Coastal MD sightings from Jan. 4
Miliff@aol.com
Mon, 4 Jan 1999 22:32:45 EST
Hello all,
Spent all day knocking around Coastal Worcester County. The primary
motivation for the trip was to quickly build up my MD January 1999 list. Last
year I tried doing a Big January for the first time and had a fantastic time
(ended with 170). Suddenly species which are easily found in other seasons
(i.e. Yellow-breasted Chat, Indigo Bunting, Black-throated Blue Warbler
etc...) are absolute GEMS for the January list. Why should an out of range
Ash-throated Flycatcher (undoubtedly occurs in MD annually in late Nov and
early Dec) draw huge crowds while a January Little Blue Heron or Willet, for
which there are as many records in MD, is largely ignored. Would any of us
bother to go look at a Worm-eating Warbler this February, even if it was close
and easily chasable? We should - there are practically NO records for the
species wintering at these latitudes. Ditto for a December Acadian
Flycatcher, though a Hammond's Flycatcher (which does have precedence in the
East in early winter) would be the one to draw hundreds of birders. I'm
suggesting a change in attitude. Let's all take up Month listing!!!!
And while I'm at it...a Challenge. Greg, if you are having
withdrawel from not fanatically chasing birds for your list, or if anyone else
wants to emulate Greg's year on the small scale, the gaunlet has been thrown.
Do a big January in MD.
Back to today...The pace of the day was that of a Big Day. I raced
from spot to spot with little time in between, mostly trying to check on birds
found on the Ocean City CBC (OC CBC). Little or no time was spent counting
the birds carefully, and very little effort to find birds of my own. The
numbers below are very rough estimates.
Highlights of the day were: 4 species of herons, 1 Richardson's Goose,
2 Eurasian Wigeon, Common Eider and Harlequin Duck at the Inlet, 1 Merlin, 1
Clay-colored Sparrow, 1 Lapland Longspur, 1 Clay-colored Sparrow... Total for
the day was 115 species, bringing my January 1999 list to 125.
Red-throated Loon - 10 (Inlet area and 2 in Sinepuxent Bay)
Common Loon - 10 (Inlet area)
Horned Grebe - 1 (Sinepuxent Bay)
Pied-billed Grebe - 3 (2 at Shantytown, 1 at Hooper's)
Great Cormorant -2 (1 on pier at Inlet and another (first-year) on the pond at
Ocean Pines!)
Double-crested Cormorant - 11(about 10 in Inlet area, 1 at Ocean Pines)
Great BLue Heron - many locations
Great Egret (1 at OC Airport)
Tricolored Heron (3 - 1 at Sora spot, 1 at Hooper's, 1 at Shantytown)
LITTLE-BLUE HERON (2 1st-years at Hooper's)
Turkey Vulture - many locations
Tundra Swan - many locations
Canada Goose - many locations
RICHARDSON'S GOOSE (1 small race bird very pale backed as is typical of
subspecies _hutchinsii_ was on the northernmost Ocean Pines pond (N of Rte.
90))
Snow & Blue Goose - many locations
Wood Duck - 6 (all at Showell Sewage Ponds)
Gadwall - 60 (mostly at Ocean Pines)
EURASIAN WIGEON - 2! (1 ad. male feeding in same cove as on the Ocean City
CBC, this time scoped from Eagle's Nest Campground. If you try for this bird
be sure to ask for permission at the Eagle's Nest Office, be sure to try for
afternoon light, and point your scope to the North where a certain cove is
very attractive to th wigeon and several other species of waterfowl.
