Maryland's first March Big Day (long)
Miliff@aol.com
Sat, 3 Apr 1999 21:30:06 EST
Hello all,
Last Wednesday, March 31, Greg Miller, George Jett, and I made a run at doing
Maryland's first March Big Day. Due to poor weather, we missed our chance at
setting a February record (only May , June, and July have recorded totals in
the ABA report) and did not want to pass up on March. Fortunately, the
weather outlook was excellent and we all met at Irish Grove late on Tuesday
night to get some rest beforehand.
The planned route was much like the one we used in January. On that day
(January 10) we netted 135 species, and still felt like we had some room for
improvement next year. With a dead calm night and beautiful weather
forecast, we were nothing but optimistic about the March attempt. With more
wisdom, a refined route, 2 more hours of daylight, and many returning
migrants to hope for, we thought 150+ should be possible.
The route again was conducted all on the lower Eastern Shore (not until at
least April does one need to cross to the Western Shore)...
We began at 0300 hours and spent some time trying for Whip-poor-will. Time
flew as we were having fun chasing goatsuckers that weren't there though, and
we had to scramble to pick up Barred and Screech Owls before rushing back to
Irish Grove for dawn. In fact, we missed dawn by a small amount, but picked
u pa gobbling turkey on the way as consolation. Sedge Wren came easily and
we tried to hurry along, but were frustrated by missing the sharp- tailed
sparrows. Gannets at the end of Rumbley Pt. Rd. eased some worries about
that species, which we had missed in January. We then bolted on to Vessey's
Orchard by 0815, where we hoped to get Vesper Sparrow and bobwhite, but
dipped on both. We hit Hickory Point, our one stop shopping for landbirds, a
tad behind schedule at 0900. It was dead quiet there and we struggled for
Golden-crowned Kinglet, Pileated Woodpecker, Red-shouldered Hawk, and some
other essentials and ended up missing Gray Catbird, Fox Sparrow, Winter Wren,
Rusty Blackbird, and a couple other key species. We were pleased that at
least two Yellow-throated Warblers were back on territory though. We spent
the next hour and a half trying to clean up our misses. With some work we
got White-breasted Nuthatch and Louisiana Waterthrush, but Winter Wrens and
phoebes remained elusive and caused great consternation by 1100. A
well-scouted Red-headed Woodpecker was a spirit raiser though, and we decided
that we had time to hit E.A.Vaughn WMA. Probably a mistake, we added nothing
significant there and lost time. A few twists and turns aside (Evans Rd.
Sparrow spot for WC Sparrow) we hit Eagle's Nest Campground at 1215 just as
the wind picked up. Piping Plover and a few others there were key, but
shorebird numbers were low and the light was terrible. On to Ocean City
proper, where the light at the inlet was even worse. We made out Oldsqauw,
Harlequins, Common Eiders, Purple Sandpipers, and Ruddy Turnstones, but
missed such essential birds at Black and White-winged scoters, and Great
Cormorant. Frustrating. A trip to West Ocean City Pond and viewing points
for Skimmer Island got us a few goodies, including a Willet and two Royal
Terns. Brant were still present too, a welcome relief since they have been
so scarce this winter. But the list of misses was already too large and by
1300 the species count was below January's (120 vs. 124) we were really
worried about phoebe, creeper, sapsucker, waxwing, catbird, bobwhite,
gnatcatcher, and a few others. We decided to include Cambridge and
Blackwater since we had extra daylight, and considered substituting Elliot
Island for Deal Island this go-around. A stop at Salisbury Landfill quickly
cleaned up Lesser Black-backed Gull but a stop a Vienna did not help with
Pintail. Cambridge was good to us though, and in addition to both scaup and
Mute Swan, George picked out a goldeneye. On Egypt Rd. We cleaned up pipit
and Ruby-crowned Kinglet. The Eurasian Green-winged Teal that I'd found the
day prior was not still at Blackwater. Blackwater did get us Brown Creeper,
sapsucker, Lesser Yellowlegs, Common Merganser, and a Pectoral Sandpiper
(great find by Greg!). It was 1600 as we left, the species total was low,
and we would struggle now to beat January's 135! We picked up Rusty
Blackbird, but efforts to find waxwing, phoebe, Winter Wren, and some of our
other bad misses were unsuccessful. We made it to Elliot Island right at
dusk (after seeing several more turkey groups) and after a spell managed to
find a Short-eared Owl. The wind had picked up though and darkness had set
in. Depressed that we had only tied January's number (135) we were ready to
pack it in. A last minute realization saved us the embarrassment of a loss
to January, as we realized we could still get woodcock. A quick pulloff of
Elliot Island Rd. Produced a peenting peenter and much relief that at least,
we had saved ourselves from that one insult of insults.
