Ah, retirement.  I didn't know there were so many birds to be seen on weekdays.  With temperatures falling last night I decided to head to the Central Eastern Shore to see what might drop in.  If you are interested only in the Nelson's Sparrow go to the Hurlock list.

Terrapin Nature Park (0715-1000) - despite the very windy conditions it was also very birdy:
Wood Duck  25
Green-winged Teal  4
Sharp-shinned Hawk  1
Cooper's Hawk  1
Sapsucker  1
Flicker  4
Phoebe  8
Brown Creeper  1
House Wren  9
Winter Wren  2
Golden-crowned Kinglet  20
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  12
Catbird  6
Brown Thrasher  3
Blue-headed Vireo  1
Parula  1
Magnolia Warbler  2
Black-throated Blue Warbler  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler  1
Black-throated Green Warbler  3
Redstart  1
Yellowthroat  5
Chipping Sparrow  1
Field Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  10
Swamp Sparrow  15
White-throated Sparrow  35
Junco  6
Indigo Bunting  3

Pickering Creek Audubon Sanctuary (1030-1130) - not birdy at all:
Phoebe  1

Hurlock WWTP (1245-1330) - crowded with waterfowl:
Snow Goose  14
Cackling Goose  1
Canada Goose  400
Baldpate  2
Shoveler  100
Lesser Scaup  1
Ruddy Duck  150
Black-bellied Plover  6
Golden Plover  1
Lesser Yellowlegs  11
Spotted Sandpiper  1
Least Sandpiper  8
Pectoral Sandpiper  1
Laughing Gull  125
Tree Swallow  2, including one flightless injured bird
Barn Swallow  5
Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow  1 - I flushed this bird from the grass at the west end of the east-west cross dike and stalked it part of the way eastward along that dike trying to get some video.  I did but the video does not show the bird very well, back and face only and the colors are poor.  Habitat was crabgrass.  The bird made very short flights, ran rapidly in the grass, and jumped into the open occasionally.

Ridgely WWTP (1415-1445) - lots of plovers:
Canada Goose  50
Shoveler  3
Ruddy Duck  12
Black-bellied Plover  2
Golden Plover  27
Killdeer  110
Least Sandpiper  2

Woods near Oakland (1500-1530):  1 Sapsucker, 1 Parula


Bob Ringler
Eldersburg MD