Another ad. male Eur. Wigeon was among hundreds of waterfowl
including about 150 Am. Wigeon at the pond at Ocean Pines (off Racetrack Rd.
just S of Rte. 90). It hung out on the northeast edge of the pond where some
emergent vegetation along the shoreline was especially attractive to wigeon
and Gadwall)
American Wigeon - 300 (about 70 on W side Assateague, 150+ Ocean Pines)
Am. Black Duck - many locations
Mallard - many locations
Blue-winged Teal (2 males, 2 females, possibly a 5th female, at the Showell
Sewage Ponds)
Northern Shoveler - 135 (40 Berlin Sewage Ponds, 15 W. OC Pond, 40 OCean
Pines, 40 Pocomoke Sewage Ponds)
Northern Pintail - 10 (all flyovers at South Point, all females)
Green-winged Teal - 7(1 at ski pond on N side Rte. 50 in Vienna, 6 at W. OC
Pond)
Canvasback - 200 (mostly Ocean Pines, also 2 at South Point)
Ring-necked Duck - 60 (40 at Ocean Pines pond, 20 at Pocomoke Sewage Ponds)
Lesser Scaup - 15 (W. OC Pond)
Common Eider - 1 (only one imm. male at Inlet)
Harlequin Duck - 8 (minimum count at Inlet, did not break down sex ratios)
Surf Scoter - 20 (Inlet)
Black Scoter - 3 fem. (Inlet)
scoter sp. - 50 (off Inlet)
Oldsquaw - 2 (Inlet)
Bufflehead - many locations (incl. 10 at Pcomoke Sewage Ponds)
R.B. Merganser - many at Inlet and Sinepuxent Bay
Ruddy Duck - 50 (20 at Ocean Pines, 30 at Pocomoke Sewage Ponds)
Bald Eage - 4 (3 ad. in field on Worc./Wico. County Line, 1 imm. at Ironshire
Station Rd.)
N. Harrier - 1 (Assateague)
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1 (Pocomoke City)
Cooper's Hawk - 1 ad. (Ocean Pines)
Red-tailed Hawk - several along Rte. 50
American Kestrel - 3 (Rte. 50)
MERLIN - 1 brown-backed (Rte. 611 2 mi s. of Rte. 50, chasing Myrtle Warblers
along woods edge paralleling rd.)
large rail sp. - 4 (Cedar Hall Wharf boat landing, s. of Pcomoke City, almost
surely King Rails)
Virginia Rail - 1 (Cedar Hall Wharf Landinf)
American Coot - 65 (40 at Ocean Pines, 25 at Pocomoke Sewage Ponds, 1 W. OC
Pond)
Am. Oystercatcher - 25 (Inlet)
Black-bellied Plover - 90 (Eagle's Nest Campground mudflats)
Killdeer - 8 (several locations, 1 on Assateague)
WILLET - 1 photographed (Eagle's Nest Campground mudflats, I do not have a
guess at the race of this bird, it was not particularly long-billed - missed
last January)
Ruddy Turnstone - 15 (Inlet)
Purple Sandpiper - 60 (Inlet)
Sanderling -75 (Assatgeague)
LEAST SANDPIPER - 2 (at waterskiing pond on N side Rte. 50 in Vienna)
Dunlin - 2000 (Eagle's Nest Campground mudflats)
Common Snipe -1 (Cedar Hall Wharf Landing)
Bonaparte's Gull -175 (Inlet primarily, also 2 at Pocomoke Sewage Ponds -
probably part of what seems to be a massive movement into the area recently)
Ring-billed Gull - many locations
Herring Gull - many locations
Great Black-backed Gull - many locations
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 1 ad. (Showell Sewage Ponds)
Forster's Tern - 18 (Inlet)
N. Bobwhite - 3 (Hickory Pt., a bird I missed last January!)
Rock Dove - many locations
Mourning Dove - many locations
Eastern Screech Owl - 2 (Hickory Pt. Rd.)
Great Horned Owl - 6 (Hickory Pt. Rd.)
Belted Kingfisher - 3 (OC area)
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1 (South Pt.)
Yellow-shafted Flicker - 1 (Assateague)
Eastern Phoebe - 1 (Pocomoke Sewage Ponds)
Blue Jay - 5 (OC Airport)
American Crow - 30
Horned Lark - 50 (Ironshire Station Rd. & Evans Rd.)
