Hi Folks,

The Howard Co. Bird Club did its annual trip to Blackwater NWR today, and
everyone got at least one life bird or state bird, and several folks got
multiple lifers.  Among the 70 species seen, top birds were CAVE SWALLOW and
HARLEQUIN DUCK in Talbot, and CACKLING GOOSE and SHORT-EARED OWL at
Blackwater Refuge in Dorchester.  Other interesting finds were BONAPARTE'S
GULLS in Talbot and WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH, BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCH (by the
dozen) and WILSON'S SNIPE at Blackwater.

The first birding stop of the day was at the Wade's Point Inn, west of St.
Michaels in Talbot Co., where we pulled into the driveway to find Joel
Martin staring at the front of the Inn.  He was staring at a CAVE SWALLOW,
perched on top of one of the upstairs shutters.  What a treat for all of us
to get scope views of a Cave Swallow.  Bill Hubick shot away with his
camera, and will be posting photos to his website soon.  We met one of the
folks from the inn, and as has been announced on previous posts, these
people could not be more hospitable or accomodating (please see Les
Roslund's first post for directions and protocol).  We were directed to the
location where the HARLEQUIN DUCK had last been seen, and within a few
minutes were also enjoying this marvelous bird in our scopes.  Other
waterbirds present were COMMON LOON, LONG-TAILED DUCK (dozens), SURF SCOTER
(dozens flying by), and the ubiquitous BUFFLEHEADs.  As we returned to our
vehicles, a flock of 15 or so BONAPARTE'S GULLs flew by, and by this time
the Cave Swallow was airborne, and entertained us with multiple circuits
above the inn and over our heads.

Following some stops along the Choptank River (adding COMMON GOLDENEYE to
our small number of duck species), we got to Blackwater Refuge, where we
walked the little Marsh Edge Trail around noon.  It was pretty quiet until
we were at the end of the circuit when we witnessed a burst of activity
provided by both kinglets, Yellow-rumps, many Brown-headed Nuthatches, BROWN
CREEPER, and two WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCHes, a scarce bird in Dorchester Co.,
and only my second sighting of this species in this county (see Jim
Brighton's recent post on this species from neighboring Talbot Co.).

Waterfowl at the refuge was minimal, other than Canada Geese; guess it just
isn't winter yet as far as the birds are concerned.  PINTAILs, SHOVELERs, a
lone GREEN-WINGED TEAL and a lone SNOW GOOSE along with a few TUNDRA SWANs
were the extent of the waterfowl, except for a pair of small geese that
turned out to be CACKLING GEESE.  The only shorebirds at the refuge proper
were KILLDEER, DUNLIN, and GREATER YELLOWLEGS.

Shorter's Wharf Road, while giving us our only HOODED MERGANSERs and
SAVANNAH SPARROWs for the day, was unusually devoid of N. Harriers, making
the prospects for finding Short-eared Owls seem dim; was it still just too
warm for these birds?  Was the food supply low?  We had driven back and
forth along the road a few times, when sharp-eyed Bill Hubick saw what he
thought was a WILSON'S SNIPE in a roadside impoundment; after stopping, it
took many minutes for the rest of us to eventually locate this very-well
camouflaged bird only 25 feet away.  Just about at sunset we made our final
stop along Shorter's Wharf, and after scanning briefly, a SHORT-EARED OWL
finally presented itself, giving great extended views to all in our party,
then flying over the road in front of us as we departed.  A fine ending to a
highly satisfying outing in pursuit of some terrific Maryland birds.

Stan Arnold
Glen Burnie