Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2004 20:56:58 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: sean mccandless Subject: Last Sat. Black Water and Ocean City MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable This past Saturday, I lead a field trip with the Cecil County Bird Club = to Black Water and Beyond. Despite the high winds we didn't do to bad we = had a total of 86 species. Highlights include;Red-necked Grebe, Great = Egret, Blue-winged Teal, Canvasback, Common Eider, Peregrine Falcon, = both Yellow Legs, Wilson's Snipe, Forsters Tern, Tree Swallow, = Brown-headed Nuthatch, Pine Warbler, Boat-tailed Grackle, and Lesser = Black-backed Gull. Being fooled in the morning, left the Big Elk Mall parking lot at 6 am = for what looked like the prettiest day we had seen for at least a week = or two. Heading Southward 2 hours later we were making it across the = Choptank River bridge when we noticed a small flock of Canvasbacks = hanging around the bridge. When we got into the Refuge @ Black Water we found Tree Swallows right = away. Other birds include Killdeer Several Bald Eagles, Green-winged = Teal, Pintail, Gadwall, Shoveler,Great Egrets, Ospreys were flying = everywhere. Farther down the road right before the main foot trail we = picked up Pine warblers singing all over, both Yellow-legs, Ring-necked = Ducks, and a Coot. At the trail entrance we got Brown-headed Nuthatch, = Pine Warblers, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Golden-crowned Kinglets and Brown = Creepers. Out on the road trail we had great looks at Wilson's Snipe, = Bald Eagles, Blue-winged Teal, many other Ducks, Forsters Terns,and = Laughing Gulls. By the time we got to the Blue-winged Teals the wind was doing about 30 = mph. We made our way down to Eagles Nest Campground, and the wind was = even worse. We did manage to pick up a few Species like Brant, = Red-breasted Merganser, Bufflehead, Dunlin, but the birds were facing = forward and going backwards in the wind. Over at the Hooper Restaurant we did have great looks at American = Oystercatchers, Dunlin, Boat-tailed Grackles, a Lesser Black-backed = Gull,and a few Laughing Gulls. There were many Red-breasted Mergansers = too. The Peregrine Falcon is still hanging around the water tower. The Inlet had bad traffic, people parking in the way from the parking = lot. The wind again was very bad and scoping was nearly impossible.Bad = vibrations. We did have Gannets passing thru very close, Common Eider in = the channel, maybe as many as 2 Red-necked Grebes, Horned Grebe, both = Loons, both Cormorants and Black Scoters. I can't wait for spring weather. Happy Birding. Sean McCandless =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=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 =========================================================================