The CBC trip to Blackwater National Refuge and Dorchester County left Big Elk 
Mall on March 20th at 6:00 am to greet the early spring migrants and lead them 
north to Cecil County.
 The first stop was Blackwater itself.  Birds of note were eleven Wilson’s 
Snipe, many Green-winged Teal, three Blue-winged Teal, Hooded Mergansers, 
Ring-necked Ducks, many Shovelers. In the wooded areas Brown-headed Nuthatches 
were chittering and some Pine Warblers were trilling. The Osprey’s and Eagles 
were abundant.  Ten Bald Eagles were seen, including a one minute aerial 
confrontation between an Osprey and an Eagle over a fish.  The victorious 
Osprey than verbally abused the down trodden Eagle as the bully departed the 
encounter.
	On our way to Hooper’s Island we got geographically confused but were able to 
pick up some new waterfowl in our meanderings.
	At the Cambridge visitor’s center, on the southwest side of the bridge, we 
encounters large groups of Long-tailed Ducts and about 50 to 100 Surf Scoter 
with many very close for good viewing. The complete list is below.
	And, we saw Red-bellied Turtles, Eastern Painted Turtles, a dead black-Rat 
Snake and heard Chorus Frogs at many locations.  Two Mourning Cloak 
butterflies were seen!

Parke.


Common Loon	1
Horned Grebe	1
Double-crested Cormorant	35
Great Blue Heron	9
Great Egret	4
Turkey Vulture	20
Snow Goose	6
Canada Goose	150
Mute Swan	2
Tundra Swan	77
Gadwall	17
American Black Duck	4
Mallard	30
Blue-winged Teal	3
Northern Shoveler	40
Northern Pintail	24
Green-winged Teal	40
Ring-necked Duck	10
Greater Scaup	2
Lesser Scaup	60
Surf Scoter	60
Oldsquaw	24
Bufflehead	2
Common Goldeneye	2
Hooded Merganser	6
Common Merganser	10
Osprey	5
Bald Eagle	10
Northern Harrier	1
Red-tailed Hawk	3
ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK	1
American Kestrel	2
Killdeer	2
Greater Yellowlegs	1
Lesser Yellowlegs	3
Common Snipe	11
Ring-billed Gull	100
Herring Gull	30
Great Black-backed Gull	2
Foster's Tern	7
Mourning Dove	30
Rock Dove	14
Belted Kingfisher	1
Red-bellied Woodpecker	2
Downy Woodpecker	1
Northern Flicker	1
Pileated Woodpecker	1
Blue Jay	2
American Crow	10
Tree Swallow	1
Carolina Chickadee	2
Brown-headed Nuthatch	6
Brown Creeper	2
Eastern Bluebird	2
American Robin	100
Northern Mockingbird	3
European Starling	30
Pine Warbler	2
Northern Cardinal	1
Red-winged Blackbird	60
Eastern Meadowlark	2
Common Grackle	30
Brown-headed Cowbird	10
House Sparrow	 3

Total Species	64
Total Birds	1133

Parke