If RHWOs are being seen on the Christmas bird counts it sort of
begs the question whether or not they are also around in the fall.
There was a breeding colony of up to 10-12 pairs of RHWO at
the main base of the NASA Goddard Wallops Flight Facility.
Some of these birds stayed over the winter and were seen on
the Chincoteague Christmas counts. The interesting thing is that
in most winters some birds stayed, but in a couple of years the
birds completely disappeared. On the 1972 count I found 21
birds, and 19 birds in 1976.

But, then, this is Virginia.

Charlie

At 10:31 PM 11/9/04, you wrote:
>Don - That's actually a great date for RHWO on Assateague (or in Worcester
>generally).  The latest certain fall migrant record I have for Worcester is
>10/20 (1968, 1, OC/Banding Station, Mrs. M. B. MacDonald et al., Robbins
>unpublished files) and the latest fall Assateague record is 10/18 (1992, 1,
>Assateague Island/Entrance Station, Hoffman and M. O'Brien, Unpub. Obs.).  I
>have no prior records for November in Worcester at all.
>
>Going later into the winter, there is an odd 12/01/1957 record for "OC" (1,
>S. H. Dyke [who's he??], Robbins unpublished files), and 10 OC CBC records.

Charles Vaughn
1306 Frederick Avenue
Salisbury, MD 21801

410-742-7221