Hi All,

Sorry for the belated report on our rather chilly and damp Eastern Neck trip on Saturday last. Given that some of the best birds can materialize during bad weather, and the reasonable (but unrealized) possibility that the predicted wet weather might clear sooner than forecast, we ran our trip in what turned out to be intermittent light to moderate rain, then mist and fog. The conditions were indeed difficult to tolerate, but there were birds; including some exciting sights.

We met Tom and Sharon Bradford and Susan Zevin at the Dollar General lot in Chestertown where we were entertained by the urban vulture roost at the corner of Spring St. and Washington Ave. which contained 85 Turkey Vultures and 24 Black Vultures at 8:00 in the morning. Rather wet and morose looking vultures we might add. It occurred to Nancy and I that the vulture roost is a good landmark for locating the Bird Club's meeting place for anyone not familiar with the spot: the parking lot is just across the street from the horde of big black birds in the trees.

We met more observers at the Eastern Neck Narrows: Peter Mann and Meg Parry. Over the next five hours we located 48 species of bird. Highlights were: a Pied-billed Grebe; 16 waterfowl species, dominated by scaup and Ruddy Ducks; a BONAPARTE'S GULL; a White-breasted Nuthatch; and a Brown Thrasher (heard only, sorry to say). We have appended a complete list below. Nancy and I stopped at Chesapeake Farms on our way home and can report that there were good numbers of shovelers (60), pintail (50) and Ring-necked Ducks (83) there, as well as an adult Sharp-shinned Hawk hunting the roadside hedgerow.

Trip list:

Canada Goose              500
Mute Swan                     60
Tundra Swan                 500
Gadwall                          50
American Wigeon             5
American Black Duck    200
Mallard                         250
Northern Pintail                 1
Canvasback                    45
Ring-necked Duck             2
Greater Scaup               500
Lesser Scaup              4000
Bufflehead                       50
Common Goldeneye        15
Red-breasted Merganser  15
Ruddy Duck                2000 
Pied-billed Grebe               1
Great Blue Heron               7
Turkey Vulture                 10
Bald Eagle                        4
Northern Harrier                 2
Bonaparte's Gull                1
Ring-billed Gull                50
Herring Gull                   100
Great Black-backed Gull  10
Mourning Dove                  3
Belted Kingfisher               2
Red-bellied Woodpecker    5
Downy Woodpecker          4
Hairy Woodpecker            1
Northern Flicker                3
Blue Jay                          4
American Crow                 5
Carolina Chickadee           5
White-breasted Nuthatch   1
Carolina Wren                  4
Eastern Bluebird               5
Northern Mockingbird        5
Brown Thrasher                1
European Starling           50
Cedar Waxwing               2
Yellow-rumped Warbler   60
Eastern Towhee               8
Song Sparrow                24
Swamp Sparrow             14
White-throated Sparrow   70
Northern Cardinal            55
Red-winged Blackbird      70

Good Birding,

Walter Ellison
MD-DC Atlas Coordinator - MOS
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")

"Are there *ever* enough birds?" - Connie Hagar as quoted by Edwin Way Teale in "Wandering through Winter"