Folks

On Sunday Gwen and I did a Birdathon Fundraiser for the Southern Maryland Audubon Society.  We choose to do it Sunday since the weather was suppose to be crappy on Saturday.  Sunday's weather was worse with lots of winds.  We started around 3:30 AM with Mockingbirds and ended with #123, my pet Hairy Woodpecker in the backyard at 8:30 PM.  The Charles County Big Day record remains at 131.  Maybe we will try for it another day this month but there were times on Sunday when I would have rather been sleeping.  We worked very hard to get to the 123 and probably raised over $1000 for the local bird club.

Highlights were:

One sleeping Common Loon at Cobb Island
A surprise Horned Grebe in Cuckold Creek
One female Wood Duck - Rt. 224
One male Blue-winged Teal at Allen's Fresh
One Lesser Scaup also in Cuckold Creek
Ruddy Duck - two locations; one at Maiden Point Farm, 6 at River Road, on the Wicomico.
Northern Bobwhite - Lloyd Point Road
Semipalmated Plover - muddy field along Rt. 234, Allen's Fresh
Greater Yellowlegs - Port Tobacco Marina, and Banks Ode Farm on the Potomac
Lesser Yellowlegs - Port Tobacco Marina, and Allen's Fresh
Solitary Sandpiper - Swan Point Rd.
Spotted Sandpiper - several locations
~100 Least Sandpipers - Allen's Fresh
Wilson's Snipe - same muddy field at Semi-plover
Caspian Tern - Riverside, Morgantown, Port Tobacco Marina
Rock Pigeon - La Plata - yes it counts during a fund raising event.
Three owl species (Barn, Screech, and Barred).
Whips in two locations - home and Durham Church Road.
Belted Kingfisher - Swan Point Rd. thanks to the sharp eyes of Gwen - always iffy on a big day.
Red-headed Woodpecker - Rt. 224 south of Purse's State Park - head only out of cavity.
Pileated Woodpecker - Mathew's Manor Rd.
Eastern Wood-pewee - Nanjemoy
Acadian Flycatcher - Nanjemoy
Great-crested Flycatcher - Hancock Run Rd.
Eastern Phoebe - lots of places finally.
Yellow-throated Vireo - Rt. 6 Nanjemoy
Red-breasted Nuthatch - Hancock Run Rd.  Not a lot around this year.
House Wren - South View Rd.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - River Road, Wicomico
Hermit Thrush - Adam's Willet Road
18 species of warblers in various locations including.  Highlights were Yellow, Black-throated Green, Yellow-throated, Blackpoll, Black & White, Prothonotary, Wormeating, Louisiana Waterthrush, Kentucky, Hooded, and Yellow-breasted Chat.  Migrants were hard to find - either too early or too windy.
Summer Tanager - many locations
eight species of sparrows including Grasshopper at several locations, Savannah at Allen's Fresh, Swamp at Nanjemoy, and Allen's Fresh.  The stakeout White-crowned did not stick it out. Bummer!
Bobolinks - Wedding Rd. and Allen's Fresh
Eastern Meadowlark - along Rt. 6 at Hancock Run Rd.  Also at Allen's Fresh and Wedding Rd.
Orchard Oriole - various locations including Port Tobacco Courthouse
and Baltimore Oriole at Rt. 224 near Purse's Park and other location.  It was a good day for this species which is hard to find in Charles Co.

I hope some of this is helpful to the listserve members.  Still hoping to break that 131 number if the birds and weather cooperates.

Good migrations

George Jett
Waldorf, MD 20603








The largest disappointment was only two Ciconiiformes (that's herons/egrets to most of you but when you live with an ornithologist that's what you are told) - Great Blue and Green Heron.