Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2003 17:48:37 -0800 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Charlie Subject: Eastern shore (jaeger, harlequin, eider...) Comments: cc: David Trently , Tracey Everson Muise , Lynette Fullerton In-Reply-To: <003c01c3b093$8deb6040$5b62a3d1@oemcomputer> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii 11/28/03 Assateague Island, Ocean City (pond, inlet, Skimmer Island) Delaware National Seashore, Rehoboth (Silver Lake), Cape Henlopen State Park. Hi folks, Today Lynette Fullerton and I enjoyed a great day of birding. Though the number of species and the number of individual birds was not what I'd been hoping for, we had some great species, good looks, lots of fun, and much better weather than we'd been anticipating. Who would have thought I'd be birding Ocean City in a t-shirt and light fleece this time of year!?! Maybe all those coal plants and gas-guzzling SUVs are doing us some good afterall... We crossed the Bay Bridge at 7:45 am in some light fog and generally overcast skies. Along the way we saw the expected pair of MUTE SWANS at the pond on the far side of the Bay Bridge. There were also some of the usual suspects: GREAT BLACK-BACKED, RING-BILLED and HERRING GULLs, BUFFLEHEAD STARLINGS, ROCK-DOVES, CANADA GEESE, GREAT-BLUE HERON and MALLARDs. At that point we also had the first of our 7 (6 adult, 1 immature) BALD EAGLES. Heading south from US 50 we found what turned out to be our only NORTHERN HARRIER of the day. Our arrival at Assateague SP was greeted with enough fog to put a damper on things, so we didn't stay long. on the ocean side we had only about 100 foot visability and saw only a few gulls. We walked from the north parking lot to the bridge, seeing a GREATER YELLOWLEGS, 2 GREAT EGRETS, DARK-EYED JUNCOS a few FORSTER'S TERNS and many YELLOW-RUMPED WARBGLERS. A distant lump in the marsh tried so hard to be a short-eared owl, but we just couldn't be sure with the distance. I think the 45 minutes we spent there was the shortest I've ever been. The walk back produced AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES (I thought I heard siskins at one point, but never saw them) and we got some laughs at some people who ignore the hundreds of "park here and die" signs and ended up getting ticketed. The fact that they encouraged their toddlers to pet the pony meant that they got some very expensive photos! The Ocean City Pond has never disappointed me, including today. RUDDY DUCK, BLACK DUCK, AMERICAN COOT, RING-NECKED DUCK, GADWALL, AMERICAN WIGEON, NORTHERN PINTAIL, PIED-BILLED GREBE, NORTHERN SHOVELLER and 50+ TUNDRA SWANS vied for our immediate attention. While looking around we also kicked up 3 HOODED MERGANSER, 2 BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERONS and a BROWN PELICAN. HOUSE FINCHES, WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS, AMERICAN CROWS, and NORTHERN CARDINALS all seemed unimpressed with the fact that the big birds captured all our attention. The most interesting bird was probably the immature LITTLE BLUE HERON feeding actively on the back right (northwest) shore. Half a dozen CANVASBACKs nearly eluded our attention in the far back left corner. The fog (both in my head as coffee kicked in, and in the sky) started to clear - and just in time! The first 20 minutes brought us: long lines of (north-bound?) SURF and BLACK SCOTERS, 2 individual WHITE-WINGED SCOTERs, dive-bombing NORTHERN GANNETTS, flyby RED-THROATED and COMMON LOONS, 100's of PURPLE SANDPIPERS, a very friendly RUDDY TURNSTONE, and 2 lifers for Lynette: HARELQUIN DUCK (in the middle of the inlet!) and COMMON EIDER (which was a state bird for me). But the best bird of the day was soon to arrive - right on the retrices of a forster's tern was a chunky dark bird flying with strong, purposeful wingbeats. It chased the tern until a meal was exchanged. On it's return in our direction we had a great look at the tail and wings of a immature PARASITIC JAEGER ('nother lifer for her and stater for me). A short stop to check out Skimmer Island produced BROWN PELICAN, DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT and the ever-important HOUSE SPARROW (at our feet, not on the island.) Back on the road, we made a brief stop just before the Delaware line to check out an immature COOPER'S HAWK hanging out on a utility line in the strong wind. Silly bird! WARNING: the rest of our story is in Delaware. Folks interested only in Maryland birding should hit now... :-) A quick stop at Indian River Inlet provided us with looks at BOAT-TAILED GRACKLE, DUNLIN, BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, and some much better looks at Black and Surf Scoters than we had earlier. We watched the above shorebirds, mixed with some Sanderling and Ruddy Turnstones (total of about 130 birds in 2 flocks) as they continually landed on the break water south of the inlet, only to get kicked up by waves crashing down on the rocks. Pretty entertaining for us, if frusterating for them. The large number of people fishing really limited the spaces the birds were willing to use. Next stop was Silver Lake in Rehoboth. The ducks here were as numerous as usual, but not as varied. Interestingly the dominant bird here was Black Duck, with at least 60. We had to walk a whole 30 feet from the car to see a MONK PARAKEET sticking it's head out of the entrance hole on the street side of the pole on which they have been nesting for at least a decade. I forget the name of the road, but it's the one that runs along the north side of Silver Lake. With daylight fading, we decided we had to forego my favorite birding place in the eastern US. Bombay Hook was just too far away with less than 2 hours light left. So we headed instead to Cape Henlopen SP. Land birds were scarce with the wind. A group of finches I innadvertantly flushed from the cedars by the feeders may have included Purples, but I can't be sure. A walk along the forest Seaside Trail from the visitor Center produced RUBY-CROWNED and GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS, CAROLINA CHICKADEES. At the beach we saw a couple of beautiful adult male Surf Scoters and our only RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS of the day - 7 birds hanging out on the beach. With daylight fading we made an end run to the point, where we had our last - and only 2nd :-( - sparrow species: 2 SONG SPARROWS running in the sand, acting like the hoped-for Savannahs. Scanning the lighthouse island we saw many hundreds of gulls and cormorants. I would bet my next paycheck that there were a couple goodies out there - if anyone has the gumption to get in a boat and go see. I estimate at least 500 gulls. All in all it was a great day. Though I'd been expecting more than the 79 species we saw, I was quite happy with a few that I've only seen a handful of times in my life. Good birding! Charlie ===== ************************************************** Charlie Muise, Senior Naturalist Now living in Maryville, TN Still working in Great Smoky Mountains National Park "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm" Ralph Waldo Emerson __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now http://companion.yahoo.com/ ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================