Date: Wed, 14 May 2003 21:21:02 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Ben Poscover Subject: Eastern Shore Trip MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Ruth and I took what for some would have been a rather casual = birding trip yesterday and today. We drove to Elkton, then south to tie = up with Route 9 and into Bombay Hook, south to overnight in Ocean City, = then back to Towson via Blackwater NWR. We tallied 102 species while we = spent yesterday trying to stay warm and keeping our scope from blowing = over. Highlights were: a.. Driving South to Bombay Hook with fields full of Black-bellied = Plovers. =20 b.. Getting on the drive after leaving the HQ building, stopping at = the first clump of trees on the right and finding it full of warblers. = Then stopping at the marked trail on the right and finding the same = situation both on the trail and on both sides of the road at the stop. = Also, walking about ten yards beyond the right fork in the trail to a = path that led to a pond that contained 19 Black-necked Stilts that were = very close and not startled by our presence. We had eleven species of = Warblers and felt that if we had been more patient others may have come = along. c.. The number of shorebirds at the site of the former Mispillion = Lighthouse. A plethora of Ruddy Turnstones, a few Red Knots--but lots = of birds. However no Horseshoe Crabs. We found the same situation at = Slaughter Beach. However, at Mispillion we did see two men loading = what looked like a cardboard container of about 6 feet in height and 4 = feet across with them. The were then placing the containers on a = flatbed truck. While at Bombay Hook, I mentioned to the Ranger that the = ban on collecting HC was good. I was informed that the State Supreme = Court turned over the decision on the ban citing that there was no = "hard" data to support that the collecting was detrimental to the HC = population and attendant Shorebirds. Also, the ban affected the = livelihood of the fishermen. =20 d.. Indian River Inlet had lots of Common Terns and Gulls. Royal = Terns were on the Jetty. =20 e.. Crystal Lake in Rehobeth was empty, however the Monk Parakeet nest = seemed to be in recent repair. We did not see them. f.. Ocean City: at 4th street we saw gaboons, a scientific term, of = Double Crested Cormorants. We also saw other birds that we had hoped to = see; Oyster Catchers, Skimmers, Royal and Caspian Terns. g.. OC Jetty: we saw an unidentified bird, by us, at the mouth of the = channel at the Jetty. It was a chunky bird, black on the back, white on = the belly with white running to the neck, a truncated bill, a somewhat = short neck, and short tail that stuck up the air. Will not tell you our = guess as your raucous laughter would probably be more that we could = take. =20 h.. West Ocean City Pond: A beautiful male Wood Duck sitting on the = top of a nesting box. At the end of the road we found Brant. This was = a surprise to us. i.. Blackwater NWR: There were our Eagles and several Osprey. At the = Wood Tail we located a Summer Tanager and Blue Grosbeak. Along the = drive we found a first year, male Orchard Oriole. =20 A very satisfying trip for us. =20 Ben and Ruth Poscover Towson MD bposcove@bcpl.net =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 =========================================================================