Hi All,

Some Kent County birding friends, Joe and Trudy Rogers and Meg Parry, asked me to join them on a mid-week trip to the Maryland shore. I decided to make one of the upcoming weekend days into a work day with the trade-in on yesterday and went along on their jaunt to the coast yestday (17 Feb).

Ocean City inlet was in good form with its continuing large flock of scoters, 40 Purple Sandpipers (on the south jetty only), 2 Great Cormorants, and both loons. Highlights were a RAZORBILL briefly observed on two occasions among the Black and Surf scoters at the seaward end of the south jetty, the alcid was feeding actively and spent very little time on the surface; 3 COMMON EIDER, including two young drakes and a hen; a single immature drake White-winged Scoter; and 10 Bonaparte's Gulls.

At West Ocean City Pd there were ten waterfowl species including 550 Canvasback; a single drake Redhead; and 2 Hooded Mergansers; and a bathing first-winter ICELAND GULL who left about five minutes after we arrived. It appears the Brant have moved out of the area as we spent the day touring their haunts and found only a single bird with a broken wing on the north islet off Fourth St. in Ocean City. 

Eagle's Nest Campground was a little less birdy than I have usually found it. We had a single Horned Grebe; 4 American Oystercatchers (the *only* shorebirds); about 30 Bufflehead and 80 American Wigeon; and *no* Brant there. The pond on Eagle's Landing Golf Course across from the Humane Society was more productive with 20 Gadwall; 20 American Wigeon and one adult darke EURASIAN WIGEON. In spite of a humid chill in the air, a rather brisk north wind, and changeable sky condiitons it was a nice day to be out.

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"