Hi Folks,

Like many others, Bill Hubick and I headed to the Eastern Shore for a day
and a half, being all the time we could muster.  Highlights for the trip
were:  all three SCOTERs in Talbot Co.; AM. WOODCOCK, WILLET, HARLEQUIN
DUCK, COMMON EIDER, all three SCOTERs, PURPLE SANDPIPER and GREAT CORMORANT
in Worcester Co.; and MERLIN, GRAY CATBIRD, BROWN THRASHER and ducks in
Wicomico Co.

We left the Baltimore area around 2 p.m. on Saturday (1/15), arriving in
Talbot Co. with about two hours of daylight left.  We went straight to
Tilghman Island, where our best finds were all three scoters at Black Walnut
Point, at the southern tip of the island.  There was a pair of BLACK
SCOTERs, at least six WHITE-WINGED SCOTERs, and one or two dozen SURF
SCOTERs at easy scoping distance, but a bit too far for good photos.  As we
were leaving at dusk, we were treated to a GREAT HORNED OWL perched on a
wire along Hwy 33, an atlas tick for the Claiborne CE block.

Sunday morning (1/16) was seasonably cool, but very windy, which stifled our
pre-dawn owling at Assateague Island.  The best we could come away with was
a pair of AM. WOODCOCKs at the Life-of-the-Marsh Trail, and a glimpse of a
mystery owl flying over the marsh at dawn that looked like a Short-eared
Owl, but I suppose could also have been a Long-eared Owl.  I have virtually
no experience seeing the latter in flight.

Our next stop was Eagle's Nest Campground, where we stopped and scoped the
birds at the golf course pond.  There were Gadwall and Am. Wigeon, mostly
eating grass by the pond's edge, but we did not see the Eurasian Wigeon,
seen by Kurt Schwarz apparently later the same morning.  The campground
offered looks at the usual Brant, Black-bellied Plover (just one!) and
Oystercatchers, but the prize of the visit, and probably of the entire trip
was a WILLET, on a nearby sandbar.  We suspect it was a Western Willet--it
was quite pale-breasted--but even with the help of Sibley we could not be
positive.  Bill got some OK ID-type photos, and maybe someone with expertise
might be able to help.  The Yellow book shows only two January records for
Willet.

Ocean City Inlet, while wickedly windy, was alive with birdlife.  There were
hundreds of ducks, mostly scoters, in the inlet on the near-side of the
jetty.  We got some great close-up views of all three SCOTERs, and after
about 90 minutes of scanning came up with two imm. male HARLEQUIN DUCKs,
four COMMON EIDERs (one adult male, one female, two imm. males), four PURPLE
SANDPIPERs (unusually scarce so far this year), and two GREAT CORMORANTs (1
adult, 1 imm).  We did not find the Razorbill or King Eiders reported by
others.  The PEREGRINE FALCON was dutifully perched on the railing of the
water tower at the inlet, that bird being pretty much a fixture of the place
these days.

Skimmer Island was basically a bust during these early morning hours, and we
headed over to W. Ocean City Pond, enjoying the collection of a thousand or
so ducks.  Kevin Graff's posting yesterday pretty much sumarized what we
saw, the lone male REDHEAD being our best find.  It took a lot of scoping,
but only a single (adult) BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON could be found, where
most visits offer looks at a dozen or more.

From Ocean City we headed out to the rural areas south of Berlin.  Evans Rd.
was it's usual birdy place, with half a dozen WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWs in the
road being the best we could muster among the Savannahs, Fields, Songs, and
White-throats.  On Ironshire Rd. we approached a field that appeared to be
well-populated with crows.  On closer inspection, however, we were surprised
to find a field full of BOAT-TAILED GRACKLEs, at least a hundred of them
(about 60-70% males), with no other species except for starling.  I've never
seen Boat-tails acting like other blackbirds, at least not this side of
Florida.

Our last reportable bird in Worcester Co. was an E. PHOEBE in a front yard
along Whiton Crossing Rd., just before we crossed into Wicomico Co.  Once in
Wicomico, we stopped at Adkins Pond in Powellville where Bill spotted a GRAY
CATBIRD.  We then drove a loop starting at Mt. Pleasant Rd. and ending on
Purnell Crossing Rd.  On Mt. Pleasant, we stopped where there was some
activity, and enjoyed the loud chupping of a BROWN THRASHER, though the bird
did not decide to show itself.  A little further down the road, I spotted a
bird perched in the top of a tree.  As we approached, Bill stopped the car,
and looking through the windshield I announced " it's a beautiful male
Kestrel."  Bill began to wince and fidget in his seat, kind of like he did
the time I tried turning a Bald Eagle into a Swainson's Hawk.  He was
obviously uncomfortable with my call, but as it turned out, while I was
gazing at a kestrel in a tree top 40 feet away, Bill was staring at a MERLIN
perched about 15 feet over our heads.  This Merlin was munching its lunch,
too, and as luck often has it, as soon as Bill got the camera positioned for
a shot, the bird flew off with its meal.  It flew in circles, obviously
attached to the locale where we found it, but nevertheless staying just out
of range of a respectable photo.

We spent a bit of time on this loop scanning a flock of a good thousand Snow
Geese, but were not able to find any Ross's Geese after 30 minutes of
effort.  A flyover Bald Eagle caused the flock to erupt and re-settle,
always an impressive spectacle.  We ended the day in western Wicomico Co. to
look for waterfowl along the Nanticoke River, spurred by Jim Stasz' posting
from last weekend.  CANVASBACK was probably our best find among the
Buffleheads, scaup, goldeneye, and Red-breasted Mergs, but the wind made the
viewing a bit difficult.  Niether Bill nor I had visited this part of
Wicomico from Nanticoke through Bivalve to Tyaskin, and it's a place we will
both definitely want to re-visit.  Thanks Jim for your post.

That's it for now.  Good birding to all.

Stan Arnold
Glen Burnie