good birds in S. MD 5/2

GREGORY.B.MILLER@bge.com
Tue, 5 May 1998 09:45:46 -0400


     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