I looked all over around here over the last week, for the lapwing,
gyrfalcon, and any unusual dove that may be “just passing through”.  No
luck, of course, but I am optimistic.  A good friend is always telling me
that “Chance favors a prepared mind”.  Any day now the first osprey will
certainly arrive, and meanwhile you never know what may show up.

I had yesterday (Friday) off, and enjoyed it at home with the wife and
kids.  I watched birds at the feeders and the river during breakfast and
coffee from 8:30-9:30, then watched around the yard from about 10-Noon
while playing with the kids in the snow.  I saw 43 species (33 inside/10
addit'l from the yard) with no unusual observations, except that I only saw
4 species of waterfowl, and very few gulls.  My wife says the bird feeding
frenzy has died down from Thursday; she said during the snowfall it was
crazy here – the birds ate non-stop.

My impression here now, is that the over-wintering waterfowl have greatly
diminished in numbers over the last week.  The common mergansers that were
present everywhere along the river here in winter, seemed to have
disappeared in the last few days, along with the pintails, black ducks and
some of the Canada geese.  I noticed some of the juncos may have moved on,
based on the low numbers at our feeders this week, and reduced flock sizes
seen along the roads here.  And the large flocks of gulls that were using
the area for drinking and resting (about 3-5 hours/day) may also have moved
on.  I have not seen a flock over 300 in the last 4-5 days, but this is not
a diagnostic observation (winter gulls seem hard to predict what brings
them here or makes them go elsewhere).  The white-throated sparrows are
still all over in large numbers though; and the tundra swans are very vocal
at night but seem quite content by day, and are still hanging around.

With a relatively even level of effort observing birds here (Jug Bay area),
the number of species I've seen (per day) seems to be dwindling now
compared to January, and I have only seen a few new species for the whole
month of February to add to my annual ('05) list.  I am ready for March!

Have a great day!

Jeff Shenot
Croom, MD