Hello MDOSprey, Here, after 1.2 weeks, are the results from the 4 December Big Day run by Greg Miller, George Jett and myself. We did not go as crazy as we might of, and elected to sleep in rather than bust our butts trying o get owls. The 3:00 meeting time at the west end of the Bay Bridge left little time to get the easy ones (Screech, Barred were missed) and no time for the fun ones (Long-ear, Saw-whet). I saw the Mute Swans in the Bay Bridge pond on the way across but the others missed them and we had not officially started by Big Day rules. Mark Hoffman pointed out last January (in response to my needling him) that tapes are allowed so in contrast to our tape-free January (135) and March (136) big days, we played a bit of EASO (screech owl) tape. Did not make up for the lack of scouting and we finished below both of those attempts, though theoretically the earlier date should have helped in competition with January, though the latter big day benefits from CBC intel. The basic route was as follows: predawn stop at Dividing Creek (Barred Owl), Irish Grove for dawn and 1 hour thereafter, Vessey Orchard (missed Vesper Sparrow, got Palm Warbler), Pocomoke City, Hickory Pt., OC Inlet, Skimmer Island, West Ocean City Pond, West Ocean City (Hooper's=Skimmer Island), Eagle's Nest Campground mudflats, Evans Rd., Ironshire Rd., Berlin Ross's Goose spot, Furnacetown (by which point we were terribly behind schedule - time was 4:00), Chance, Deal Island (late arrival was costly), QUITTING TIME. The attempt was a great success in my eyes, despite some ridiculous misses (Peregrine, HOLA). Started the day with Le Conte's Sparrow (and both sharp-tails AND Seaside), having PERFECT weather throughout, had a calling Short-ear cruising around on a warm, still evening at Deal, and ended with my best scope views of my life of Jupiter and Saturn (thanks to George's Leica scope). All that may have biased my opinion of the day... Best, Marshall Iliff miliff@aol.com PS - At the conclusion of the year my Big Day attempts went as follows: January 10, 1999 - w/ Jett and Stasz - 135 species March 31, 1999 - w/ Miller and Jett - 136 species May 26, 1999 - w/ Andy Farnsworth (SC, formerly OH) - 194 species July 17, 1999 - w/ Miller, Todd Day - 173 species December 4, 1999 - w/ Miller, Jett - 130 species more to come next year :-) -- Feb, Apr, Jun, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov for starters! ============ Marshall J. Iliff Annapolis, MD miliff@aol.com ============= Species List -- December Big Day -- 4 Dec 1999 -- total 130 species Misses (species with a # were gotten in January 1999 attempt): Brown Pelican (seen week prior in two locations by Stasz), AMERICAN BITTERN (would have been reasonable had we not been late getting to Deal, 2 seen next day), Snowy Egret or Little Blue Heron (both would be rare lingerers), #Glossy Ibis (ditto), Mute Swan (staked out two days prior on West Ocean City Pond), Greater White-fronted Goose or #Eurasian Wigeon (neither reliable yet this winter, E. Wigeon should have been at Deal but light was going fast), #Common Eider, King Eider, #Harlequin Duck (no jetty ducks yet, apparently), WHTE-WINGED SCOTER (nemesis, missed Jan 1999 also), #COMMON GOLDENEYE (early yet for good numbers, but first arrivals should be in), Common Merganser (very hard in region covered), Osprey (would be lucky this late), Golden Eagle (need even more luck), Merlin (one seen next day at Vessey Orchard), #PEREGRINE FALCON (silly miss), #Northern Bobwhite (hard to find in winter!), King Rail (probably heard at Irish Grove), Semipalmated Plover (still present in NJ...), Willet (have been present 2 winters now...), Long-billed Dowitcher, #AMERICAN WOODCOCK (common at Deal Island next day, silly miss), #LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL (landfill had to be cut due to time), Barn Owl, #EASTERN SCREECH-OWL (essentially no effort made), #BARRED OWL (very little effort made -- 1 stakeout unsuccessful), Northern Saw-whet Owl (should be gettable in any serious attempt), Red-headed Woodpecker (hard in winter), #HORNED LARK (sillliest of silly misses, for that reason not a problem I had expected...), #TREE SWALLOW, PINE WARBLER (nemesis #2 - missed also in Jan 1999), #Vesper Sparrow (staked out at Vessey Orchard, 5 there next day), Lincoln's Sparrow (downright hard), #Lapland Longspur (ditto) Species with a star (*) were missed in January 1999 attempt (see MDOsprey archives or write me for details of that Big Day). Red-throated Loon 150+ large flight occurring at Ocean City Common Loon 50+ some involved in Red-throated Loon flight at Ocean City Pied-billed Grebe + first birds at pond nr Pcomoke City Horned Grebe 1 Eagle's Nest *Northern Gannet 15 Ocean City Inlet Double-crested Cormorant 150 75 at Skimme rI., 75 at Deal Island Great Cormorant 2 im. one each at end of Rumbly Pt. Rd., and Ocean City Inlet Great Blue Heron + many locations Tricolored Heron 3 West Ocean City Black-crowned Night-Heron 17 West Ocean City Pond (15), Deal Island (2) Black Vulture + many locations Turkey Vulture + many