Hi All,

I have been regularly checking Great Oak Pond and noting a few of the usual suspects since the third week of August. Just my luck to miss the Whimbrel seen by Jim Brighton that must have been only briefly present on 31 August.

Today the pond had eight shorebird species including a juvenile RED-NECKED PHALAROPE on the far side playing hide n' seek with a flock of Canada Geese. The geese constituted one of the five waterfowl species present highlighted by 2 Blue-winged Teal and 7 Northern Shovelers. Another good shorebird was a single juvenile Black-bellied Plover. 

Species List:
13 Canada Geese; 2 Green-winged Teal; 11 Mallards; 2 Blue-winged Teal; 7 Northern Shovelers; 1 Black-bellied Plover; 6 Killdeer; 1 Greater Yellowlegs; 14 Lesser Yellowlegs; 1 Spotted Sandpiper; 1 Semipalmated Sandpiper; 6 Least Sandpipers; 6+ Bobolinks flying overhead and calling.

A few warblers visited our yard yesterday including a Chestnut-sided; a young male Blackburnian; and a young female NASHVILLE. We had an adult male hummingbird until yesterday, the hen-plumaged hummers are still around as of today.

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"