[MDOsprey] Assateague St Pk - 7/11 (Scoter & Godwit)
Gregory B Miller (gregorym@erols.com)
Sun, 11 Jul 1999 19:01:16 -0400
Howdy All!
BLACK SCOTER & MARBLED GODWIT today (7/11--see below)
On a whim this morning, I decided to do a roadtrip to Assateague since I
hadn't gotten Piping Plover for the year yet...well...I actually haven't
ever been to Assateague and I was--don't laugh--lacking it for my
Maryland life list. <ohmygosh>
I was on the beach by 9:30am and hiking north--doing something I didn't
get to do last year...explore. Within 45 minutes, I found a Piping
Plover like I usually find them--by looking at some other bird and
seeing it only *after* I put my binoculars to my eyes. I like those
kinds of "accidents". I counted a total of 18 birds on the hike up to
the North end and 26 birds on the return trip.
It took 3 hours at my snail's pace to make it up to the last cove and 2
hours to return (finishing at 2:30pm), as I did less birding and more
thinking about how hot and tired I was and how badly my feet felt (my
feet were whining).
A couple of choice surprises today included 3 immature BLACK SCOTERs
(about 2/3 of the way to O.C. Jetty) and a fly-by [heading in a
southerly direction] MARBLED GODWIT already in basic plumage (about 1
mile North of the toll booth). Yellow Book early date for the Godwit is
July 14, but there's a single dot somewhere in early July.
One flashback moment today: just after starting up the beach, I heard a
deep, raspy call "reeeee-ah". As I turned to look at the Common Tern
above me I felt a cold chill run down my spine as I flashed back to last
year on Gambell--hearing a similar deep, raspy call and watching two
adult Ivory Gulls magically appear out of the fog and then disappear
just as quickly and hearing only the raspy note fade into the thick
grayness. Wow...
Following is a list of the 31 species seen either near the park
buildings, the parking lot, or along the beach.
Brown Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Turkey Vulture
BLACK SCOTER (3 immature birds)
Osprey
Black-bellied Plover (4, 3 already in basic, 1 in molt)
Piping Plover (26)
American Oystercatcher (4--2 pairs; 1 individual apparently on nest)
MARBLED GODWIT (1 fly-by in basic plumage)
Sanderling (several fully basic, most molting, a couple still in
alternate plumage)
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull (two 1st yr birds with some yet undeveloped feathers)
Great Black-backed Gull (with the many other individuals, there was one
very light, extremely worn 3rd yr bird)
Royal Tern
Common Tern (a couple very gray individuals)
Least Tern (good numbers of juveniles)
Rock Dove
Mourning Dove
Fish Crow
Barn Swallow
Brown Thrasher
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Boat-tailed Grackle
House Sparrow
And just for fun, here's a list of my Talbot County drive-by birds
(along Rt 50):
European Starling
Common Grackle
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Killdeer
Ring-billed Gull
Laughing Gull
Turkey Vulture
Double-crested Cormorant
House Sparrow
--
Greg Miller
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Home- gregorym@erols.com
WWW- http://www.erols.com/gregorym