Sharon Liebs asks:

> I am going to OCMD with a few friends this coming weekend.  I 
> have  never
> been there before and would like to do a little birding in 
> the area.   I am
> staying on 33rd street but will have access to a car.  Can 
> anyone give  me a few suggestions of where to go birding?  
> Any help will be greatly  appreciated.

Sharon, if you have a scope, you should drive south from 33rd
Street, get onto the Rt. 50 bridge heading west, and then pull off
on the shoulder just after crossing the bridge.  Alternatively, pull
into Hooper's parking lot of there are a lot of fishermen parked on
the shoulder.  Walk back onto the bridge (there is a sidewalk
protected from the bridge traffic) and look north onto the flats
known as Skimmer Island.  Best time to do this is at low tide.
There should be a good assortment of gulls, terns, pelicans, wading
birds, and shorebirds here to mull over.

Migration is just getting underway but Assateague Island can be fun
to explore at any time of the year as long as you are prepared for
the hot sun and the mosquitoes.  To get there, continue west on Rt.
50 a short distance to the intersection with Rt. 611.  Turn left
onto 611 and follow it about 8 miles to the bridge over Sinepuxent
Bay to Assateague.

Before the bridge is the Assateague Island Visitor Center.  Stop
there for maps and information.  I would recommend the National
Seashore area, especially the bayside campgrounds and the life of
the marsh, life of the forest, and life of the dunes trails.

To give Ocean City and environs their full chance to impress, you
need to return during the Septamber through March period--harsh,
yes, but extraordinarily birdy then!

Please let us know how your birding goes this weekend!

Best,
Norm Saunders


================================
Norm Saunders
Colesville & West Ocean City, MD