Date: Thu, 29 Aug 2002 11:47:43 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Walter Ellison Subject: More birds at Great Oak Landing MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Everybody, I was afraid that last nights 3 plus inches of rain might have flooded the pond near the intersection of Great Oak Landing and Handy Point Roads but it was very lively today under pewter skies. Because I have had off list inquiries I will give some general directions regarding finding the place and how to bird it. The pond is on private land although it is not obviously posted, and I view it by spotting 'scope without active exploration of the shore and fields from a point near the north shore adjacent to a corn field. I stay stationary because I imagine I look less like a threatening hunter or presumptuous trespasser that way. To date I have yet to be accosted, but I still expect it sometime. The pond can be reached by taking Handy Point Rd west from the intersection of MD 514 and MD 298. The road to the Great Oak Landing Resort is well signed and the pond is just on the left after you turn off Handy Pt Rd. This morning's list: 23 Green-winged Teal 1 Am Black Duck 62 Mallard 6 N. Shoveler 1 Blue-winged Teal 2 Bald Eagles (harassing waterfowl, etc, a juvenile and a fourth year) 1 juvenile Cooper's Hawk (probably female, harassing blackbirds) 47 Lesser Yellowlegs 1 Solitary Sandpiper (flying over) 1 Spotted Sandiper (ad) 30 Semipalmated Sandpipers 3 Western Sandpipers 5 Least Sandpipers 8 White-rumped Sandpipers 1 Pectoral Sandpiper 25 Stilt Sandpipers 43 Short-billed Dowitchers 1 juvenile Long-billed Dowitcher 1 juvenile Black Tern (like an outsized swallow) 280 Purple Martins 150 Tree Swallows 5+ Bank Swallows 1 female Yellow-headed Blackbird in a flock of 500+ red-wings, cowbirds, grackles and starlings. You'd think the rain made the birds sprout out of the clay. Good Birding, Walter Ellison MD/DC Atlas Coordinator - MOS 23460 Clarissa Rd Chestertown, MD 21620-3645 410-778-9568 rossgull@crosslink.net "A person who is looking for something doesn't travel very fast." - E. B. White ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================