Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 12:41:36 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding <MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM> Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding <MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM> From: Walter Ellison <rossgull@CROSSLINK.NET> Subject: Eastern Neck and Chesapeake Farms trip - 4 Jan MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hi All, Back-to-back trips by our friends in Cecil County (on 3 Jan- - see Parke = John's earlier post) and the Kent County Bird Club have given ample = opportunity for comparison between Saturday and Sunday's birds at = Eastern Neck Island and the Chesapeake (was Remington) Farms waterfowl = pond. We found 66 species for the trip with 58 on Eastern Neck I. and 8 more = on the way to and at Chesapeake Farms. The highlights of the trip were = big flocks of wintering ducks and geese, especially at the refuge; lots = of wintering songbirds including two GRAY CATBIRDS; and the RED-HEADED = WOODPECKERS on the Duck Inn Trail. The other highlight, now that winter = has returned with a vengeance, was the mild, almost spring-like weather = of Sunday. Beyond birds we also saw frogs, a tick (Ian Ellison found = this one because he loves thickets), and a questionmark butterfly (at = Chesapeake Farms), plus Nancy and I had red-bellied sliders at Great Oak = Pond and calling spring peepers after the trip. The complete bird = species list appears below. All bird counts are for Eastern Neck NWR = unless specifically indicated: 1 Snow Goose (blue morph w/Canadas at E. Neck); Canada Goose 800+ E. = Neck, 1000+ Chesapeake Farms (two albinistic); 2 Mute Swans; 600+ Tundra = Swans; 5 Gadwall (at Chesapeake Farms); 120+ American Black Ducks; 250+ = Mallard (most at E. Neck, also a few at Chesapeake Farms); 3 Northern = Shovelers (Chesapeake Farms); 20+ Northern Pintails (Chesapeake Farms); = 800+ Canvasback; Ring-necked Duck 4 E. Neck, 30 Chesapeake Farms; 100+ = Greater Scaup; 2000+ Lesser Scaup; 200+ scaup (sp); 150+ Bufflehead; 50 = Common Goldeneye; 8 Hooded Mergansers; 60 Red-breated Mergansers; 2000+ = Ruddy Ducks; 1 Common Loon; 5 Great Blue Herons; 8+ Turkey Vultures = (vultures were late getting aloft on Sunday); 5 adult and 1 imm Bald = Eagles; 3 Northern Harriers; 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk; 1 Cooper's Hawk (just = north of E. Neck Narrows on MD-445); 3 Red-tailed Hawks; Ring-billed = Gull; Herring Gull; Great Black-backed Gull (gull counts were not = attempted, there were less than 50 black-backs, and 100+ each of the = others); 30+ Mourning Doves; 1 Belted Kingfisher; 3 Red-headed = Woodpeckers; 8+ Red-bellied Woodpeckers; 3 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers; 6+ = Downy Woodpeckers; 2 Hairy Woodpeckers; 1 Northern Flicker; Blue Jay 8+ = E. Neck, 12 Chesapeake Farms; 8+ American Crows; 12+ Carolina = Chickadees; 8+ Tufted Titmice; 2 Brown Creepers; 9+ Carolina Wrens; 3 = Winter Wrens; 2 Golden-crowned Kinglets; 2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets; 1 = Eastern Bluebird; 3 Hermit Thrushes; 40 American Robins; 2 Gray = Catbirds; 5+ Northern Mockingbirds; 1 Brown Thrasher; European Starling; = 20 Cedar Waxwings; 12 Eastern Towhees; 3 Fox Sparrows; 24+ Song = Sparrows; 10 Swamp Sparrows; 40+ White-throated Sparrows; 3 = White-crowned Sparrows (Chesapeake Farms); Dark-eyed Junco 4+ E. Neck, 8 = Chesapeake Farms; 30+ Northern Cardinals; 500+ Red-winged Blackbirds; = 30+ Common Grackles; 2 House Finches (Chesapeake Farms); House Sparrow = (Edesville). Good Birding, =20 Walter Ellison 23460 Clarissa Road Chestertown, MD 21620 phone: 410-778-9568 e-mail: rossgull@crosslink.net "A person who is looking for something doesn't travel very fast" - E. B. = White (in "Stuart Little") =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=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 =========================================================================