MD Coast trip report

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Hi all,

     I spent the morning (March 17) knocking around coastal Worcester County
and the afternoon bouncing in and out of my favorite spots in Wicomico County
and (in rapidly fading light) Dorchester and Caroline Counties.  

     The obvious highlight was an adult male Eurasian Green-winged (Common)
Teal at E.A. Vaughn WMA.  I called the Voice from Snow Hill so it is carrying
the necessary details on how to find the bird, for those of you confident
you'll be able to cash this one in when the AOU gets around to splitting it.
It was a state bird for me.

     Ocean City Inlet was nice too, with 3 Harlequins (2 imm. males, 1 ad.
male), 2 Common Eiders (1 imm. male, 1 female) and 8 King Eiders (3 imm.
males).  The King Eiders were a personal high count for MD and the highest
count I've heard of this season.  50 Purple Sandpipers, 20 Red-throated Loons,
the watertower Peregrine, Brant, Oystercatchers, 5 Northern Gannets, and 15
Bonaparte's Gulls completed the show at the Inlet.

     The Worcester County Landfill had 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (ad., 3rd
winter, 2nd winter) and about 12 Laughing Gulls.  Salisbury was better, with
110 
Laughing Gulls (all but 3 with complete black heads, but all with black bills
still) and 2 adult and one 1st winter Lesser Black-backed Gulls.  First-winter
Lessers were noticeably absent from all the areas I birded from early November
until recently - I saw another on the Bay-Bridge Tunnel on Sunday.  I suspect
these are returning migrants from farther south.

     A young male Merlin posed obligingly in a yard near Snow Hill and allowed
me to pull up right alongside it and take several photos.  Always a treat.

     The only other birds of note were two Red-throated Loons in Wicomico
County (one of very few records).  The first was at Bivalve, seen from Cedar
Hill Park, while the other was seen from the Nanticoke Trailer Park about 4
miles south of there.

     The Naticoke Marshes as seen from "old Rte. 50" were full of ducks -
including 30 Northern Pintails,  10 Green-winged Teal, 2 American Wigeon, and
50+ Mallards.   Lots of ducks (especially Red-breasted Mergansers) in most
other bodies of water as well.  Also the Great Horned Owl nest I found along
Skeleton Creek Rd. near Choptank, Caroline County, was still active (drop me
an email if you'll be on the Eastern Shore and want to see this nest).

     Hope some others get a chance to see the teal.  

     Best,

      Marshall Iliff
      miliff@aol.com
      Annapolis, MD

     

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