Hi Everybody,

The rain held off, the wind did not blow hard enough to force the birds to ground, the temperature was moderate, and the air even had a softness more akin to spring than autumn, thus we had good conditions for seeking waterfowl in this land of goose-filled fields and ponds peppered with fowl. Nancy, Ian and I met 15 others at the Dollar General at 8:30 AM with the majority from central Maryland and three (beyond us) from the Shore. 

Before we left the lot we had the last few Black and Turkey vultures still in their Spring St. roost, a flock of waxwings passed by, and we saw a small flock of Snow Geese winking off-and-on against the silver sky. For some reason the Snow Geese did not materialize in really big numbers for us on the trip, the fields are large here and they are many, we simply failed to find the right field. We did manage to see an awful lot of Canada Geese as we toured Great Oak Pond, the Worton Wastewater Treatment Plant, the John Hanson Rd viewpoint over the Chestertown Treatment Plant, the main pond at Chesapeake Farms, and Eastern Neck NWR.

In all we tallied 21waterfowl species (see list below). Highlights included: great looks at a male kestrel and a young harrier at Great Oak Pd.; a goose flock in a cornfield south of Porter's Grove Rd that contained two hybrids including a white-headed, flint-billed CANADAXSNOW GOOSE and a more mundane, but still bizarre, CanadaXGreylag; singing White-crowned Sparrows at Worton; scope views of American Pipits, and two (RICHARDSON'S) CACKLING GEESE among the Canadas at John Hanson Rd; an impressive 500 Northern Pintail at Chesapeake Farms; 15 waterfowl species spread before us at Tubby Cove plus a bonus Pied-billed Grebe (bay grasses have recovered lately in the Eastern Neck Narrows improving the numbers and diversity of waterfowl); and Common Loon, Horned Grebes, about 30 Common Goldeneye and about 8 Long-tailed Ducks at Bogle's Wharf.

Complete trip list:
1 Common Loon (E. Neck)
1 Pied-billed Grebe (E. Neck)
10 Horned Grebes (E. Neck)
1 Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture (#s tens)
8 Black Vultures
40+ Mute Swans
6 Tundra Swans (E. Neck)
Canada Goose (#s in thousands)
2 Cackling Geese (John Hanson Rd Pds)
1 CanadaXGreylag Goose (Porter's Grove Rd)
1 CanadaXSnow Goose (Porter's Grove Rd)
Snow Goose (#s in hundreds)
15 Gadwall (E. Neck)
20 American Wigeon (Baldpate) (E. Neck)
American Black Duck 50+ E. Neck, 1 John Hanson Rd
Mallard (#s in hundreds)
Northern Shoveler 50++ Chesapeake Farms, 50++ John Hanson Rd, also Great Oak Pd
Northern Pintail 500 Chesapeake Farms, also E. Neck & Great Oak Pd
Green-winged Teal 2+ E. Neck, 10+ John Hanson Rd
Ring-necked Duck 14 Worton WWTP, 115 Chesapeake Farms, 120+ E. Neck
Greater Scaup 10+ E. Neck
Lesser Scaup 200+ E. Neck, 25+ scaup at John Hanson Rd most likely Lessers
8 Long-tailed Ducks (E. Neck)
Bufflehead 21 Great Oak Pd, 1 Worton, 15+ John Hanson Rd, 110+ E. Neck
Common Goldeneye 2 John Hanson Rd, 30 E. Neck
5 Hooded Mergansers (E. Neck)
10 Red-breasted Mergansers (E. Neck)
Ruddy Duck 130 Great Oak Pd, 20 Worton, 100s John Hanson Rd, 1000+ E. Neck
Bald Eagle 1 im Worton, 4 ad E. Neck
Northern Harrier 1 Great Oak Pd, 1 Worton
1 Cooper's Hawk (E. Neck)
Red-tailed Hawk 6-8 scattered locations
American Kestrel 3 Great Oak Pd area
Killdeer 1 Great Oak Pd, 6 Worton, 16 John Hanson Rd
Ring-billed Gull (#s in hundreds)
Herring Gull 2+ E. Neck
Great Black-backed Gull 2+ E. Neck
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove (#s in low hundreds)
Red-bellied Woodpecker 8-10
1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (E. Neck)
Downy Woodpecker 2+
Hairy Woodpecker 2 (E. Neck)
Northern (Yellow-shafted) Flicker 4+
Blue Jay 12+
American Crow 20+
Horned Lark 10+
Carolina Chickadee 2
Tufted Titmouse 2
1 White-breasted Nuthatch (E. Neck)
Carolina Wren 4+
1 Winter Wren (E. Neck)
Eastern Bluebird 3 Handy Pt. Rd, 2+ E. Neck
American Robin 30+
Northern Mockingbird 10+
European Starling (#s in thousands)
American Pipit 2+ Great Oak Pd, 15+ John Hanson Rd Pd
30 Cedar Waxwings (Chestertown)
Song Sparrow 15+
Swamp Sparrow 10+ E. Neck
White-throated Sparrow 8-12
6 White-crowned Sparrows (Worton)
Dark-eyed (Slate-colored) Juncos 4+ 
Northern Cardinal 10+
Red-winged Blackbird (#s in hundreds)
Common Grackle noted in passing on E. Neck Peninsula
House Finch 4+
American Goldfinch 20+
House Sparrow 15+

Good Birding,

Walter Ellison

23460 Clarissa Road
Chestertown, MD 21620
phone: 410-778-9568
e-mail: 

"A person who is looking for something doesn't travel very fast" - E. B. White (in "Stuart Little")