Date:         Sun, 6 Apr 2003 05:31:29 -0400
Reply-To:     Maryland Birds & Birding <MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM>
Sender:       Maryland Birds & Birding <MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM>
From:         Norm Saunders <marshhawk@ATT.NET>
Subject:      Saturday at the shore
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

After an early-morning, fog-enshrouded visit to Assateague Island, Fran and
I spent most of the day at home taking care of spring chores.  We did
manage to tally a few yard birds, including our first view this season of
Little Blue Heron and a pair of Pine Warblers munching out under the
feeders in the backyard.  Following is the full list, followed by our
Assateague sightings from the a.m.:

Yardbirds in Worcester County, 5 April 2003:
Double-crested Cormorant 3
Great Blue Heron 7
Great Egret 5
Snowy Egret 1
Little Blue Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 8
Canada Goose 6
Mallard 8
Red-breasted Merganser 3
Osprey 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Clapper Rail 1
Killdeer 1
Ring-billed Gull 6
Herring Gull 7
Great Black-backed Gull 4
Mourning Dove 8
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Downy Woodpecker 2
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 4
Blue Jay 3
Fish Crow 5
Carolina Chickadee 3
Brown-headed Nuthatch 4
Carolina Wren 2
Eastern Bluebird 2
American Robin 12
Brown Thrasher 2
European Starling 18
Yellow-rumped Warbler 5
Pine Warbler 2
Eastern Towhee 5
Chipping Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 6
Swamp Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 9
Northern Cardinal 5
Red-winged Blackbird 8
Eastern Meadowlark 1
Common Grackle 25
Boat-tailed Grackle 2
Brown-headed Cowbird 17
House Finch 7
American Goldfinch 8


As mentioned earlier, Assateague Island was covered in fairly dense fog.
We parked at the State campground lot (Has anyone else noticed that
Assateague Island State Park doesn=92t seem to want to deal with visitors???=

What gives with these vast expanses of tarmac that always seem to be locked
up???  Come on DNR, listen up!) and walked north on the shell road until it
petered out after about a half-mile.  The section of the beach and dunes
north of this point look like they were subject to some strong washovers
this past winter (President=92s Day Nor=92easter?).  The beaches seem a lot
wider than I remember them from past trips but the back dune is virtually
nonexistent for long stretches.  Not too much new there but the best birds
of the day were a pair of Horned Grebes in full breeding plumage.  Here are
our sightings from the island:

Sightings from the north end of Assateague Island and along Campground Road
in the National Park:
Common Loon 6
Horned Grebe 2
Double-crested Cormorant 3
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 2
Turkey Vulture 6
Canada Goose 12
Greater Scaup 12
Bufflehead 300
Red-breasted Merganser 25
Osprey 2
Greater Yellowlegs 2
Ring-billed Gull 15
Herring Gull 50
Great Black-backed Gull 15
Mourning Dove 6
Northern Flicker 4
American Crow 3
Fish Crow 6
Tufted Titmouse 5
Carolina Wren 3
American Robin 12
European Starling 35
Yellow-rumped Warbler 5
Eastern Towhee 18
Song Sparrow 3
White-throated Sparrow 25
Dark-eyed Junco 16
Northern Cardinal 2
Red-winged Blackbird 25
Eastern Meadowlark 1
Common Grackle 50
Boat-tailed Grackle 5
Brown-headed Cowbird 2


Best to all,
Norm & Fran

=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
=========================================================================