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Subject:

Common Terns Breeding In Queen Annes Co

From:

danny poet

Reply-To:

Maryland Birds & Birding

Date:

Thu, 1 Jul 2004 22:05:26 -0400

Hi  All  today  While  birding   my  Queenstown  NE  Block  western Portion
  .   I   decided  to go to quickly check Kent  Narrows   for bird action
even though it not in my atlas Block.Went on wells cove Rd past the Remax
office birds there  Osprey  Building or repairing a  Nest on a channel
marker, mallard female with  about  8 to 10 newly hatched young .     I
decided  to scope the cement  block  jetty in the  channel  for gulls.  In
the middle  of the repaired  section   [ repaired from damage last winter ]
I  saw a  smaller Tern  sitting on the jetty. father checking  revealed
another tern  in the middle of a dead patch of  grass or whatever it is .
bird was in a sitting position  so I kept a watch on these birds  When ever
a  a gull  came to near the sitting  bird the standing Bird flew up to
attack  and chase it  off  after about  35 to 40 minutes  the sitting bird
stood up and moved aside  the standing bird  took the sitting birds
position  sitting  the  former flew off to  feed  I guess While  gone
another gull came to near and the sitting bird attacked again.  while  tern
was up in the air I looked carefullly  at the area  but could not see any
eggs . But it is a   ways out there to see small eggs. Bird came back to sit
again . by this time i was convinced  of the  Nesting of the  Terns . I left
  went  home  Got a camara went back   took some snapshots.Second bird
returned while  I was gone .  Too far for prize winner photos but hopfull by
the time the are blew up they will provide  some proof .  As the birds Got
ready to fly flew  and relanded The dark primary fleathers could be seen  of
  Common Terns  also Redish bills .  No other  terns on the jetty .
Foresters Terns  could be seen flying In the distance .    Never seen
Nesting Common Terns  before but the atlas handbook  says they are local
nesters in  Queen  Annes  county.  Do not know who  is Atlasing this part of
the County   But it looks like  a  confrimed  bird to me .  This   Should be
Kept track of  but the are a number of Black backed  Gulls  hanging out
There.  so Eggs and or chicks would  be in grave Peril  . there is a lot of
boat traffic back and forth    that did not bother the birds while i was
there .  The  boat  landing that i viewed from is far enough away that I
beleive that not a problem  Veiwing from here is easy.  Lots of Fishermen
Use the area  also .
          Happy     Birding                 Danny Poet          Queenstown
Md         

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