Date: Sun, 27 Oct 2002 20:09:44 +0000 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: jim brighton Subject: wicomico county Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed I spent 10 hours on Saturday birding solely in Wicomico County trying to beef up my county list. I was aiming for 75 species but ended up with 65. Due to heavy early morning mist and drizzle (6:00am till 10:30am) there was not much activity. At daybreak I walked Marsh Rd. (old route 50) out to the Nanticoke River. The marsh was quiet although I heard a few virginia rails calling and green-winged teal lifted every so often. I saw my first brown creeper of the season here also. Throughout the day I worked my way south, keeping as close to the Nanticoke as possible. I racked up the usual gulls and terns with very few shorebirds present on the jetties at Bivalve and Nanticoke. I took Muddy Hole Rd., a name well deserved, from Bivalve to Whitehaven. I was very impressed with the habitat that this road went through; marsh, open pine woods, and mixed deciduous. At the end of Clara Rd overlooking the Wicomico River I saw my fist Bufflehead of the season. Ending at Whitehaven around 5:00pm I scanned the river and saw a common loon. Species list. Common loon Brown Pelican (2 flying over the Nanticoke off Bivalve) Double-crested cormorant Canada goose Mallard Black duck American widgeon Green-winged teal Bufflehead (1 fm. off Clara Rd. in Wicomico River) Turkey vulture Black vulture Cooper's hawk Northern harrier Red-tailed hawk Kestrel Turkey (flock of 32 north of Whitehaven) Bobwhite Great blue heron (only 1 seen entire day!) Virginia rail (3 heard calling off Marsh Rd) Killdeer Spotted Sandpiper (seen on beach at Roaring Point Co. Park) Greater Yellowlegs (seen in a puddle in a yard off Clara Rd) Herring gull Ring-billed gull Laughing gull Great black-backed gull Forster's tern Royal tern Caspian tern Rock dove Mourning dove Belted Kingfisher (22 different birds seen. The most I've ever seen in one day) Pileated woodpecker Flicker Red-bellied woodpecker Downy woodpecker Eastern phoebe Tree Swallow (flock of 20-30 birds working the marsh off of Marsh Rd) Blue jay Common crow Fish crow Carolina chickadee Tufted titmouse Carolina wren Brown thrasher Catbird Northern mockingbird Am. robin Eastern bluebird Golden-crowned kinglet Ruby-crowned kinglet Starling Yellow-rumped warbler Pine warbler House sparrow Cowbird Red-winged blackbird Common Grackle Boat-tailed Grackle Cardinal Song sparrow Field sparrow White-throated sparrow Swamp sparrow Junco Jim Brighton Trappe, Md. jdbrighton3@hotmail.com _________________________________________________________________ Get a speedy connection with MSN Broadband. Join now! http://resourcecenter.msn.com/access/plans/freeactivation.asp ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================