Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 18:58:45 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "George M. Jett" Subject: Worcester County Birding Comments: To: SMAS Comments: cc: Miliff@aol.com, BlkVulture@aol.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Folks I escaped from mending and Charles County for a day. With all the = reports of Razorbills at the inlet and my goal of photographing 300 = species in Maryland by years end, I headed for the O.C. inlet. Today = was not the day to be at the inlet. At the inlet large numbers (perhaps as many as 200) of Red-throated = Loons and two Common Loon were present. When I am intent on taking = pictures I pay less attention to others things, including people around = me. Many scoters of all three species zoomed past for the better part = of my visit. One male Black Scoter did oblige and swam up the inlet = providing one photo-opportunity. About twenty Brant briefly stopped at = the mouth but soon left. One Great Cormorant, about 100 Ruddy = Turnstones, and 65 Purple Sandpipers were feeding on the rocks at the = south and eventually north jetty as high tide subsided. Perhaps 200 = Herring Gulls and 150 Ring-billed Gulls were also in the vicinity. Two = House Sparrows were along the board walk. 6 Razorbills floating in the surf just outside the south jetty at the = inlet was the highlight of the day. These birds drifted from the south = jetty toward the Assateaque shore the entire three hours I stayed at the = inlet. No opportunities to get anything decent in the lens.=20 I stopped briefly at the Skimmer Island and found three Laughing Gulls, = and one adult Lesser Black-backed Gull mixed in with usual three other = species of gulls. About 30 Dunlin, and 8 American Oystercatchers were = noted on the island complex. The Sinepuxent Sound also was the resting = location for an additional 32 Brant and one female Red-breasted = Merganser. I then went to West Ocean City ponds. The highlight was three Tundra = Swan, one Green-winged Teal, 8 Gadwall, four Lesser Scaup, four Hooded = Mergansers, less then 10 Black Duck, 15 Ring-necked Duck, 30+ Mallards, = 75 Northern Shovelers, and about 300 Canvasbacks. I did not stay long = as I was tiring, and needed to drive three hours home. =20 I did make one more OC area stop at Eagles Nest campground and the golf = course. At the golf course pond were about 100 ducks when I drove by. = By the time I got out of the car, eight American Wigeon and two Gadwall = remained. I then went along to the campgrounds. Tide was subsiding and = a good mix of birds were around the exposed land. I estimate 10 = Sanderlings, 100 plus Dunlin, two Black-bellied Plover, 60+ Brant, a few = Canada Geese, seven Black Duck, and about half a dozen Bufflehead. =20 I headed toward home until I got to the mitigation ponds on the west = side of Salisbury. These ponds are situated on the north side at the = Salisbury split. There was a nice collection of gulls loafing. A quick = scan netted my second adult Lesser Black-backed Gull for the day, and = three more Laughing Gull - soon to be at your local watering spot. =20 It was nice to get out and see the Razorbills. George =20 =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=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 =========================================================================