Not much new at our feeders this weekend--the Red-breasted Nuthatch has moved on, but the sparrow numbers are growing. We had 3 CHIPPING SPARROWS here on Saturday morning. The Brown-headed Nuthatches continue as usual and Gadwall are back on the ponds. Snow Geese flew over this morning (Sunday).
A stop at Eagle's Landing Golf Course on Saturday turned up only a few wigeon. At Eagle's Nest Campground we had a somewhat better turnout. The flats, fully exposed by the low tide, hosted all the usual gulls, Double-crested Cormorants, a lone Great Cormorant, 2 Bald Eagles, a dozen or more Great Blue Herons, many Dunlin, Sanderling, and Black-bellied Plovers, and three oystercatchers. Common Loons are now here in good numbers.
From the Bayside Campground Road on Assateague, we saw a very close mixed flock of Bufflehead, Red-breasted Merganser, and all three scoters, with Surf Scoter in the majority, good numbers of Black Scoters, and only two White-winged Scoter. Horned Grebes are back now in good numbers as well and we saw lots of North Gannet fishing almost right up to the beach. The island also yielded up both kinglets, a lone flyover Tundra Swan, a lone Royal Tern, the usual tons of myrtle warblers (this myrtle's for you, Hans), a few calling Red-breasted Nuthatches, and about 7 flocks of Snow Geese.
The first flock we saw was probably several thousand geese strong and the next three got progressively larger. The final four got smaller and smaller. The birds were draining out of their night roost ponds behind South Point and heading out over the ocean, presumably to loaf on the glass-smooth waters. We probably saw somewhere between 15 and 20 thousand birds in these flocks along with 1 probable Ross's Goose. The bird in question was in a long skein of geese flying directly overhead and appeared to be about half the size of the other geese in the long line.
All in all, a very pleasant morning of birding on Saturday, November 6.
Best,
Norm & Fran
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Norm Saunders
West Ocean City and Colesville, MD
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