Although the highlights from the Assateague Big Sit and the post-sit
excitement at the West OC Pond have already been posted, the context of some
of the weekend's good birds in Worcester has not been fully discussed. I
guess that's my job? Feel free to high delete now if you are not a student
of ornithological trivia. :) I had three new life "October" birds for
Worcester, so it was quite a weekend, indeed!
Bank Swallow
Matt Hafner didn't mention that he and others (Jim Brighton and Dave Powell)
found two Worcester record-late Bank Swallows at the West Ocean City Pond on
October 8. Rumor has it that Hans H. did NOT see these birds (was he too
busy thinking how good that 32 oz. cervaza at the Mexican restaurant was
going to taste?!?). I was able to chase the swallows later in the day and
did manage to see at least one Bank (for two separate intervals of a minute
or so each), while scanning through the large Tree Swallow flock for 40 or
so minutes that was foraging low over the pond in the rain on Saturday.
Amazing how hard birds like these can be to find when you are looking at the
right pond and the right flock. Swallows do tend to move around quite a
bit.
This is the first October records of Bank Swallow in Worcester County, and
the county only has eight records for September:
BANS 09/03/1923 1 OC, +, "a number". "09/03-09/07/1923". "back of beach".
(Kirkwood, F. C.) (PCF)
BANS 09/07/1923 1 OC, +, "a number". "09/03-09/07/1923". "back of beach".
(Kirkwood, F. C.) (PCF)
BANS 09/09/1960 1 OC/OR/OBS, (Robbins, C. S., et al.) (CSR)
BANS 09/12/1981 2 AOCEAN, DDT. "40 m. off OC". (Effinger, J.) (MB 38:15,
24 AB 36:164)
BANS 09/14/1997 1 IRONSSTARD, (Iliff, M. J., Stasz, J. L.) (NAB)
BANS 09/17/1994 1 AI/BS, (MLH, Czaplak, D., Todd, M. A.) (Unpub. Obs.)
BANS 09/17/2000 1 AI/BS, (MLH, Ringler, R. F., et al.) CCBC field trip,
group totals. (Unpub. Obs.)
BANS 09/26/1987 5 AI, "latest of season". (Davidson, L. M., Wierenga, H.
L.) (MB 44:23)
In fact, one of the reasons we went back to the West OC Pond on Sunday was
to try and extend the record departure date, but we ending up not spending a
lot of time looking at swallows. The old Patagonia picnic table effect.
Warbling Vireo
Although it was not a life month bird for me, the single Warbling Vireo on
the Big Sit at Assateague Island/Bayside/Point (found by Brighton, Holbrook
and Powell, seen also by Hoffman) tied the record Worcester County fall
departure record and is one of only now three October records for the county
and a very late date for Maryland:
WAVI 10/04/1998 1 GIRDLETREE, "a bit late". "near Girdletree". (Stasz, J.
L.) (MB 55:99)
WAVI 10/09/2000 1 AI/BS, NAB "tied MD late date". NAB "AI". MLH "vireo
grove". (MLH, Gaede, P., Iliff, M. J.) (NAB 55:38 Unpub. Obs.) 0645:1200.
Sandwich Tern
With the big wet tropic system moving up the coast and dumping all that rain
Friday-Saturday, I figured this would be as good a chance as ever to get an
October Sandwich Tern record for Worcester. I diligently checked every
large tern I saw and as luck (e.g. the reside of design) would have it, was
able to uncover two (an adult and juvenile) perched on the pilings off the
Assateague/Bayside point area during the big sit. Got a number of distance
(but recognizable) photos that I'll get on the web-site eventually. Seen by
Hafner, et al.
First October record of this species in Worcester and only the fourth record
after September 13, as this is one of the "unhardy" terns, like Least and
Gull-billed. Prior post-13 Sep records (which includes the State's first, a
storm-related bird from 1945):
SATE 09/19/1945 2 OC, PCF "below OC bridge", not seen 09/20/1945. S&R47
"resting on exposed tidal flat at OC". (Robbins, C. S., Stewart, R. E.)
Robbins 1949 and S&R58 cite. (PCF Stewart and Robbins 1947) "after tropical
hurricane/storm 09/17-18". 1st
SATE 09/19/1982 1 OC, MB "very late". AB "unusual". (Mudd, S. H., Mudd,
M.) AB cites SHM. (MB 39:21 AB 37:166)
SATE 09/27/2003 21 AI, "among MD's highest counts". "(and latest dates)."
(Hafner, M., Stasz, J. L.) (NAB 58:56)
Curlew Sandpiper
The third month-bird of the weekend, the juvenile Curlew Sandpiper we found
on Sunday at the West OC Pond will be only the second adequately documented
record for Worcester, after last summer's bird on Assateague Island/North
End.
This brings my life Worcester October list to 229, the fourth best month
behind May, April and September. The guys were giving me a hard time about
this month listing thing . while they were planning a late-day assault on
Wicomico County to try and relocate Stan's Black Skimmer. Talk about the
pot calling the kettle black!
Enjoy,
Mark L. Hoffman
Sykesville, MD
|