[MDOsprey] KITTIWAKE and LE CONTES (12/26)
Greg Miller (hawk-owl@yahoo.com)
Sun, 26 Dec 1999 19:05:00 -0800 (PST)
Howdy All!
Hope you all had a pleasant Christmas! Today (12/26)
was the Pt Lookout CBC in St Marys County. Initial
highlights include a LE CONTE'S SPARROW at Jacob's
Farm and a BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE from Pt Lookout
State Park.
The LE CONTE'S SPARROW was found by Marshall Iliff and
Jim Stasz this morning around 10:30am. They radioed
Kyle and I and we raced over and were glad to refind
this secretive bird within 15 minutes.
Directions to Jacob's Farm (state-owned): South on Rt
5 toward Pt Lookout St Park (at the south end of St
Marys County). Turn right onto Cornfield Harbor Rd
for 1 to 1.5 miles (I didn't log the miles) until it
breaks out of the woods into wide open fields on both
sides. Turn left at the brown and white sign that
says "Hunter's Parking Lot" and follow the dirt road
for about 0.2 miles to the end. With you're back to
Cornfield Harbor Rd, walk through the gate and head to
your right, continuing around the first patch of
phragmites. Head toward the middle section of the
second patch of phragmites. Kyle Rambo placed a stick
with a small rectangular, black and white John Deer
parts box on top of the stick near the site. The bird
frequents the medium-sized grasses 50 ft to either
side of this marker. If the bird is scared, it will
flush into the phragmites and will be extremely
difficult to find. Please be patient and respectful
in hopes that others will be able to see this bird as
well.
Kyle Rambo and I observed an adult BLACK-LEGGED
KITTIWAKE today about 2:00pm. It was flying north up
the Bay. It was seen from the end of the Fishing Pier
at Pt Lookout State Park.
Another good bird for this time of year was a single
BROWN PELICAN, also seen from the Fishing Pier (a
first for the Pt Lookout CBC, I believe).
Gannet numbers were high with 216 seen by Kyle and I
from Pt Lookout St Pk vantage points (the previous
15-year cumulative total for the Pt Lookout CBC is 142
birds).
Kyle and I finished a most enjoyable day of birding by
kicking up a Woodcock at dusk. On our way back to the
truck, the woodcock was "peenting" as it flew above
the treetops. Ahhhh. Life is good!
-Greg Miller
Hollywood, MD
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