Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2003 20:38:11 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "George M. Jett" Subject: Ocean City Inlet - Nov. 30, 2003 Comments: To: SMAS Comments: cc: Miliff@aol.com, Robert Ringler MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Folks Today Gwen and I took a day trip to the inlet. She had never seen = either eider in Maryland and with the recent reports, we spent a couple = hours searching for eiders at the inlet. We quickly located two female = Common Eiders on the north side of the south jetty. About 1/2 later = Gwen noticed two birds at the ocean tip of the south jetty. A quick = search showed that the birds were one female King Eider being chased by = a female Common. A first winter male Common Eider was also spotted in = this area before he flew off to the south. We later found a first = winter male King Eider and female Black Scoter working their way out to = see. Within one hour after we arrived all but the two female Common = adults were well behind the south jetty or otherwise out of sight. = Timing is important if you want to see these birds. Lots of fishing = boats but they did not seem to bother the birds. It may have been = because it was low tide when we arrived and the food on the north side = of the south jetty was easier to get to. There was also a brief visit by an adult Merlin hunting the Ruddy = Turnstones. Ruddy Turnstones and Purple Sandpipers did not light for = some time after the initial strike. Gannets, Common and Red-throated = Loons and large flights of scoters were moving up and down the littoral = zone. Lots of Forster's Terns were at the inlet but the only = Bonaparte's Gulls were in the sound. Red-breasted and Hooded = Mergansers, and well as Canada Goose and Bufflehead were in the sound. West OC. Pond had a number of duck species including Pintail, Shoveler, = Gadwall, Am. Wigeon, Hooded Mergansers, Blacks and Mallards. Coots, a = few Canvasbacks, Lesser Scaup, and Ruddy Ducks were also present. George Jett =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=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 =========================================================================