Howdy all! I was out birding this weekend for Southern Maryland Audubon bird-a-thon (St Charles/St Marys/Calvert). Total for 24-hr period for the team I was on was 122 species. Birds of note: *GREAT CORMORANT on the Columbia Gas structure off Cove Pt (viewable with access to LNG lands or from the end of the Red Trail at Calvert Cliffs St Pk) *LEAST BITTERN across Duncan Pond from the blind at Flag Ponds St Pk (calling in the middle of the day [noon]) *possible flock of BRANT from the point at Pt Lookout (Bay side-5:15pm) - it was a flock of 150+ birds at 1000-1200 yds viewed through scopes with good light; birds were dark with light bellies; chubby, shorter-necked, birds with faster wingbeats than geese or cormorants gave them a sea-duck gizz; the flock was a single line of birds in tighter-than-cormorant formation; if I was in New Jersey, I would have been certain these were BRANT, but away from the coast I did not have close enough views for beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt ID; these birds should be looked for again... -Greg Miller Lusby, MD