Date: Sat, 5 Oct 2002 20:06:37 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Walter Ellison Subject: Kent County BC trip & Ross's Goose MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi All, Six of us birded Eastern Neck NWR and the inexplicably blessed Great Oak Landing Pond as part of a Kent County Bird Club trip today (5 Oct). We spent a lot of time just standing in the parking area on the south side of Eastern Neck Narrows watching a parade of birds arrive from the adjacent mainland combined with a smattering of waterbirds in the Narrows. We eventually counted 34 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 7 kestrels (with eight more hunting the fields along MD 445), 3 Cooper's Hawks, 2 young harriers, 11 Bald Eagles (at least 4 of which were migrants), and 200 Blue Jays. Among the waterbirds were Caspian and Royal Terns, and a flying Common Loon. Landbirding on the island was low key although we managed to find Western Palm Warbler, Indigo Bunting, an uncooperative Blue Grosbeak, Swamp Sparrow, and Marsh Wren, the latter two by diembodied call alone. We decided to conclude the trip at Great Oak Landing Pond because of yesterday's phalarope visitation. We couldn't find the phalarope (although it could have been hidden by the hordes of geese) but all of the other shorebirds were still there including the Long-billed Dowitchers, Stilt Sandpipers, and Pectoral Sandpipers. The waterfowl selection was similar, but careful scanning of them produced two small, pale, long-winged Richardson's Geese - one of the tundra Canada Goose subspecies, and the most frequent small Canada in the east - and even better, an adult Ross's Goose with the 100 or so Snows and Blues. The bird spent most of its time asleep so it took awhile for all of us to see its head-neck-bill proportions and unmarked gape, but its size was at most 2/3 of the nearby Snows. What a great way to cap a trip! Our total list of 66 species follows in checklist order: Common Loon; Double-crested Cormorant; Great Blue Heron; Black Vulture; Turkey Vulture; Snow Goose; Ross's Goose; Canada Goose (including Richardson's); American Black Duck; Mallard; Blue-winged Teal; Northern Pintail; Green-winged Teal; Ring-necked Duck; Ruddy Duck; Osprey; Bald Eagle; Northern Harrier; Sharp-shinned Hawk; Cooper's Hawk; Red-tailed Hawk; American Kestrel; Lesser Yellowlegs; Least Sandpiper; Pectoral Sandpiper; Stilt Sandpiper; Long-billed Dowitcher; Laughing Gull; Ring-billed Gull; Great Black-backed Gull; Caspian Tern; Royal Tern; Forster's Tern; Rock Dove; Mourning Dove; Belted Kingfisher; Red-bellied Woodpecker; Downy Woodpecker; Northern Flicker; Eastern Phoebe; Blue Jay; American Crow (and several "fishy" crow (sp) - oh well); Tree Swallow; Carolina Wren; House Wren; Marsh Wren; Eastern Bluebird; American Robin; Gray Catbird; Northern Mockingbird; European Starling; Western Palm Warbler; Common Yellowthroat; Eastern Towhee; Chipping Sparrow; Field Sparrow; Savannah Sparrow; Song Sparrow; Swamp Sparrow; Northern Cardinal; Blue Grosbeak; Indigo Bunting; Red-winged Blackbird; Brown-headed Cowbird; House Finch; American Goldfinch. All in all in was worth getting out of bed and leading a trip today. 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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================