Ocean City CBC -- 50th Anniversary
Saunders_N (Saunders_N@BLS.GOV)
Mon, 24 Nov 1997 07:48:54 -0500
Date: Sun, 23 Nov 1997
From: JMSheppar@aol.com
Subject: 50th Ocean City CBC
Dear fellow birders:
The 50th Ocean City, MD, Christmas Bird Count will be this
year. The O.C. CBC has consistently produced the highest
species totals in Maryland and has on a several occasions
equaled or exceeded 150 species (Max.=163). We would like
to see as many participants from the past counts return and
help again this year. Chan Robbins has been organizing and
compiling this count for all these years. He needs your help.
Please ask everyone you think might want to help to plan on
attending: Monday, December 29, 1997.
Overnight accommodations, if needed: Francis Scott Key Motel
1-800-213-0088
Rates are $35/night Sunday/Thursday for 1 or 2 persons,
$45 for 3 or 4; $10 extra for Friday or Saturday. Please
make your own reservations ASAP. (Located 1 mi E of O.C.
on Rt. 50.)
At this time, the earliest restaurant we know about in O.C.
is 6:00 AM at the Kitchen about 3 blocks south of the Rt. 50
bridge towards the Coast Guard Station. Owlers might want
to go to the woods & marshes first. First light will be
about 7 AM and last light about 5:15 PM. I do not have the
tide tables for December but can predict that at the Inlet
there will be a very high tide about 8 AM and a very low tide
around 2:30 PM (times +/- 45 min).
Please advise your past party leader(s) as soon as you can
if you can participate. Please tell them how many others
you have rounded up to help, too. Party and subparty assign-
ments will work out a lot better if party leaders will let
Chan know as soon as possible, preferably well before Decem-
ber 20. Via the Internet, they can contact him at
Chan_Robbins@usgs.gov, call his office at 301-497-5641, or
drop him a postcard at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center,
11410 American Holly Dr., Laurel, MD 20708-4015.
If you have worked with a certain party leader in the past,
please contact that person first. If you learn of this
count and have not participated previously or for a number
of years, contact Chan or me for further information.
There are 177 sq mi in a CBC circle; the more help, the
better the coverage of all the open ocean, bays, ponds,
fields, marshes, woods, and beaches, as well as all those
backyard feeders. As but one example, the expected high
tides in the early morning will mean miles of flooded marshes
for herons, rails and sparrows.
Again, our goal is to have as many participants as possible
on this 50th Ocean City CBC. There have been a lot of late
migrants this fall, and we hope a few will be inside the
count circle come Dec. 29. This count always has a high
potential for the unusual as evidenced by its cumulative
species list of about 250. The tally will be at Boomer's,
Rt. 113 about 2 miles S of Rt. 50. See you there!
Sincerely,
Jay Shappard, USF&WS ret.