Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 01:36:06 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Marshall Iliff Subject: Record Maryland Big Day (Part II - The Route part 1) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable THE ROUTE - THE NIGHT =A0 =A0 At 12:00:02 we zipped out of the parking lot, nighthawk in the bag,=20= and jumped on I-68 west. Next stop was Pinto Marsh (12:15-12:25) where we successfully induced a Sora to call, heard begging Great Horneds, and had a flyover Gray-cheek. We drove quickly west to a secret favorite strip mine area (1:00-2:37) where we picked up Henslow's and Grasshopper Sparrows and Black-billed Cuckoo, among a couple other unusual nightbirds. From there we had a long drive to Cranesville Swamp (3:20-3:26) where in addition to immediately hearing a calling Saw-whet at one of the classic locations, we also heard a singing Sedge Wren at the area I had staked out 2 days earlier. Our perfect success fell off at our next stop, where Matt and I decided to run around a small pond with flashlights hoping to flush the Solitary Sandpipers I had seen there the previous morning. On stepping out of the car I broke into a run (we did a LOT of running on this day) and immediately slipped on the FROST on the grass, submerging my entire backside in a muddy, icy quagmire. Adding insult to injury, we managed to encircle the pond at a quasi-run and Matt and I succeeded only in adding the nonessential Spotted Sandpiper (one of which landed phalarope-like on the water) and drenching ou= r once-dry tennis shoes. Before dawn we added Upland Sandpiper (4:45) but dipped on White-crowned Sparrow in a pre-dawn attempt. GARRETT =A0 =A0 Roth Rock Road was cold at dawn that may have slowed the progression= of birdsong. Our time there from 5:30-5:55 was essentially the only hitch in th= e Garrett County route: the Winter Wren failed to sing for us (but might have been glimpsed by Matt and Jim), while none of the 3 grouse or two Kentucky Warblers scouted earlier in the week would reveal themselves. Once we tore ourselves away from Roth Rock Rd., already behind schedule, we ripped down t= o various Pleasant Valley sites: Redhouse Rd. pond had nothing, Blue Ribbon Road got us Downy Woodpecker, Baltimore Oriole, Vesper Sparrow, and a surprise Solitary Sandpiper (our only one) thanks to Jim, Mason School Rd. got a stakeout Red-breasted Nuthatch (at a very odd location!) and Red-heade= d Woodpecker, and a US-219 stop had a (cold!) singing Willow Flycatcher. By this point we had made up for our lost time and we arrived on schedule at th= e first Broadford Reservoir stop, where a Warbling Vireo had been for the last three days. No vireo was singing when we first arrived, but I eventually spished him out of a thicket and the excitement of it all induced some half-hearted singing. Two female Hooded Mergansers were a total bonus here (= I had one on a single day while scouting off Herrington Rd.). After ticking th= e WAVI we rolled over to the other side of Broadford Res where a migrant pocke= t had held Bay-breasted and Tennessee since Sunday, probably kept grounded by the cold weather. I knew that the area was full of migrants and had been looking forward to working it with more manpower, but I was unprepared for the success we would meet with. We quickly found Bay-breasted (5+) and Tennessee (2), as well as surprise Nashville, Lincoln's Sparrow, and, best o= f all, a nice Yellow-bellied Flycatcher found by Andy (county bird for us all!). Even more surprising, perhaps, was a Ring-necke dDuck on the lake, found by Andy and barely visible in the fog. With a singing Northern Waterthrush (saving a trip out of the way), a few Blackpolls and 20 Myrtles to round out the migrants (along with Blackburnian, Magnolia and a bunch of other non-nesters for this locale), we headed to Oakland WTP, my lock location for Green Heron and our best kingfisher spot. The kingfisher and heron fell quickly and we moved on the Herrington Road pond where a stakeout Pied-billed Grebe fortunately reappeared after a one-day (apparent) absence. No kestrel there but we had backups for that one. Turning around at 7:53 we quickly backtracked to Snaggy Mountain Road for Alder Flycatcher and Golden-winged Warbler, as well as Brown Creeper and some other cleanups. Bes= t of all we made one stop on that road just in case there was something more and got Common Raven, my second success with that species out of 4 May Big Day runs! Maple Glade Road got us Hooded, Swallow Falls