Hi All,

It is remarkable what a few rainy and gray days can do to a waterbird migration. Nancy and I went down to Eastern Neck NWR yesterday afternoon and found a fallout of RED-THROATED LOONS. Most of the loons were in the Bay off the Ingleside Picnic Area newly opened due to the departure of the wintering Tundra Swans and Canada Geese. We counted 95 Red-throated Loons from this vantage, many were well offshore because of the shallow water on the western approach to Eastern Neck Narrows. We found two more Red-throated Loons from the viewing platform near the Bookshop/old HQ. We also saw 1 GREAT EGRET, 10 SURF SCOTERS (plus one drake at Ingleside), 2 Horned Grebes and 5 Common Loons (2 in alternate plumage) from this vantage. At Bogle's Wharf we had 7 more Horned Grebes, 2 more Common Loons, and 6 Double-crested Cormorants. Additional sightings for the outing included 6 Bonaparte's Gulls, 3 Northern Harriers, 8 Bald Eagles, and a Fox Sparrow. Although most of the Tundra Swans and geese have departed we managed to locate two Tundra Swans, 15 Common Goldeneye, 10 Red-breasted Mergansers, 130 Bufflehead, 100 Greater Scaup and 350 Lesser Scaup around Eastern Neck Island. On our way down to Eastern Neck we found an adult Laughing Gull in Rock Hall Harbor, and there are still many pintail, shovelers, and Gadwall at Chesapeake Farms.

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"