Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 13:50:40 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Parke H John Subject: Re: Ocean Points, Cecil Bird Club Trip MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I was with Sean. We were on the boat ramp at Eagles Nest Campground. There was a large group of shorebirds just along the water's edge about 50 feet away from us. Between the rocks and the boat ramp, working towards us. We were looking north, so the sun was at our back. It was about 9:30 am, clear and cold with a 10-20 mile per hour wind. The group contained (in addition to the alleged Semi's) Dunlin, Sanderlings and a Greater Yellowlegs (that flew almost immediately). There was about one foot of clear sand at the waters edge between the snow (4") and the deeper water. The Dunlins and Sanderlings were wading in the deeper water (1"-2" deep) when I observed the Semi's. The Semi's were on the sandy area, actively feeding. At first we were using binoculars, my pair is a 10X40 Zeiss. I than put my Leica scope on the birds (32 power with a 70 mm objective lens). I had a lot of difficulty focusing because I was so close, but I did get an excellent look at the birds in the scope. Because of the comparison to the Sanderlings and Dunlin it was obvious they were peeps. They had black legs and a short stout bill that did not appear down turned. The upper parts of the bird were gray and appeared solidly colored (no pattern) and the under parts were white. The chest area appeared gray also. The wings did not extend past the tail. The birds were obviously smaller than the Sanderlings. Parke pjohn@wlgore.com Robert Ringler Sent by: Maryland Birds & Birding 01/20/2003 01:17 PM Please respond to Maryland Birds & Birding To: MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM cc: Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Ocean Points, Cecil Bird Club Trip Sean, Semipalmated Sandpipers would need to be described in extraordinary detail to be accepted. There are no confirmed records for Maryland in winter. In fact, anywhere north of southern Florida would be remarkable. Could you give us some information on these birds? Bob Ringler > Parke John recomended trying Eagles Nest Camp Ground. WOW what a great > recomendation! I felt as thou it was the month of may.Accept I was > standing in > 6 inches of snow with -10 wind chill, but we did find a ton of shore > birds.GREATER-YELLOW LEGS, LESSER-YELLOW LEGS, SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER, > DUNLIN, SANDERLING, BLACK-BELLED PLOVER, KILLDEER AND OYSTER-CATCHER. ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================