Hello All,
On Friday evening (4/8), I made my usual check of local puddles. Mainly yellowlegs and a few Pecs on Oak Grove Rd. I decided to check the big puddle on MD 577. It was empty, but across the road on the Dorchester side was a nice mixed flock of gulls. It was roughly 60% Laughers, 20% Herring and 20% Ringers and 1 adult Lesser Black-back. Perhaps 125 birds total.
On Saturday (4/9), I made 3 puddle checks during the day. At 10 AM, I found 1 Jim Stasz who had just found 11 Bonaparte's Gulls in with the Laughers on Oak Grove Rd. Just the bird I was looking for amongst the gulls. During the day, the gull numbers dwindled, but Pec Sand numbers grew to 10 by evening. Also 6 Wilson's Snipe on North Oak Grove RD (DE).
On Sunday (4/11), I did more extensive birding of the area and tallied 56 species. New for the year were Red-Shouldered Hawk and Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher bringing the year total to 85. The past week has been extremely productive. It was a good day for raptors in general with 1 adult Bald Eagle, 1 Osprey (3 weeks in a row - unusual inland), 1 Red Tail, 4-6 Red-Shoulders, 1 Cooper's Hawk, 1 Kestrel plus 1 BV and TV.
The evaporation of the puddles is noticeable between visits and a couple are already dry. Consequently, places that were thriving with birds a couple days ago were now barren. Zero shorebirds along Oak Grove Rd, only 1 snipe remaining. I did find a few yellowlegs and 1 Solitary at the back of the farm (MD).
The only new migrant songbird this week was the BG Gnat. 2 singing Pine Warblers at the back of the farm. Should have many new arrivals by next weekend. Also, I flushed a single hen Wild Turkey.
Good Birding,
Glen Lovelace III
Seaford, DE |