Hi Everybody,
Thanks to Kevin Graff for reporting on MDOsprey on the Winter Count held by the Kent County Bird Club on 13 February (Sunday). I have pulled together the entire count with one revision to Kevin's list - there was a slight misunderstanding about which nuthatches were seen/heard along Boxes Pt. Trail, i.e. we did not locate a Red-breasted during that walk, just the one White-breasted. This year we were able to split up into small teams in the afternoon; as such we were able to cover more ground than we have in prior Winter Counts.
Our most unexpected sighting was not a countable bird (sadly). There were actually three species of swan at Eastern Neck Narrows on Sunday morning. The oddity was a single immature BLACK SWAN; who with virtual certainty did not arrive in Maryland directly from Australia. It was a striking presence nonetheless. The open conditions and average temperatures seemed to depress numbers on small land birds by dispersing them. Or perhaps their numbers were indeed low due to preceding harsher weather - and thus hard weather movement with no return as yet; or the two recent hard winters preceding the current more moderate season.
The totals for the Count were 74 species and 61,251 indivduals give-or-take a few hundred geese and blackbirds. Other highlights were 3 Horned Grebes; 2 Double-crested Cormorants; 9 Northern Shovelers at Chesapeake Farms; 3 American Wigeon at Eastern Neck; 124 Gadwall at the Mill Pd in Galena; 17 Bald Eagles; 3 Fox Sparrows on Woodland Creek where it crosses MD-213; 7 White-crowned Sparrows; and 3 Rusty Blackbirds at Eastern Neck NWR. I have appended the full list below.
Horned Grebe 3
Double-crested Cormorant 2
Great Blue Heron 11
Black Vulture 20
Turkey Vulture 179
Snow Goose 9084
Canada Goose 17,275
Mute Swan 18
Tundra Swan 452
Gadwall 124
American Wigeon 3
American Black Duck 256
Mallard 1715
Northern Shoveler 9
Northern Pintail 95
Canvasback 57
Ring-necked Duck 20
Greater Scaup 3448
Lesser Scaup 262
scaup (sp) 1850
Bufflehead 369
Common Goldeneye 742
Common Merganser 63
Red-breasted Merganser 47
Ruddy Duck 2
Bald Eagle 17 (14 adult, 3 immature)
Northern Harrier 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 16
American Kestrel 6
Ring-billed Gull 671
Herring Gull 101
Great Black-backed Gull 96
gull (sp) 500 (at dusk on the Chester River in tight flock)
Rock Pigeon 117
Mourning Dove 108
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 12
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Downy Woodpecker 8
Hairy Woodpecker 4
Northern Flicker 6
Blue Jay 21
American Crow 44
Horned Lark 4
Carolina Chickadee 13
Tufted Titmouse 8
White-breasted Nuthatch 4
Brown Creeper 1
Carolina Wren 16
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
Eastern Bluebird 64
American Robin 252
Northern Mockingbird 31
European Starling 1222
Cedar Waxwing 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 28
Eastern Towhee 4
Field Sparrow 11
Savannah Sparrow 2
Fox Sparrow 3
Song Sparrow 62
Swamp Sparrow 7
White-throated Sparrow 129
White-crowned Sparrow 7
Dark-eyed Junco 180
Northern Cardinal 77
Red-winged Blackbird 2168
Eastern Meadowlark 1
Rusty Blackbird 3
Common Grackle 9447
Brown-headed Cowbird 44
House Finch 3
American Goldfinch 8
House Sparrow 30
Thanks to Kevin Graff; Nancy Martin; Meg Parry and Joe Rogers for participating on the Count and making it a success.
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" |