Saturday Birding at the Shore
Les Eastman (les_eastman@netfox.net)
Mon, 23 Feb 1998 21:21:55 -0500
Norm has already written about out birding trip on Friday. That was a
scouting trip for a field trip I led Saturday for the Harford Bird
Club. The biggest difference in the two days was the weather. Friday
was overcast with some light rain but the wind was light. Saturday was
bright and sunny but the wind was brisk. This resulted in us seeing
fewer birds on Saturday, especially on the bay side. Where we were
seeing literally hundreds of birds on Friday, Saturday produced few or
none - either because they were harder to see in the choppy water or
they had headed out for calmer waters.
We started out at the pier in Cape Henlopen State Park and saw all three
scoters including great looks at a Surf Scoter very close, Red-throated
Loons, Red-breasted Mergansers, Brant and Bufflehead. The Peregrine
Falcon we saw on Friday was not there, but I was able to find several
Great Cormorants on the rock jetty. The nature center failed to produce
anything unusual - the Brown-headed Nuthatches were no-shows. At the
point we saw more of what we saw at the pier and a distant look at a
Northern Gannet.
Next we went to the pond at the Spring Lake Apartments in Rehobeth were
we only found a pair of Canvasback, a DC Cormorant and several Black
Ducks.
We stopped in Dewey Beach where an Eared Grebe had been reported, but
only saw Brant and Red-breasted Merganser. Not a single grebe was
visible where the day before there were dozens.
At Indian River Inlet, we had both loons, Surf and Black Scoter, Purple
Sandpipers, and Ruddy Turnstones. A flock of Sanderlings flew up the
beach and we had great looks at an Oldsquaw which its long tail feathers
blowing back over its back in the wind.
At Assawoman WMA we saw Tundra Swan, Gadwall, Northern Pintails,
American Wigeon, and Hooded Mergansers. A surprise was 2 Great Egrets.
When we went to look for the eagle's nest, we were treated to a fly-by
by one of the Bald Eagles. Another surprise was a number of Tree
Swallows.
At the Ocean City jetty, we had close looks at 4 male Harlequin Ducks
and a Northern Gannet performed for us close to shore, making several
dives into the water. Other birds seen were both loons, many, many
Brant, Common Eider, Oldsquaw, and Ruddy Turnstones, Purple Sandpipers
and Red Knot practically at our feet.
The West Ocean City Pond had many Canvasbacks, Lesser Scaup, Northern
Shovelers, American Wigeon and Common Coots. 12 Black-crowned
Night-herons, many with breeding plumes, were sunning themselves. One
member of our party found a Redhead but quickly lost it in the crowd of
Canvasbacks and it was not relocated.
The ponds on Griffin Road near the race track had a pair of Wood Ducks
and a flock of Peafowl.
The total species count was 65 which included very few "land" birds
because we could not hear them over the wind and we weren't especially
looking for them, anyway. Not as many as we saw on Friday, but a few
species we didn't get on Friday. It would have been a better day
without the wind, but on the other hand, it could have been a whole lot
worse. Or as they say in Lake Wobegon, "If it could have been worse,
then it's not so bad."
Les
======================
Les Eastman
les_eastman@netfox.net
Havre de Grace, MD