodpecker 3; Eastern Wood-Pewee 1; Great Crested Flycatcher 1; Eastern Kingbird 18; White-eyed Vireo 2; Fish Crow 10; Purple Martin 5; Bank Swallow 1 (MLH only); Barn Swallow 50; Carolina Chickadee 2; Carolina Wren 6; House Wren 3; American Robin 2; Gray Catbird 50; Brown Thrasher 12; European Starling 6; Cedar Waxwing 2; Blue-winged Warbler 2; Yellow Warbler 8; Pine Warbler 1; Prairie Warbler 4; American Redstart 6; Common Yellowthroat 5; warbler (sp.) 5; Eastern Towhee 10; Field Sparrow 6; Song Sparrow 5; Northern Cardinal 5; DICKCISSEL 1 (new fall arrival record for Worcester by 1 day, old record 8/16/94 at Bayside, Hoffman and M. O'Brien); Bobolink 6; Red-winged Blackbird 30; Boat-tailed Grackle 25; Brown-headed Cowbird 8; Orchard Oriole 2; Baltimore Oriole 5; House Finch 15; American Goldfinch 10. South Beach 1015-1115 Brown Pelican 3; Turkey Vulture 1; Osprey 1; Laughing Gull 20; Mourning Dove 1; Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1; Downy Woodpecker 2; Eastern Wood-Pewee 4; White-eyed Vireo 1; Red-eyed Vireo 1; Barn Swallow 5; Carolina Chickadee 2; Carolina Wren 4; Gray Catbird 15; Yellow-throated Warbler 4; Pine Warbler 10; Prairie Warbler 1; American Redstart 4; Common Yellowthroat 1; Eastern Towhee 5; Field Sparrow 4; Song Sparrow 2; Northern Cardinal 2; Baltimore Oriole 1; American Goldfinch 5. Little Levels 1145-1245 Great Egret 10; Snowy Egret 3; Little Blue Heron 5; Tricolored Heron 3; Glossy Ibis 20; American Black Duck 1; Osprey 1; Black-bellied Plover 1; Greater Yellowlegs 4; Lesser Yellowlegs 35; Willet 2; Least Sandpiper 50; Pectoral Sandpiper 12; Short-billed Dowitcher 4; Laughing Gull 30; Ring-billed Gull 1; Forster's Tern 4; Mourning Dove 1; Belted Kingfisher 1; Tree Swallow 4; Barn Swallow 5; Carolina Wren 1; Eastern Towhee 1; Seaside Sparrow 1; Red-winged Blackbird 4; Eastern Meadowlark 6; American Goldfinch 1. Hungerford 1245-1510 Double-crested Cormorant 1; Great Egret 20; Snowy Egret 120; Little Blue Heron 45; Tricolored Heron 45; Glossy Ibis 20; Black Vulture 1; Turkey Vulture 1; American Black Duck 3; Osprey 2; Black-bellied Plover 15; Semipalmated Plover 5; Greater Yellowlegs 25; Willet 1; Ruddy Turnstone 1; Semipalmated Sandpiper 80; Least Sandpiper 100; White-rumped Sandpiper 2; Short-billed Dowitcher 30; Laughing Gull 100; Ring-billed Gull 10; Herring Gull 30; Caspian Tern 15; Royal Tern 40; Common Tern 2; Forster's Tern 20; Belted Kingfisher 1; Eastern Kingbird 2; Tree Swallow 1; Barn Swallow 5; Eastern Towhee 1; Seaside Sparrow 1; Song Sparrow 1; Red-winged Blackbird 1. Fox Hill Levels 1545-1655 Little Blue Heron 1; Glossy Ibis 10; Black-bellied Plover 20; Semipalmated Plover 40; American Oystercatcher 1; Greater Yellowlegs 5; Lesser Yellowlegs 10; Willet 1; Ruddy Turnstone 5; Sanderling 50; Least Sandpiper 50; Short-billed Dowitcher 5; Laughing Gull 40; Ring-billed Gull 20; Herring Gull 100; Great Black-backed Gull 10; Caspian Tern 5; Royal Tern 80; Common Tern 60; Forster's Tern 30; Black Tern 1; Barn Swallow 4; Field Sparrow 2; Red-winged Blackbird 2; Eastern Meadowlark 1. ORV Zone/Ocean 1510-1545 and 1750-1820 Brown Pelican 36; Black-bellied Plover 3; American Oystercatcher 3; Willet 33; WHIMBREL 29 (not unexpected, but a State bird for Stan, #320, and number one on his "most wanted" list); Ruddy Turnstone 9; Sanderling 2000; Laughing Gull 60; Ring-billed Gull 120; Herring Gull 330; Great Black-backed Gull 90; Caspian Tern 3; Royal Tern 100; Common Tern 30; Forster's Tern 6; Least Tern 1; Boat-tailed Grackle 2. Surprisingly, no Sandwich Terns. Good to see a lot of you at the Conference, Mark Hoffman Sykesville, MD Mhoff36100@aol.com P.S. Maybe some MDOsprey folks can help me out on this one. Saturday I got a phone message at home from some guy named Marsha (or something like that). Claims to be a "Maryland birder" but has not been in the state recently?!? Seemed a bit concerned that I had visited Worcester County (particularly Bayside and the ORV Zone) without his knowledge or permission. I know I have been stripped of my title, but I thought I still had visitation privileges? Maybe a little jealous I had been there with another guy? Let me know if you can I.D. him, I don't need one of the "fatal attraction" things, as I'd never get my Worcester list to 350. ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================