Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2001 19:16:55 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Marshall Iliff Subject: Black-headed Gull at Hurlock, other coast sightings MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit MDOsprey, Having just a few days for MD birding this fall I made the most of today (15 Oct 2001). Started on Assateague at dawn and then worked my way back to Annapolis. * Highlight of the day was an adult BLACK-HEADED GULL resting on one of the dikes at Hurlock WTP, Dorchester County. Numerous photos taken at close range as this is only the second Dorchester record and second earliest fall arrival in the state (previous being a juvenile (?) seen by Dick Kleen et al. at Blackwater NWR in Aug 1998, but undocumented). There were about 1500 Laughing Gulls present, but it wouldn't surprise me if the bird hung around the area for a while. Also at Hurlock were thousands of Canada Geese, 1 BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, 1 Barn and 5 Tree Swallows (2 possible Caves were in Cape May yesterday) and the usual Shovelers and Ruddy Ducks. Assateague was quiet migrant-wise, save for Myrtle Warblers and Tree Swallows. No dawn activity at Bayside so I hiked south a ways from the South Beach parking lot. In 5 hours of birding in the morning I found a few nice things: * Least Flycatcher at South Beach Parking Lot. I studied this bird for 10 minutes at 8:00 a.m. and another 15 minutes at 9:45 a.m., during which time I got photos, and am fully confident it was "just a Least". This is late for an _Empidonax_ and western species must be considered (Maryland's one Hammond's record was 9 Oct). In any event, this bird gave a "whit" call, very actively flicked its wings and tail, had short primary extension with even primary spacing, had a grayish throat, dusky chestband and flanks, and whitish central belly with no yellow tones, a prominent eye ring with slight teardrop to rear, blackish wings with strongly contrasting wing bars and tertial fringes, and a convex bill that had a black tip and orange base. * Lapland Longspur, flyover, at State Park, heading north. Fairly early date. * Orange-crowned Warbler at South Beach Parking Lot Interesting butterflies were a Little Yellow near Public Landing and a Bronze Copper (late) at north Vaughn. Best, 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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================