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Re: Harlequin & Cave - Yes

From:

Patricia Valdata

Reply-To:

Maryland Birds & Birding

Date:

Fri, 3 Dec 2004 20:19:27 -0500

I drove down to Sandgates today in hopes of seeing Shrimpy and if I had time
to drive to the Wades Point Inn. It was a very nice day for a drive, and I 
am pleased to say
it started with an adult bald eagle landing in a bare field south of 
Elkton. I stopped the car to take
a look. Bald eagles look very big when they are in a field, just standing (like
the penguin on the telly). I looked at the eagle who looked back at me 
totally unconcerned.
I took this sighting to be a good omen and happily drove south, seeing 
red-tailed hawks
and snow geese and lots of turkey and black vultures. At the Seabreeze Inn, 
I had
the place almost to myself (except for all those people in the bar having 
liquid lunch).
I saw several dozen gulls and cormorants but apparently not as many as are 
normally there
at 1:00 in the afternoon. One dark-backed gull was snoozing on the pier and 
when it stood up I saw
the grayish-greenish-yellowish legs--looked just like the picture on the 
wall. It stood
for about ten minutes (I guess it wakes up hard, like I do), preened a 
little bit, and then flew
off just as my very tasty and hot burger arrived. I was SO glad I hadn't 
arrived 15 minutes later
than I did. I couldn't find it again when I left the restaurant.

FYI, it's 2-1/2 hours from Sandgates to the Wades Point Inn. It was after 
4:00 by the time I arrived
and I was worried that I'd lose the light before spotting the duck, if it 
was even there.
The lovely woman behind the desk gave me their birdlist, brochure, and two 
postcards
while I signed the visitor's sheet. She told me where the harlequin duck 
had been seen an hour earlier.
I walked outside and toward the pier she had told me about. At first the 
choppy water looked
totally empty but then I saw a single duck. The sun was in my eyes as I 
walked but when I was
abeam of the duck, I could see it was indeed the harlequin. Why it was all 
alone in
one-foot chop and strong winds I have no idea. Just around the point was a 
sheltered
cove full of buffleheads. Maybe being a northern duck it thought the 
weather was balmy;
maybe the buffleheads were less than welcoming?

The cave swallows were, apparently, gone with the wind.

365 round-trip miles and 7-1/2 hours later, I'm home and tired but happy.


--Pat

Pat Valdata, Elkton, MD | 
"The natural function of the wing is to soar upwards
and carry that which is heavy up to the place where dwells the race of gods.
More than any other thing that pertains to the body
it partakes of the nature of the divine." --Plato