Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2001 07:49:14 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Richard Craig F NSSC Subject: Maryland Fall Big Day MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" On Saturday, 15 September, Craig Richard and Kevin Krogh attempted a big day in Maryland. Being Virginia birders, we focused on the area of Maryland that we know best --- Assateague, Ocean City and Blackwater. The weather was uncoorperative, featuring steady wind with gusts above 25 mph, and migrants were virtually non-existant at Assateague. Despite these "conditions", we managed to have a thoroughly enjoyable and successful big day! Our route started with unsuccessful owling in the Pocomoke Swamp west of Berlin. Sunrise found us at Assateaugue Bayside. After two hours at Assateague, we hit two spots in E. A. Vaughn and one more stop along the Pocomoke. Early afternoon stops included Eagle's Nest Campground, O.C. Inlet, Skimmer Island, West O.C. Ponds, Ocean Pines Ponds, Griffin Rd, Berline Sewage Pond and the Rt 50 Borrow Pit. We then spent late afternoon at Blackwater and the evening at Elliott Island. The only site we planned to visit but were forced to eliminated due to time contraints was the Hurlock WWTP. Total species = 115. Annoying misses: Flicker, House Sparrow, Chimney Swift, Wood Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Bobwhite, Virginia Rail, Brown Thrasher, Chipping Sparrow. Life birds: Baird's Sandpiper, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Stilt Sandpiper. Our species list follows: Pied-billed Grebe (Skimmer Island and West O.C. Pond) Brown Pelican Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Great Egret Snowy Egret Little Blue Heron Tricolored Heron (several at Assateague) Cattle Egret Green Heron (1 at E. A. Vaughn) Black-crowned Night-Heron (1 at West O.C. Pond) Turkey Vulture Snow Goose (3 at Ocean Pines) Canada Goose Gadwall (1 at Blackwater) American Black Duck Mallard Northern Pintail (flyover of 6 at Assateague) Green-winged Teal Ruddy Duck (1 at Berline Sewage Pond) Osprey Bald Eagle (1 over field behind Assateauge Visitor Center, many at Blackwater) N. Harrier Broad-winged Hawk Red-tailed Hawk American Kestrel Merlin (1 near Blackwater visitor center) Clapper Rail (heard along Elliott Island Rd) Common Moorhen (Elliott Island Rd) Black Bellied Plover (Eagle's Nest) Semipalmated Plover (Eagle's Nest, E. A. Vaughn, Borrow Pit) Killdeer American Oystercatcher Greater Yellowlegs Lesser Yellowlegs Willet Spotted Sandpiper Ruddy Turnstone (O.C. Inlet, Skimmer Island) Sanderling Semipalmated Sandpiper Western Sandpiper Least Sandpiper Baird's Sandpiper (1 immature at Borrow Pit) Pectoral Sandpiper (Borrow Pit) Stilt Sandpiper (Borrow Pit) Common Snipe (flyby of 2 at Elliott Island) Laughing Gull Ring-billed Gull Herring Gull Lesser Black-backed Gull (1 at borrow pit) Great Black-backed Gull Caspian Tern Royal Tern Sandwich Tern (Eagle's Nest) Common Tern Forster's Tern Black Skimmer Rock Dove Mourning Dove Yellow-billed Cuckoo Eastern Screech-Owl Great Horned Owl Ruby-throated Hummingbird (E. A. Vaughn and Blackwater) Belted Kingfisher Red-bellied Woodpecker Downey Woodpecker Pileated Woodpecker (E. A. Vaughn) Eastern Wood-Peewee Eastern Phoebe Eastern Kingbird (E. A. Vaughn, Blackwater) White-eyed Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Blue Jay American Crow Fish Crow Tree Swallow N. Rough-winged Swallow Carolina Chickadee Tufted Titmouse Red-breasted Nuthatch (Assateague) White-breasted Nuthatch Brown-headed Nuthatch (Elliott Island Rd) Brown Creeper Carolina Wren House Wren Marsh Wren Ruby-Crowned Kinglet (Assateague) Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Assateaugue, Blackwater, Elliott Island) Eastern Bluebird American Robin Gray Catbird Northern Mockingbird European Starling Cedar Waxwing Magnolia Warbler (Elliott Island) Pine Warbler Prarie Warbler (Assateague, Elliott) Palm Warbler (Assateague) American Redstart (Assateague) Common Yellowthroat (Assateague) Scarlet Tanager (Assateague) Eastern Towhee Field Sparrow (Blackwater) Savannah Sparrow (Elliott) Seaside Sparrow (Elliott, E.A. Vaughn) Song Sparrow Northern Cardinal Bobolink (large flock at intersection of Elliott and Henry's Crossing Rds) Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Boat-tailed Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Baltimore Oriole (3 at Assatague) American Goldfinch House Sparrow ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================