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Re: Harlequin & Cave - Yes

From:

Leo Weigant

Reply-To:

Maryland Birds & Birding

Date:

Mon, 6 Dec 2004 13:28:35 -0500

Just for the record (he said grumpily) I was at Wade's Point around
11:15 on Saturday and was told the cave swallow had bee last seen ca. 20
minutes before, heading into the sunlight.    Nice look at the harlequin
duck, but I drove home muttering at myself for that one last cup of
coffee while reading the morning paper.
 
There's a lesson there, but I don't want to hear it; 
mutter, sputter, mumble, grumble.
 
Sounds like you had a glorious and well-earned day . . . and a
well-deserved hot burger.   With cheese?
 
Leo Weigant

>>>  12/3/04 8:19:27 PM >>>

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