Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 15:37:50 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Jim Stasz Subject: Lower Eastern Shore: 4/19-4-21 [longish] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Folks! Since I was taking Friday off from pushing paper at work, I headed to the Eastern Shore on Thursday evening for a long weekend of Atlassing and birding. After a nap I started birding at 2 AM, Friday 4/19, morning along Elliot Island Rd. in Dorchester. For a few hours I cruised the road from Savannah Lake to Gadwall Pond bend. There was no wind, temperature in the mid-60's, low humidity, and best of all, no bugs! Highlights included 2 BLACK RAILS, 6 BLACK-NECKED STILTS, 3 BARN OWLS [1 seen], 8 KING RAIL, 16 VIRGINIA RAIL, 60+ SEASIDE SPARROW, 18 WILLET AND 6 COMMON MOORHEN. The Great Horned Owls were much quieter than on 2/9: on 2/9 I heard at least 18 along this stretch, but only a single bird calling this trip. From Elliott I headed along the east side of the Nanticoke R. in Wicomico Co. A quick stop at the old Rt. 50 crossing yieled 1 King Rail and 1 Virginia Rail. The 8 Osprey nests were all active. A Canada Goose was on nest. The park in Tyaskin gives a nice view of the river: my first LEAST TERN was on a dock with 5 breeding plumage ROYAL TERN and 12 FORSTER'S TERN. The small marsh on Rt. 349 just north of Jesterville still had Green-winged Teal and a Snowy Egret; a single CLAPPER RAIL responded to tape. 2 Clapper Rails and 3 Seaside Sparrows were heard from the boat landing at Ellis Bay WMA. A quick check of the Rt. 50 borrow pits revealed the same Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, and Laughing Gulls reported by Fran & Norm. I ended Friday by driving the ORV Zone on Assateague. The local Willets have returned and were already paired up. A quick count along the beach: 154. Very few terns were along the ocean front: 1 Common, 4 Forster's and 4 Royals. A few Northern Gannets, mostly young birds, were foraging off the coast. I saw no pelicans. My time at Fox Hill Levels was cut short by hoardes of mosquitoes....I will leave that atlaassing to Mr. Worcester County. The best birds were 9 WHIMBREL on the beach near the Virginia Line. At sunset as I was reinflating my tires, a CHUCK-WILL'S-WIDOW started calling by the Life of the Dunes Trail. On the way north another was calling from the Life of the Forest Trail and an American Woodcock displaying on the other side of the road. Amidst the hundreds of Green Tree Frogs, 1 SORA, 1 Virginia Rail, and one Black Rail could be heard in the predawn hours of Saturday, 4/20, in a marsh near Girdletree, Worcester Co. Dawn in Wicomico Co. near Wango was greeted by a Whip-poor-will. All of the stream crossings along Nassawango Creek and Dividing Creek were alive with PROTHONOTARY WARBLERS and Louisiana Waterthrushes. The most abundant vireo of the morning was YELLOW-THROATED, followed White-eyed, Blue-headed, and Red-eyed. WORM-EATING Warblers were common, as were PRAIRIE. There were lower numbers of Black-and-white, Pine, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, and Northern Parula. A single KENTUCKY WARBLER was singing on the Somerset Co. side of the Flemming Mill Bridge; a single HOODED WARBLER was singnear Whitesburg in Worcester Co. Gnatcatchers were everywhere! Mid-day I went to Deal I WMA. Although the impoundments were unusually low, there was not much diversity of shorebirds: 50 Black-bellied Plover, 400 Dunlin, a few Willets, a few of each yellowlegs, and a single Long-billed Dowitcher. Long-legged waders were scarce: a few Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, and 2 Glossy Ibis. As at Elliott, Seaside Sparrows were back in force. A Boat-tailed Grackle was seen carrying nesting material and there were broods of American Black Duck and Canada Goose. From the town of Chance a scan over Tangier Sound revealed a dozen or so Brown Pelicans. After a late afternoon nap I scouted Dorchester Co. just northwest of Vienna. Sunset along Jones Thicket Road was greeted by a calling Great Horned Owl and a few Chuck-will's-widows. A COMMON NIGHTHAWK was feeding over the pig farm by Indiantown Road. West of Eldorado, Dorchester Co. Chuck-will's-widows and Whip-poor-wills were song-duelling by the corner of Puckum Rd. and Wesley Rd. Just west of Choptank, Caroline Co. 6 Virginia Rails were calling in the marsh on Poplar Neck Rd. and a lone Whip-poor-will was calling along Skeleton Creek Rd. 2 AM on Sunday morning was also warm, calm and bugless at the Easton Waste Water Treatment Plant. From outside the fence I heard 1 Sora and 4 Virginia rails. Almost a half mile east two King Rails were calling in the marsh along the Choptank R. A Barred Owl hooted a few times from just west of the plant and a pair of Great Horned Owls were duetting on the east side of the river in Caroline Co. The causeway over the Choptank to Tanyard is not heavily traveled in the wee hours and allows an opportunity to listen for rails. This morning 3 King Rails sounded off. Dawn at Idlewilde WMA near Federalsburg was alive with Whip-poor-wills, one Barred Owl, and 1 Great Horned Owl. An early morning hike from the main parking area and north along the east side of Marshyhope Creek produced: Brown Thrasher, Ovenbird, Worm-eating Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, Blue-headed Vireo, my first ever Caroline County Yellow-throated Warbler, and for the year, my first SCARLET TANAGER and YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO. With rain threatening I headed west and parked on the causeway at Tanyard. From the car I picked out Greater and Lesser Ywllowlegs, 24 Least Sandpipers, 4 Dunlin, 5 Least Terns, 12 Caspian Terns, and for my Year List: 1 BANK SWALLOW AND 1 SEMIPALMATED PLOVER. As I rounded the bend a few miles north by King's Creek, the roadside was littered with birdwatchers: Danny Poet, Jan Reese and a dozen or so members of the Talbot Chapter. I joined them for a bit to chat and listen to the Yellow-throated Warbler, Yellow-throated Vireo, and Prothonotary Warbler when some one said "The Yellow-throated Warbler is carrying a feather!". An easy confirmation for the Atlas as we watched it feather a nest in the Loblolly Pine on the northern roadside jst 100 feet west of the bridge over King's Creek. A nice way to end a long weekend. 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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================