Hi Everybody,

The Kent County Bird Club's Saturday trip to Ocean City was very successful featuring 11 sea-duck species (i.e.members of the waterfowl tribe mergini), and 2 alcid species in that State-That-Shall-Not-Be-Mentioned to the north - but will be mentioned in the name of completeness and accuracy.

Our group consisted of Peter Mann, Nancy Martin, Walter Ellison and Ian Ellison - who claims we "shanghaied" him. We found 63 species in the Ocean City area at the mostly-frozen W. Ocean City Pd, Ocean City Inlet (two visits and lots of cold scanning time), Eagle's Nest Rd, Assateague I. (brief visit), with a side-trip to Indian River Inlet. 

The tiny opening in the ice at W. Ocean City Pd hosted Ruddy Duck (2), Gadwall (22), American Wigeon (3) showing off their bald pates, and Northern Shoveler (3). At Hooper's we saw 14 American Oystercatchers, 150 Dunlin, 30 Sanderling, a Common Loon, a Double-crested Cormorant, 2 Common Goldeneye, and a Greater Scaup.

Ocean City Inlet was very active with a big flock of Surf (300) and Black Scoters (150); 105 Brant; about 10 Horned Grebes; 12 Common Loons; 5 Red-throated Loons; 14 Long-tailed Ducks; 40 Purple Sandpipers (seven on our high tide visit and 40 at low tide), 8 Ruddy Turnstones; and at least one juvenile Great Cormorant. During our first visit we briefly spotted an adult drake COMMON EIDER and a hen bobbing on the far side of the South Jetty, and watched a Cooper's Hawk fly northward across the inlet from Assateague. On our second visit, at low tide, we noted two first-winter drake KING EIDERS in the scoter flock off the seaward tip of the South Jetty; found a lone drake White-winged Scoter; two Greater Scaup; two Common Goldeneye; and a drake Ruddy Duck (odd location); and a drake (same?) COMMON EIDER flew in off the ocean and sat for a short time among the scoters.

On Eagle's Nest Road we had a Northern Harrier over the airport; 170 Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warblers in (what else?) waxmyrtles; a Brown Thrasher; a Hermit Thrush; a Gray Catbird; a Winter Wren; and - at the Campground - 500 Brant (we had over 1000 Brant for the day in Maryland), American Wigeon; 11 Black-bellied Plovers; 280 Dunlin; 6 oystercatchers; and 2 Hooded Mergansers.

Two birders who had been birding up in Delaware reported that they had seen a BLACK GUILLEMOT at the north marina at Indian River Inlet earlier in the day (Thank you, whoever you were!). Needless to say, we headed north. We found the bird paddling around with some Bufflehead and Red-breasted Mergansers near the construction crane at the north marina. It appeared to be an adult in basic plumage - snowflake white with a black cap and mantle dusted with white scaling; a rather short, sharp, black rail-spike bill; and black smudge around the eye; a broad white wing-covert patch with black flight feathers; and red tarsi and webbed toes (one brief stretch and the heels were visible as it swam). Some of our informants said the bird was a juvenile, but we did not see any obvious black bars on its wing patch. Other birds at Indian River included a briefly-seen RAZORBILL at the mouth of the Inlet; Great Cormorant; a young drake HARLEQUIN DUCK; Black-bellied Plover; Purple Sandpiper; and Ruddy Turnstone.

It was a long, and chilly day but it left us pleasantly tired.

Good Birding,

Walter Ellison

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"