All in all it was surprising that we missed so much. How any Big Day team
can miss a phoebe in the peak of their late March migration is beyond me, but
it was not for lack of trying. Cedar Waxwing and Winter Wren are two other
utterly mysterious misses. We had almost no surprises during the day, with
the Willet perhaps being the best bird (though at least one wintered in the
location). A few arrivals were the first for the year, but none was earlier
than expected. This effort can definitely be improved upon (perhaps Deal
Island should not have been cut out?). Our March effort did shed new light
on the January success. While we knew we had a good day, perhaps we
underappreciated it. The March day had far better weather (January began
under very windy conditions that persisted for most of the day) and more
daylight. The difference of course, was probably the scouting. Only 0.5 day
was put in for March, vs. 1.5 days in January...
Species list (136 total):
Red-throated Loon (Ocean City - 25)
Common Loon (Ocean City -10)
Pied-billed Grebe (Ocean Pines Pond - 1)
Horned Grebe (Irish Grove - 2, Ocean City -2)
Northern Gannet (Irish Grove - 20, Ocean City - 20)
Double-crested Cormorant (many locations)
Great Blue Heron (many locations)
Great Egret (E. A. Vaughn - 1)
Snowy Egret (Ocean City - 2 ad.)
Little Blue Heron (Ocean City - 2 ad.)
Tricolored Heron (Ocean City - 1 ad.)
CATTLE EGRET (Ironshire Station Rd. - 1 ad.)
Black-crowned Night-Heron (West Ocean City Pond - 30)
Tundra Swan (fields in Worcester and Dorchester - 20 total)
Mute Swan (Cambridge - 4)
Snow Goose (Ocean City - 200, Blackwater - 500)
Brant (Skimmer Island - 25)
Canada Goose (many locations)
Wood Duck (several locations)
Green-winged Teal (many locations, including 150+ at Elliot Island)
American Black Duck (many locations)
Mallard (many locations)
Blue-winged Teal (several locations, including 75+ at Elliot Island
Northern Shoveler (West Ocean City Pond, E.A.Vaughn, Blackwater (50))
Gadwall (Vessey's Orchard, Blackwater)
American Wigeon (E.A. Vaughn, Eagle's Nest Campground, several other
locations)
Canvasback (West Ocean City Pond (50), Cambridge (75))
Ring-necked Duck (Pocomoke City)
Greater Scaup (Cambridge - 50)
Lesser Scaup (Cambridge - 400)
Common Eider (Ocean City Inlet - 2 ad. males)
Harlequin Duck (Ocean City Inlet - 11, including just 3 females)
Oldsquaw (Ocean City Inlet -3, Cambridge - 6)
Surf Scoter (Irish Grove - 100+, Ocean City Inlet - 30, Cambridge - 250)
Common Goldeneye (Cambridge - 1 female, found by George Jett)
Bufflehead (common at many locations)
Hooded Merganser (Ocean City - 2)
Common Merganser (Blackwater - 2)
Red-breasted Merganser (many locations)
Ruddy Duck (Irish Grove 25, also elsewhere)
Black Vulture (many locations)
Turkey Vulture (many locations)
Osprey (many locations)
Bald Eagle (many locations)
Northern Harrier (many locations)
Red-shouldered Hawk (Hickory Point - 2, one on nest at another location)
Red-tailed Hawk (many locations)
American Kestrel (many locations)
Wild Turkey (1 heard at dawn near Irish Grove, 5 groups of 60+ birds near
Blackwater)
large rail sp. (including probable Kings and probable Clappers, both at Irish
Grove - 15 total)
Virginia Rail (Irish Grove - 15)
American Coot (several locations)
Black-bellied Plover (Ocean City area - 15, including a couple with inklings
of alternate plumage))
PIPING PLOVER (2 alternate plumaged adults back at Eagle's Nest Campground,
Iliff only)
Killdeer (many locations)
American Oystercatcher (Ocean City area - 25)
Greater Yellowlegs (many locations)
Lesser Yellowlegs (Blackwater - 15)
WILLET (1 alternate plumaged bird at Skimmer Island, Iliff only, seemed to be
of the eastern race _semipalmatus_, which is surprising!)