got the requisite Acadian, Louie Waterthrush, siskin, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Blackburnian Warbler and hummingbird, and again we were off, this time to Deep Creek Lake about 30 minutes ahead of schedule. Two continuing Black Terns were bittersweet for me as Jim and Matt both gained county birds on me (I had jus= t surpassed Jim in Garrett County, the first time I have ever lead him on a lifetime county list...not for long I'm sure). Against my better judgment I took us to Marsh Run Cove at the northwest end of Deep Creek next, in a seemingly futile attempt to look for a coot I had seen there 3 days prior (but not since). Andy and I looked carefully for it for 5 minutes, but it wa= s not until Matt joined us that the hiding place of the elusive coot was revealed (I actually had to lie down on the dock and look UNDER a dock acros= s the cove to see it!). Losing our hard-earned lead on our schedule, we double-timed it to our Cerulean spot, picking up one of the relief saves of the day: Eastern Wood-Pewee. In 3 days of scouting Garrett before the Big Da= y I had heard just ONE pewee! I suspect the cold kept them quiet. Before joining I-68 again at 9:33 I paused at Meadows Lake to tick the 3 (previousl= y 5) Ruddy Ducks. We crossed to Allegany County at 9:39. ALLEGANY and WASHINGTON COUNTIES =A0 =A0 Our first new bird in Allegany County since the Sora at 00:30 was th= e American Kestrel sitting on the wires right at "Moose Bend" in Cumberland, a site I have seen them in the past and a site Ray Kiddy recommended to us. We dropped quickly into Rocky Gap SP, where we missed the Common Loon that was there the day prior but where we refound the two White-crowned Sparrows I ha= d seen there. Andy picked a Red-shoulder out over the ridge. On a Maryland Big Day route a Washington County detour is the only hope for Blue-winged Warbler, which is rare and out-of-the-way at its few Garrett County breeding sites. Such a detour can also easily net your first Prairie Warblers, Yellow-breasted Chats, Orchard Orioles, as well as Yellow-throated Vireos and Worm-eating Warblers. We took a quick 25 minute detour using MD-144, Willow Road, and Round Top Road.=A0 I hadn't had time to scout for Blue-winged Warblers so it was certainly a gamble. We ended up missing Blue-winged (and lost time tracking down a singing Golden-winged, actually a rarer bird here), but we got all the other possibilities including Yellow-throated Vireo and Worm-eating Warbler, simplifying the Pocomoke route. Common Ravens calling on Round Top Road were not needed but were a nice bonus. After Washington County we headed east on the long drive to=20 Annapolis, with the driver (me) and shotgun (Andy) working on spotting hawks= =20 while Jim and Matt were quite literally bored to sleep. They were rudely awakened to clean up Red-shouldered Hawk, which had been seen by Andy only before that, but were otherwise undisturbed by our hawkspotting efforts. CHESAPEAKE =A0 =A0 The boating portion of our route began at 1:20 after a 1:00 arrival=20= at my house, 10 minutes of migrant birding (Jim had seen a Ruby-crowned Kinglet here the day prior) and 10 minutes of boat loading (not counting the 3 minutes of requisite engine starting trouble). The flat conditions allowed a full speed crossing with minimal pounding. We arrived at the west edge of th= e Poplar Island impoundments at 1:45. We then cruised slowly along this edge looking for duck flocks. The glassy smooth waters quickly revealed a Common Loon, and scoter flocks including 30 Surfs and 2 White-wingeds, followed by 45 Surfs, 6 White-wingeds, and 2 Long-tailed Ducks! Two Brown Pelicans spotted by Jim probably got the award for the most distant bird counted on the day's list (probably 3-5 mi distant). We then cruised the east side of Poplar Island, not locating any new ducks but getting a few shorebirds and one mega-surprise - Eared Grebe! Not on anyone's list of expected species, this was a first Talbot County record and record late date for Maryland. A Black Tern here was a nice bonus, but not even new for the day! The rest of our cruise produced nothing new. We unloaded as quickly as possible, pulled the boat out of the water, loaded Jim's car that we had left there, and embarked on the Eastern Shore portion of our route. *********************** Marshall Iliff miliff@aol.com Irvine, CA ************************ =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =========================================================================