locations Snow Goose **** Snow Hill field *Ross's Goose 1 ad white Snow Hill field Canada Goose + many locations Tundra Swan 25 West Ocean City Pond *Wood Duck 2 pair West Ocean City Pond Gadwall + Irish Grove (2), West Ocean City Pond, Ocean Pines Pond American Wigeon + West Ocean City Pond (2), Ocean Pines Pond (40) American Black Duck + many locations Mallard + many locations Northern Shoveler 30 Berlin Sewage Ponds (10), West Ocean City Pond Northern Pintail 20 Irisg Grove (2), West Ocean City Pond (15) Green-winged Teal + first at Irish Grove (60) Canvasback 300 West Ocean City Pond Ring-necked Duck 40 Pocomoke City Pond (20), West Ocean City Pond (20) *Greater Scaup 3 West Ocean City Pond Lesser Scaup 100 West Ocean City Pond Surf Scoter 20 Rumbly Pt., others at Ocean CIty Black Scoter 10 females mostly, Ocean City Inlet Oldsquaw 200+ heard only, ChanceBufflehead 400 Rumbly Pt (1), West Ocean City Pond (1), Chance (400) Hooded Merganser 10 West Ocean City Pond Red-breasted Merganser 20 flybys at Ocean CIty Inlet & West Ocean City, Hooper's Ruddy Duck + many locations Bald Eagle + 20+ at Vessey Orchard Northern Harrier + many locations Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 ad nr Irish Grove Cooper's Hawk 1 ad Hickory Pt. (Miller and Jett only) Red-shouldered Hawk 1 M. Iliff only - Rehobeth Red-tailed Hawk + many locations *Rough-legged Hawk 1 juv light Deal Island American Kestrel + many locations *Wild Turkey 10 in field near Snow Hill, spotted by Greg Miller Clapper Rail 2 Irish Grove Virginia Rail 5 Irish Grove American Coot + Pocomoke City Pond, West Ocean City Pond Black-bellied Plover 40 Skimmer Island (2), Eagle's Nest Killdeer + many locations American Oystercatcher + Ocean City Inlet Greater Yellowlegs 10 Irish Grove (6), West Ocean City, Hooper's (2), Deal Island (2) Lesser Yellowlegs 1 Irish Grove Ruddy Turnstone 30 Ocean City Inlet Sanderling 30 Ocean City Inlet, Eagle's Nest Western Sandpiper 3 Irish Grove Least Sandpiper 20 Irish Grove Purple Sandpiper 20 Ocean City Inlet Dunlin 2000+ mostly at Eagle's Nest, also Irish Grove *Laughing Gull 3 2 at Ocean City Inlet, 1 at Deal Island Bonaparte's Gull 20 Ocean City Inlet, flying high overhead Ring-billed Gull + many locations Herring Gull + many locations Great Black-backed Gull + many locations Forster's Tern 320 20 in Pocomoke Sound, 300 at Ocean City Rock Dove + many locations Mourning Dove + many locations Great Horned Owl 4 Dividing Creek, Marumsco Short-eared Owl 2 singles at Irish Grove and Deal Island Belted Kingfisher + many locations Red-bellied Woodpecker + many locations Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1 male Furnacetown Downy Woodpecker + many locations Hairy Woodpecker 4 Hickory Pt. was first Northern (Yellow-shafted) Flicker + many locations Pileated Woodpecker* 1 Greg Miller only - Furnacetown Eastern Phoebe 2 Vessey Orchard, Newark Blue Jay + many locations American Crow + many locations Fish Crow + Vessey Orchard and Deal Island had lion's share Carolina Chickadee + many locations Tufted Titmouse + many locations *Red-breasted Nuthatch 3 West Ocean City Pond White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Nassawango Cr., Red House Rd. Brown-headed Nuthatch 2 Irish Grove Brown Creeper* 1 M. Iliff only - Irish Grove Carolina Wren + many locations House Wren 1 Evans Rd., nr Berlin Winter Wren + 1st nr Irish Grove Sedge Wren 2 Irish Grove Marsh Wren 4 Irish Grove Golden-crowned Kinglet 2 nr Rehobeth Ruby-crowned Kinglet + 1st at Irish Grove Eastern Bluebird + many locations Hermit Thrush + most common at Hickory Pt. (10) American Robin + many locations Gray Catbird 3 one at Hickory Pt., 2 at Deal Island Northern Mockingbird + many locations Brown Thrasher 1 Deal Island European Starling + many locations American Pipit 20 Vessey Orchard Cedar Waxwing 40 nr Ocean Pines Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler + many locations *Western Palm Warbler 1 Vessey Orchard *Common Yellowthroat 1 male Furnacetown Eastern Towhee 1 Newark Field Sparrow 4 nr Rehobeth Savannah Sparrow + many locations *LE CONTE'S SPARROW 1 Irish Grove *Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow 1 Irish Grove *Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow 3 Irish Grove *Seaside Sparrow* 1 Greg Miller only -Irish Grove Fox Sparrow 8 Hickory Pt., and nr Newark Song Sparrow + many locations Swamp Sparrow + many locations White-throated Sparrow + many locations White-crowned Sparrow 5 Evans Rd. Dark-eyed Junco + many locations Snow Bunting 60 Assateague I., as seen from Eagle's Nest Northern Cardinal + many locations Red-winged Blackbird + many locations Eastern Meadowlark + many locations, 1st at Irish Grove Rusty Blackbird 3 Hickory Pt. Common Grackle + many locations Boat-tailed Grackle 8 Irish Grove (1), Eagle's Nest (2), Deal Island (5) Brown-headed Cowbird + several locations *Purple Finch 1 fem Hickory Pt. House Finch + several locations (can be tough!) *Pine Siskin 1 flyover Irish Grove (Iliff only) American Goldfinch + many locations House Sparrow + many locations