MARINER POINT PARK  5/1/05 
A day that begins with spitting rain and gradually turns sunny and  windy.  A 
slow wander around the  pathway turns up mostly all the expected birds.  Some 
of interest:  My first Red-tailed Hawk for this  location (a juvenile bird); 
a few swifts and a few martins and a flock of a  dozen Northern Rough-winged 
Swallows; a catbird (a new arrival), two Blue-gray  Gnatcatchers; heard only 
Common Yellowthroat and Baltimore Oriole.  White-throated Sparrows are still  
singing from the denser undergrowth – I find or hear at least a dozen.  A single 
Osprey circles several  times. 
From the second gazebo/fishing pier at the confluence of Turner’s Branch  and 
the Little Gunpowder River, I watch as two terns fly into the mouth of the  
river from the bay, circle once and fly back out – obvious terns, they are too  
large and elongate to be Forster’s/Common.  The bill is rather longish, but 
not as thick and massive as that of the  Caspian and is orange, not reddish.  
They have black caps while the underparts, including the underwings are  light. 
 I make them ROYAL  TERNS.  According to the MD  Atlas of Breeding Birds, the 
ROTE no longer nests successfully in Maryland but  this is the time of year 
when they will scout for potential nesting sites,  sandy spits, particularly in 
a protected cove with shallow water.  (This  spot does not qualify).   It is  
not a common visitor to the upper bay.  Question: have the newer dredge-spoil 
islands provided any  nesting?
 
Louis Nielsen  
Reisterstown,  MD