Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2003 14:49:01 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Norman Saunders Subject: Reddish Egret at Ocean CIty MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Rob & Bob, In the January/February 2002 issue of MD Yellowthroat there appeared an article by Marshall Iliff entitled "The Next Ten." I had asked a fairly extensive group of Maryland's top birders to send me their ideas for the next ten species that would be added to the Maryland List. The material was gathered together and compiled and then Marshall wrote a really wonderful article commenting on each of the species along with his guess as to where and when the top ten would be found. Note that Reddish Egret is number 8 on the list (see below). Of the 15 birders polled, seven included this species on their top ten list of likely new encounters. Marshall's commentary for the species was: "Reddish Egret =96 7 votes - [July, Eagle=92s Nest mudflats, Worcester Co.] -- It is frustrating that nearby Delaware, that tiny little county-sized state to our East, has two records of this species from Little Creek WMA. Reddish Egret is nearly annual north to the Outer Banks, and in addition to DE has strayed up to NJ (once), PA (once), NY (2), and MA (2-3). Look for it as a post-breeding wanderer on coastal flats behind barrier islands." Last summer Fran and I watched a medium-sized wading bird dancing in the shallow water near the mudflats behind Assateague Island but it was far too distant and the heat waves were far too heavy to make a definitive identification. The bird appeared to be all dark (which should rule out Tricolored Heron, the other species likely to dance excitedly in order to kick up prey), but there were no other nearby waders for size comparison and after about ten minutes the bird flew off south and we didn't see it again. Unfortunately we won't be back in Ocean City until July 3. I hope if someone does relocate this bird they can get some photographs! Here's the list of 21 species that our fifteen top birders pulled together in late 2001, ranked from most likely to least likely. Note that the number one bird on the list now has 2 sightings which should be pending before the records committee. The number 2 bird was seen in good numbers in St. Mary's County last Fall. Are there any others that have been located? 1) Eurasian Collared-Dove 2) Cave Swallow 3) Little Egret 4) Say=92s Phoebe 5) Townsend=92s Warbler 6) Western Meadowlark 7) Shiny Cowbird 8) Reddish Egret 9) Allen=92s Hummingbird 10) Kirtland=92s Warbler 11) White-tailed Kite 12) Northern Lapwing 13) Black-tailed Godwit 14) White-winged Tern 15) Calliope Hummingbird 16) White-tailed Tropicbird 17) Garganey 18) Sharp-tailed Sandpiper 19) Bell=92s Vireo 20) Sprague=92s Pipit 21) Golden-crowned Sparrow =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 Norm Saunders Colesville & West Ocean City, Maryland saunders_n@bls.gov (for now, until my home computer is repaired) =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 =========================================================================