Ruddy Turnstone (Ocean City Inlet - 10)
Sanderling (Ocean City area - 5)
Pectoral Sandpiper (Blackwater - 3)
Purple Sandpiper (Ocean City Inlet - 30)
Dunlin (Irish Grove - 10, Ocean City area - 400)
Common Snipe (Ocean City - 3)
American Woodcock (Elliot Island - 2)
Laughing Gull (many locations, SO, WO, WI counties)
Bonaparte's Gull (Irish Grove - 10, Ocean City - 40)
Ring-billed Gull (many locations)
Herring Gull (many locations)
Lesser Black-backed Gull (Salisbury Landfill - 1 alternate adult)
Great Black-backed Gull (many locations)
ROYAL TERN (Skimmer Island - 2)
Forster's Tern (several locations, SO, WO, DO counties - 125 total for the
day)
Rock Dove (many locations)
Mourning Dove (many locations)
Eastern Screech-Owl (near Rehobeth, MD - 1)
Great Horned Owl (Irish Grove - 1)
Barred Owl (Fleming Mill Pond - 1)
Short-eared Owl (Elliot Island - 1)
Belted Kingfisher (Hickory Point -1)
Red-headed Woodpecker (Pocomoke Rover area - 1 adult)
Red-bellied Woodpecker (many locations)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Blackwater - 1)
Downy Woodpecker (many locations)
Hairy Woodpecker (Irish Grove - 1)
Northern "Yellow-shafted" Flicker (many locations)
Pileated Woodpecker (Hickory Point - 2)
Horned Lark (many locations)
Purple Martin (Vessey's Orchard - 1 male)
Tree Swallow (many locations)
Blue Jay (many locations)
American Crow (many locations)
Fish Crow (many locations)
Carolina Chickadee (many locations)
Tufted Titmouse (many locations)
White-breasted Nuthatch (Miller Branch, WO County - 2)
Brown-headed Nuthatch (Irish Grove - 2)
Brown Creeper (Blackwater - 1)
Carolina Wren (many locations)
Sedge Wren (Irish Grove - 1)
Marsh Wren (Irish Grove - 5 singing, Elliot Island - 2 singing)
Golden-crowned Kinglet (several locations, WO and DO counties)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Egypt Road, stakeout!- 1)
Eastern Bluebird (many locations)
Hermit Thrush (Hickory Point -3)
American Robin (many locations)
Northern Mockingbird (many locations)
Brown Thrasher (Hickory Point, Berlin, nr. Blackwater - 7 total)
American Pipit (Egypt Rd. - 100)
European Starling (many locations)
Yellow-rumped "Myrtle" Warbler (many locations)
YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER (Hickory Point -2, near Snow Hill - 1, all singing)
Pine Warbler (many locations)
LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH (Miller Branch, WO County - 1 singing)
Northern Cardinal (many locations)
Eastern Towhee (Irish Grove - 2)
Chipping Sparrow (many locations)
Field Sparrow (near Irish Grove - 5)
Savannah Sparrow (many locations)
SEASIDE SPARROW (Irish Grove - 2 singing, probably wintering birds)
Song Sparrow (many locations)
Swamp Sparrow (many locations)
White-throated Sparrow (many locations)
White-crowned Sparrow (Evans Rd. Sparrow spot - 10, mostly worn immatures)
Dark-eyed "Slate-colored" Junco (many locations)
Red-winged Blackbird (many locations)
Eastern Meadowlark (many locations)
Rusty Blackbird (near Blackwater - 4 males, Elliot Island Rd. - 20 at dusk)
Boat-tailed Grackle (Ocean City - 15)
Common Grackle (many locations)
Brown-headed Cowbird (many locations)
House Finch (Pocomoke City - 1 male, Ocean City -5)
American Goldfinch (many locations)
House Sparrow (many locations)
Misses: Worst were Northern Pintail, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Eastern Phoebe,
Winter Wren, Cedar Waxwing
Forgivable (?) were American Bittern, Great Cormorant, Black and
White-winged scoters, Cooper's Hawk, Peregrine Falcon, Northern Bobwhite,
Rough-winged and Barn swallows, Gray Catbird, Palm Warbler, Common
Yellowthroat, Vesper Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, both sharp-tailed sparrows,
The Eurasian Wigeon was gone from Eagle's Nest Campground, the Clay-colored
Sparrow was not to be found at Evan's Rd., we had no longspurs at Ironshire
Station Rd., and no Golden Eagles materialized at Blackwater.
Several hoped for species like Whip-poor-will, Green Heron, and Blue-gray
Gnatcatcher simply may not have returned yet.
Good birding to all,
Marshall Iliff
miliff@aol.com
Annapolis, MD