Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 16:47:08 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: David Powell Subject: Eastern Shore MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Sent to me from Duvall Sollers (Baltimore County, I thought some people = would be interested in his trip report. I wish I could have been there, = I would have added two state birds. Dave Powell Dave036@earthlink.net=20 Germantown, MD Today I got up at 5:00 am to drive to OC to take a shot at the eiders. = Matt Hafner had said that they were on the inlet side of the jetty over = the weekend. Got there around 8:30 and found only 6 ducks on the north = side of the south jetty. Lots more could be seen on the south when the = waves lifted them, but only for 1-2 seconds at a time. They all seemed = to be scoters, but I'm sure I was only seeing a fraction of what was = hidden behind the jetty. Of the 6 on my side, I had great luck. 5 were = bunched together - 3 surf scoters (1 m, 2 f) and 2 female eiders. Way = out by the point of the jetty was a lone male common eider (positive = i.d.). I had a lot of trouble trying to tell what the females were. = The light wasn't great and I kept changing my mind, finally deciding = that at least one of them was a king. Birds were everywhere in OC. I had a harlequin female land right beside = me at the inlet. Cormorants, loons, purple sandpipers, ruddy = turnstones, gannets, etc. were everywhere. Hoopers Island had brant, = shorebirds, oystercatchers, 2 godwits (I think) and plenty of gulls. OC = pond had tons of birds including tundra swans and a black crowned night = heron w/4 immatures in the same tree/bush! There were at least 10-11 = different duck species as well. I finished my day by going out to Deal Is. to try for the Eurasian = wigeon that had been reported. Took me about 15 minutes, but it finally = popped up out of the hundreds of American wigeon that were there. = Altogether a great day! Wish I could have stayed over. Wound up with 3 = life bird - the eiders and the Eurasian wigeon. If you still need the = Eurasian wigeon, try to get there around 3 in the afternoon - the light = is perfect and that rufous head color shows up nicely! =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=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 =========================================================================