Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2003 19:41:52 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Hans Holbrook Subject: Assateague Island 11/22/03 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Jim Brighton and I took advantage of the nice weather, spurred on by Matt= Hafner's King Eiders, we hiked from the State Park parking up to the O.C= . Inlet. We decided to try in Ocean City first. Barely out of the car, = I had a good look at a flyover COMMON REDPOLL. We could see both KING an= d COMMON EIDER from the parking lot, fishing boats were moving about and = the ducks resettled out of sight. Prepared to walk we figured we would g= et our best looks this way and have a chance of seeing other stuff too. = Birds were slim but that was to be expected, I got some great pictures th= ough. Highlights were 1 MERLIN, 1 PEREGRINE FALCON dive bombing 1 or 2 o= f 7 BALD EAGLES, 30+ 'IPSWICH' SAVANNAH SPARROW, 34 SNOW BUNTINGS, anothe= r flyover COMMON REDPOLL, 4 SHORT-EARED OWLS, 2 KING EIDER, 10+ COMMON EI= DER, 1 GREAT CORMORANT, 1 female HARLAQUIN DUCK, and 1 adult LESSER BLACK= -BACKED GULL. The looks we got at the eiders were amazing, although the = way I still feel today is much the opposite. I believe it is 14 miles ro= und trip, I may be wrong, but hiking in sand is no walk in the park. The= eiders were closer to the jetty and the shore the entire time than any o= f the scoters, which like Matt pointed out may make them very tough to se= e from O.C., however with all the boat activity they may be chace into th= e open more often. Hans Holbrook Burtonsville, MD ps - if any one attempts to walk, it is an ALL DAY venture :) =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=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 =========================================================================