weekend birds

GREGORY.B.MILLER@bge.com
Sun, 1 Feb 1998 15:19:30 -0500 

     I finally made it out of my cubicle for some *power* birding
     (26 days in a row at work and I was going bananas...).
     Hooray!  What a great feeling to be birding again!

     Saturday, 1/31/98

     Ocean City Inlet:

     9:45am-12:30pm.  Exciting birds.  15 Common Eiders, 2 King
     Eiders, 9 Harlequin Ducks, 60-70 Am. Oystercatchers, lots of
     Purple Sandpipers, Ruddy Turnstones, a Red Knot,
     Red-throated Loons, Common Loons, Black and Surf Scoters,
     Oldsquaws, Great Black-backed, Herring, Ring-billed, and
     Bonaparte's Gulls, Sanderlings, a Northern Gannet,
     Boat-tailed Grackles, and a Peregrine Falcon on the water
     tower.

     West Ocean City Pond:

     12:45pm-1:30pm.  Several hundred Canvasback and Lesser
     Scaup, 6 Gadwall, 4 Am. Widgeon, 2 Shovelers, 10 Black
     Ducks, 5 Ruddy Ducks, 8 Mallards, Am. Coots, a Great Blue
     Heron, and 3 Black-crowned Night-Herons.

     Indian River Inlet:

     2:15pm-2:30pm.  Devoid of usual birdlife.  The regular gulls
     (Great Black-backed, Herring, and Ring-billed), a female
     Black Scoter, a Common Loon, and an Oldsquaw.

     Silver Lake:

     2:45pm-2:50pm.  A quick scan of the ducks produced hundreds
     of Canvasback and Lesser Scaup, Ruddy Duck, Black Duck,
     Mallard, Bufflehead, and Am. Goldeneye.

     Cape Henlopen St Park:

     3:00pm-4:15pm.  Red Crossbills were reported on the 30th,
     but I did not see any on the 31st.  Found a "Pink-sided"
     Dark-eyed Junco on the East side of point parking lot.
     70-80 Brant, lots of Sanderlings, and a few Dunlin were on
     the West side.  There were several small flocks of Snow
     Buntings (one group was about 120 individuals) near the
     point.  Did not see an Savannah "Ipswich" Sparrows in the
     dunes...

     Finished the day by driving to Westminster to spend the
     night in close proximity to Liberty Reservoir.

     This morning, I got to where I thought Pine Knob should be
     around 7:30am.  Of course, I had the *wrong* location
     <grin>.  After driving around aimlessly for 15 minutes, I
     returned to the upper Deer Park location.

     Sunday 2/1/98

     Deer Park (upper locale--lines supported by metal thingies)

     7:45am-8:00am.  A fly-over Pine Siskin was calling as was a
     Hermit Thrush from the woods.  Chickadees, Titmice, and
     Red-breasted Nuthatches were also present.  Oh, and
     thousands of crows (Sorry, I did not check these for rare
     crows <grin>)

     Deer Park (lower locale--lines supported by wooden thingies)

     8:00am-11:30am.  At 9:50am, I saw two adult male Red
     Crossbills (one was a fly-over and one lit on top of a tree
     affording me a sterling 2-minute view before dropping down
     on the backside of the tree and then melting into the
     woods...before anyone else got to see them...).  A good
     surprise was a Black-capped Chickadee giving it's
     slower-paced, 2-note whistle.  Other birds included Black
     and Turkey Vultures, Black Ducks, Gadwalls, Common
     Mergansers, Carolina Wrens, Carolina Chickadees, Dark-eyed
     Juncos, Mockingbird, White-throated Sparrows, Red-bellied
     Woodpecker, a Sharp-shinned Hawk, and the ever-present
     Red-breasted Nuthatches.

     Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant (CCNPP) - Visitor
     Overlook

     1:45pm-2:00pm.  Not many birds present.  15 Oldsquaw, 2
     Bufflehead, 1 Common Loon, 10 Ring-billed Gulls, 4 Herring
     Gulls, 1 Great Black-backed Gull.  Surprise here today was a
     fly-by Northern Gannet.

     2:00pm.  I'm back at work again.  I am much happier though
     and quite a bit more tired after logging 500+ miles in a
     day-and-a-half...

     It was a pleasure meeting a few of you out in the field
     yesterday and today.  And, of course, birding was [as
     always] a pure joy...

     Greg Miller (spastic birder)
     Lusby, MD