This is my first opportunity to post Saturday's trip report.  Sorry it's late, but the other observers present said they would post since I didn't have access to a computer the rest of the weekend.  Too many times last month I heard "You didn't post that" from Ringler ;)

Jim Stasz, Mike Burchett and I went to Pt Lookout on Saturday Nov 20th to see what was flying.  The flight at the point was mostly blackbirds with about lesser numbers of Myrtles, Waxwings, Robins, and Pipits.  We had 1 Purple Finch and 3 Pine Siskins.  Jim had a single Redpoll heard only with Goldfinches while Mike and I were out of earshot.  A Merlin made 3 passes during the hour we were at the point. After birding Ft. Lincoln, I joked that Mike should go with Jim if he wanted Redpolls.  Ironically, I walked out of the woods to the fishing pier road and 5 Common Redpolls were sitting in the low bushes calling away.  They took off and flew north.  Luckily, when I met back up with Mike and Jim they told me about the 5 Redpolls that flew over headed towards me right after we split up.  Ft. Lincoln was slow overall with the highlights being Red-breasted and Brown-headed Nuthatches, 2 Pine Warblers, 2 Fox Sparrows, a couple Catbirds, and a Thrasher.  All 3 scoter species were present at the point along with 4 Gannets and 11 Brown Pelicans.  Jim and Mike had a single Great Cormorant. 

Beauvue ponds had the usual large numbers of Ring-necked and Ruddy Ducks.  We also found 2 Gadwall, 3 American Coots (including one still looking like a juvenile), and 2 Pied-billed Grebes.  A Great Egret was also present.  

Shrimpy was at the Sea Breeze and was easily attracted by mimicking the motion of tossing food into the air.  

Charles County was fun and I was able to pick up several county birds.  Cobb Island was the best where we found a Red-throated Loon, Horned Grebe, and a Black Scoter among the Bufflehead, Common Loons, and Long-tailed Ducks.  We had 3 Great Cormorants fly north with long strings of DCs.  At dusk, at Southern Park we found another Great Egret. 

Matt Hafner
Bel Air, MD