Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2002 15:26:29 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Jim Stasz Subject: Worcester Co.+ 1/12 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Folks! Dawn on Saturday was at Georges Island Landing, Worcester County [Delorme 27 B-4]. No rails were calling, perhaps silenced by the 5 Great Horned Owls. Along with Swamp and Song sparrows, several Brown Thrashers and a Gray Catbird tuned in to the chorus. A flock of 28 GREATER YELLOWLEGS heading north were probably spooked by the chorus of guns that greeted the ducks at dawn. A flyby Merlin was a treat. Just for a lark I checked the marsh immediately south of the parking lot at Taylor's Landing [Delorme 27 B-4 at the end of Taylor's Landing Road]. A walk along the shoreline in the first 250 feet produced no larks, but 1 American Bittern, 1 SALTMARSH SHARP-TAILED SPARROW, AND 4 NELSON'S SHARP-TAILED SPARROWS. A quick tour of E.A. Vaughn WMA [north section] added 70 Green-winged Teal, 28 American Pipits, 18 Savannah Sparrows, a Cooper's Hawk, and "Old Reliable" LE CONTE'S SPARROW. An hour at Ocean City Inlet produced the usual assortment of Sanderling, PURPLE SANDPIPER, RUDDY TURNSTONE, AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHER, Atlantic Brant, Surf Scoter, Red-throated Loon, Common Loon, Double-crested Cormorant, a few Bonaparte's Gulls, a a few distant Northern Gannets. The highlight was a dark immature POMARINE JAEGER that spent 15-20 minutes cruising north and south offhore about 1/2 mile. It was in power flight most of the time and took unexpected turns to harass Bonaparte's Gulls. No Harlequins or eiders this time. A cruise down the length of the ORV Zone on Assateague is always interesting. I avoided most of the cross-overs because of the actice duck hunting. Crossover #10 at Fox Hill Level is my favorite because of the easily accessed tidal flats and extensive saltmarsh. Wind and nearby shooting probably reduced the numbers, but added 200 DUNLIN and 2 BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER. Starting from the Virginia Line a set of stops every 1 mile [in addition to the birds sitting on the shore] yielded: 162 Red-throated Loon, 8 Common Loon, 33 Horned Grebe, 3 Northern Gannet, 11 American Black Duck, 1650 Surf Scoter, 1 BLACK SCOTER, 27 Sanderling, 24 Bonaparte's Gull, 28 Ring-billed Gull, 22 Herring Gull, 14 Great Black-backed Gull, and 1 ad. BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE. For sunset I wanted to check a marsh in Wicomico County and headed to Vienna then south towards Elliott Island and then east at Henry's Crossroad to Lewis Wharf [Delorme 33 B-4]. From here with a telescope County Lister's can view the marsh by Marshall Pt., Wicomico County. As sunset neared hundreds of gulls streamed down the Nanticoke and thousands of blackbirds entered the marsh to roost. 8 Eastern Meadowlarks and 8 Northern Harrier suggested that not all of the marsh was sopping wet. Patience paid off as a Short-eared Owl started cruising the marsh. Mirroring sunrise, the boom of guns abated, a pair of Great Horned Owls started calling it an evening, and I called it a day. Good Birding! Jim Jim Stasz North Beach MD jlstasz@aol.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================