Bryan Blazie and I spent Thursday and Friday (March 12-13) in the Ocean City area. Thursday was windy and very cold, with wind chills below 15 most of the day. Friday was warmer but the winds were 15-25 with gusts to 40. It was almost impossible to see anything on the ocean. Highlights included: Red-throated Loon 50+ Common Loon 25+ Horned Grebe 15 Pied-billed Grebe 30 Northern Gannet 20 Double-crested Cormorant 300+ Brant 100+ Harlequin Duck 11 [jetty] Tundra Swan 2 [West OC pond] King Eider 5 [jetty] Common Eider 6 [jetty] Canvasback 200 [mostly West OC pond] Lesser Scaup 20 [West OC pond] Greater Scaup 8 [West OC pond] Ring-necked Duck 3 [West OC pond] Northern Shoveler 300+ [West OC and other places] Green-winged Teal 4 [West OC] American Wigeon 30 [West OC and other places] Gadwall 50 [West OC and other places] Ruddy Duck 100+ [West OC and other places] Surf Scoter 600+ [flying north] Black Scoter 10 Bufflehead 300+ Red-breasted Merganser 500+ Hooded Merganser 10 [Racetrack pond] HARRIS' HAWK 1 [adult - see below] Black-bellied Plover 20 [see below for shorebird note] WILLET 6 Red Knot 3 Purple Sandpiper 6 Ruddy Trunstone 20 Dunlin 4000 Sanderling 2000 Western Sandpiper 2 Least Sandpiper 25 American Oystercatcher 50 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL 2 [adults on 4th St. flats] Bonaparte's Gull 15 Tree Swallow 8 Brown-headed Nuthatch 8 [at end of road by Race Track Pond] American Robin ++ [everywhere in large flocks] Cedar Waxwing 30 Pine Warbler + [singing in several places] Yellow-rumped Warbler + [numerous everywhere] The shorebirds, except Purple Sandpipers and Ruddy Turnstones, were almost all seen from the camp ground at the end of Eagle's Nest Road behind the airport. The flats were huge there at low tide. There were several thousand Herring and Ring-billed Gulls scattered around. Most of RBs were subadults. The Harrris' Hawk was introduced to us by Bill Waterman, a falconer who was flying the bird at South Point. It hunts cooperatively with his black Lab. There was the standard contingent of resident landbirds, but no migrants evident. Black Ducks and Mallards were everywhere but we missed Common Goldeneye. Rick "A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people." Thomas Mann Rick Blom rblom@blazie.com Bel Air, Maryland