Carolina Chickadee -15 (here and there)
Tufted Titmouse - 5 (here and there)
Golden-crowned Kinglet -1 (South Pt.)
Carolina Wren - 5 (here and there)
House Wren - 2 or 3 (at Evans Rd. sparrow location)
Eastern Bluebird - 25 (here and there)
American Robin - 10
Hermit Thrush - 1 (Hickory Pt.)
Gray Catbird - 1 (Hickory Pt.)
N. Mockingbird - 10
Brown Thrasher - 2 (Hickory Pt.)
European Starling - lots
Cedar Wawing - 10 (South Pt.)
Myrtle Warbler -250 (some were almost everywhere)
CLAY-COLORED SPARROW - 1 photographed (Evans Rd. sparrow location, this time
on west side of rd.., missed last January)
Fied Sparrow - 1 (Pocomoke Sewage Ponds)
Savannah Sparrow - 5 (Evans Rd. sparrow location)
Fox Sparrow - 4 (Hickory Pt. Rd.)
Song Sparrow - 100 (many locations)
Swamp Sparrow - 25 (South Pt., Hickory Pt., scattered ones elsewhere)
White-throated Sparrow - 80 (Evans Rd., Hickory Pt., and others)
White-crowned Sparrow - 8 imm. (Evans Rd. sparrow location)
Slate-colored Junco - 50 (several locations, esp. OC Airport)
LAPLAND LONGSPUR - 1 (flew over calling w/ 50 Horned Larks at intersection of
Ironshire Station Rd. & Evans Rd.)
Snow Bunting - 50+ (on n. end of Assateague, scoped from the Inlet as they
flew around)
Northern Cardinal - 20
Red-winged Blackbird - 500 (Ironshire Station Rd.) & thousands over Rte. 50
Brown-headed Cowbird - 300 (Ironshire Station Rd.)
Common Grackle - 200 (Ironshire Station Rd.) & thousands over Rte. 50 - token
individuals of both races
Eastern Meadowlark - 1 (W. Ocean City)
American Goldfinch - 4 (Assateague)
Burger Kinglet - 30+ (downtown and 1 at Evans Rd. spot)
Missed N. Gannet (a couple offshore specks may have been gannets), Snowy Egret
(one reported on OC CBC), BC Night-Heron (none at W. OC Pond), Black Vulture,
Ross's Goose (I made a vow not to try for this one at all), Greater White-
fronted Goose (not at Ocean Pines or W. Ocean City Pond), Brant (Amazingly!),
White-winged Scoter (none at Inlet, few visible flyby scoters in the W wind),
yellowlegs, Long-billed Dowitcher (site where 39 were found on OC CBC is very
difficult to access), Western Sandpiper (not for lack of trying), Sora (not
vocal or visible at Sora spot from OC CBC), Little Gull, Peregrine (not on
water tower), Lincoln's Sparrow (After missing at Evans Rd., I only tried for
Mark's Hickory Pt. bird, and my late arrival at 5:10 made sparrowing
difficult)...
Locations:
* Inlet = Ocean City Inlet - Map 35 C6
* Eagle's Nest Campground - Map 35 C6
* Evan's Rd. sparrow spot (the following directions plagiarised freely from
Mark Hoffman's 01/01/99 post "Directions: From the intersection of Evans Road
and Ironshire Station Road (south of Berlin), go north on Evans Road. Continue
past Cedar Lane that goes off to the left (west). In about ¼ mile you will
come to an abandoned farm site with hedge rows on both sides of the road and
all kinds of weedy thickets."
* Hickory Point Rd. - Map 26 C1
* Cedar Hall Wharf Rd. Boat landing - Map 26 C1
* Ocean City Airport - Map 35 C6
* Ocean Pines - Map 35 B5
* Pocomoke Sewage Ponds - Map 26 B2
* West Ocean City Pond - off Golf Course Rd., .5 mi N of Rte. 50 - Map 35 C6
Good birding!
Marshall Iliff
miliff@aol.com