Date: Sun, 21 Apr 2002 18:34:30 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Norm Saunders Subject: Eastern Shore Thises and Thats MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Fran and I drove down to the Eastern Shore this past weekend to take care of some business. On Friday, on the way down, we stopped at the Easton Waste Water Treatment Plant. It was disappinting in that there were no unusual species evident. We did see a Savannah Sparrow on the road between the two ponds, a new county bird for us. We did note that all the growth has been removed from the lower pond, leaving it wide open with no shelter for nesting species. Too bad--this may mean no Common Moorhens nesting there this summer. In the marshes behind Assateague Island we noted LOTS of Willet and heard many Clapper Rails. On Assateague Island we saw our first Black-bellied Plover of the season and watched an adult Bald Eagle take on and grab a flying Herring Gull. It dragged the bird to a nearby perch but was immediately attacked by a flock of about 40-50 Herring Gulls diving on the eagle. The eagle flew away with the herring gull still in its talons but dropped the bird after about 20 feet or so. The gull hit the water and lay still for a minute then flapped its wings, righted itself and began swimming in circles. The eagle soon returned though and Fran asked me to leave so she wouldn't have to watch the seemingly inevitable bloody conclusion to this little dance. At the West Pond we had a roost of about a dozen Cattle Egrets, several Great Egrets, some Snowy Egrets, a few Great Blue Herons, and about 3-4 Black-crowned Night Herons. In Selbyville, DE, we managed to locate the Eurasian Collared Dove, still tantalizingly close to the MD State Line, along with our first twittering Chimney Swifts of the year. As we drove out of OC across the Rt. 50 bridge we noted at least half a dozen Black Skimmers dipping and turning over the water. Driving along Eagles Landing Road at dusk (hoping for Chucks, but we dipped on these) we saw a pair of Wild Turkey foraging along the road edge. They fled into the woods at our approach then went right back to feeding once we had driven past. On the way home this morning we stopped at the Salisbury Bypass Ponds where we found both Yellowlegs and lots of fresh-minted alternate plumage Laughing Gulls. No other shorebirds were noted here yet. Best, Norm ============================ Norman C. Saunders Colesville, Montgomery County, MD marshhawk@att.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================