Date: Tue, 6 May 2003 11:30:18 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "Lovelace, Glen" Subject: Oak Grove Area Update (Sussex/Caroline Co.) - long Comments: To: DE-Birds MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Hello all, Been a long time since I have made a post, so I have 3 weeks worth to catch up on. April 19 - a female Harrier - possibly a late date April 20 - A nice day of common birds (54 for the day). All of the new year birds came in 5 minutes at the pond on the farm (MD). Heard an Ovenbird soon as I stopped the car, then found a Solitary Sand in the puddle and then a flyover Wood Duck. It took about 7 weeks of searching before a Wood Duck found me. Other shorebirds were a mere 6 Gr Yellow and 1 Lesser. Lingering birds included a lone Junco on Kinder Rd (equals a late record?) and 3 Kestrel. Migrants included 8 Yellow-Rumps and 1 yellow Palm Warbler (all MD). April 27 - A lot of new arrivals and a decent amount of shorebirds. I began on Kinder Rd where I found a BB Plover in the field at the east end (MD) along with a few yellowlegs. In the puddle on Oak Grove Rd opposite the old yellow house (MD), there were more yellowlegs and 2 Snipe. A Grasshopper Sparrow and a Savannah Sparrow were both singing near the state line; Orchard Oriole and a singing Ruby-Crowned Kinglet at the small pond in the woods. In the large fields on Oak Grove Rd (DE - approx 1.25 miles north of Rt 20), there was a huge collection of gulls. It number 300 Laughers, 47 Ringers and 21 Herring. The number of Herring is an excellent total and certainly unexpected in April. There were 3 more plover way out in this field, but the best they can be called is Wavy Plover. I tallied a lot of returning birds at the back of the farm and on the cutoff along the RR (near Kinder Rd - MD). There were 4 Solitary Sands in the puddles around the pond, a Kingbird, a singing Prairie Warbler, Wood Thrush and a second singing Kinglet. But the best find was a singing Worm-Eating Warbler. This was a bird that I lost 3 years ago when the cutoff was cut. The woods on the adjacent property was thinned 10-15 years ago. It seems that is has recovered sufficiently to be attractive to the Wormie again. I was quite excited b/c now I get the Wormie AND Prairie Warb and Chat. April 28 - a quick check of the quickly drying puddles found about a dozen Yellowlegs (also 1 Solitary on Guard Rd) and single Turkeys in two different fields on Kinder Rd. May 2 - 2 Chimney Swift seen overhead while moving stuff into the house (DE). Officially moved to the farm!! May 3 - had a beautiful male Baltimore Oriole in the yard in mid-afternoon (DE). Took a walk at the pond in the evening and found some more arrivals. Heard a Catbird and 2 Great Crested Flycatchers and saw an Indigo Bunting. Also saw the Prairie Warbler again, Pileated Wood and a Grasshopper Sp in the back field. May 4 - a more comprehensive birding of the area yielded the highest day total of the year at 58. The puddles have all but dried up except for a couple of the most persistent, least exposed to sun puddles. Shorebird total was 2 Lesser Yellows (DE), 1 Greater (MD) and a flyby Solitary (DE). New arrivals - 4 Blue Grosbeak (both states), 2 White-Eyed Vireo (OG Rd and the cutoff on Kinder - MD), 2 Red-Eyed Vireo (Wild Turkey Rd - DE), a buzz by a Hummer, and a singing Scarlet Tanager (both on farm - MD). One of the best stops was near the long curve in Wild Turkey Rd. I had a nice Red-Shoulder circling overhead, the RE Vireos in the woods singing and the flyby Solitary. I also made a bit more of an effort to keep track of numbers of singing birds - 1 Kingbird, 3 Gr Cr Fly, 1 Mocky, 1 Thrasher, 3 Catbird, only 3 Bluebird (for some reason they have gotten scarce), the vireos mentioned above, 2 Prairie Warb, 5 Ovenbird, 5 Yellowthroat, 4 Orchard Oriole, 1 Baltimore, 1 Scarlet Tanager, 1 Blue Grosbeak, 5 Grasshopper Sp, 1 Vesper (on the line on OG Rd for the first time this spring) and 3 Song Sparrow. All this brings the year total to 108 - still well ahead of usual pace. Dare I say that I may be working on a record year? (knock on skull = wood) May 5 - an Osprey on Callaway Rd (DE) at 5:30 PM Good Birding, Glen Lovelace III Seaford, DE ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================