Date: Sun, 29 Feb 2004 11:22:08 +0000 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Norm Saunders Subject: Dovekies I'm sure Paul Guris will be posting a detailed set of results for the pelagic trip his company ran out of Lewes DE on Saturday, visiting both Delaware and Maryland waters. Fran and I were able to see our first Dovekie in Maryland waters since 1994. The thing is we didn't see just one. Paul's count at the end of the trip was 144 of them. For a time there we seemed to be seeing them every five minutes or so lifting off the water in small flocks. Paul tried to convince us they were like 'black-and-white footballs' but Mary Gustafson felt a better description was 'black-and-white snitches' (for those of you who are Harry Potter fans). The trip was rough in the morning, but the dovekies, fulmars, gannets, puffin, and Iceland gull in Maryland waters made it all worthwhile. We also had a new state bird, just the wrong state! We were lucky enough to see a Common Murre in Delaware waters, a lovely, chocolate-brown subadult bird. Best, Norm ================================== Norm & Fran Saunders Colesville & West Ocean City, MD marshhawk@att.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================