Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 10:59:51 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Walter Ellison Subject: Kent County Mid-Winter Count MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hi Everybody, The Kent County Mid-Winter Bird Count was once again a single-party = event. Nancy Martin and I met Meg Parry at the Dollar Store lot off = MD-213 in Chestertown at 7:00 AM on Sunday (15 Feb) and we started off = by counting the vultures roosted at the corner of Spring St. and = Washington Ave (MD-213). From there we covered a few spots in the = immediate Chestertown area including the town landing and the ponds off = John Hanson Rd. We then continued west on MD-20 toward Rock Hall taking = some detours to check on side roads, in particular taking a look at the = main pond at Chesapeake Farms. We spent a lot of time on Eastern Neck = and at the Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge before heading north to = complete the day checking Swan Point, Fairlee Creek, and Great Oak Pond. The cool rather breezy weather seemed to make songbirds hard to find and = shy, and waterfowl have yet to fully respond to the return of open water = to many locations. We managed to find 69 bird species and about 18,200 = individual birds (give or take, probably give, a few). Among our = highlights were 17 waterfowl species including 3 Hooded Mergansers on a = small pond on Earl Nicholson Rd, and 60 Common Mergansers, most on = Fairlee Creek. We were very pleased to find three adult CHIPPING = SPARROWS with a junco and white-throat flock on Ricaud's Branch Rd near = Chesapeake Farms, disappointingly our only Spizella sparrows (where were = the Field Sparrows?). We counted 15 Bald Eagles for the day at several = locations. Eastern Neck Island highlights included an adult LESSER = BLACK-BACKED GULL at the Narrows; a White-breasted Nuthatch, a Brown = Creeper, an immature female PINE WARBLER, and the three wintering = RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS. The latter two species were found along the Duck = Inn Trail. We were also pleased to include a female Great Horned Owl = sitting on her nest along Handy Point Rd near Great Oak Pd. Atlasers = take note - we had checked the large stick nest she was sitting upon on = Saturday with a spotting scope and Nancy caught sight of her tail and = big "eared" head in the nest. It pays to check old hawk nests at this = time of year.=20 Our complete listing appears below: 2900 Snow Geese; 8800 Canada Geese; 9 Mute Swans; 1380 Tundra Swans = (most at Eastern Neck NWR); 2 Gadwall; 150 American Black Ducks; 470 = Mallards; 180 Northern Pintail; 11 Green-winged Teal; 20 Canvasback; 175 = Ring-necked Ducks; 290 Greater Scaup; 480 Lesser Scaup; 40 scaup (sp); = 135 Bufflehead; 90 Common Goldeneye; 3 Hooded Mergansers; 60 Common = Mergansers; 11 Great Blue Herons; 33 Black Vultures; 218 Turkey = Vultures; 15 Bald Eagles (9 ad, 5 im, 1 unk); 3 Northern Harriers; 2 = Cooper's Hawks; 16 Red-tailed Hawks; 3 American Kestrels; 375 = Ring-billed Gulls; 170 Herring Gulls; 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull; 265 = Great Black-backed Gulls; 105 Rock Pigeons; 50 Mourning Doves; 1 Great = Horned Owl; 1 Barred Owl (pre-dawn near Worton Creek); 3 Red-headed = Woodpeckers; 11 Red-bellied Woodpeckers; 4 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers; 7 = Downy Woodpeckers; 7 Hairy Woodpeckers; 6 Northern Flickers; 39 Blue = Jays; 31 American Crows; 12 Horned Larks; 14 Carolina Chickadees; 6 = Tufted Titmice; 1 White-breasted Nuthatch; 1 Brown Creeper; 6 Carolina = Wrens; 1 Winter Wren; 15 Eastern Bluebirds; 9 American Robins; 19 = Northern Mockingbirds; 675 European Starlings; 80 Cedar Waxwings; 4 = Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warblers; 1 Pine Warbler; 6 Eastern Towhees; 3 = Chipping Sparrows; 23 Song Sparrows; 1 Swamp Sparrow; 83 White-throated = Sparrows; 8 White-crowned Sparrows; 35 Dark-eyed (Slate-colored) Juncos; = 57 Northern Cardinals; 255 Red-winged Blackbirds; 120 Common Grackles; = 39 Brown-headed Cowbirds; 60 House Finches; 7 American Goldfinches; 85 = House Sparrows. It was a chilling, but pleasant day to be out among the feathered tribe. 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 =========================================================================