Hi Folks,

This weekend on the Eastern Shore was a combination of miserable and
enjoyable.  Highlights for the weekend were BARRED OWL, BLACK SKIMMER, and
CATTLE EGRET in Wicomico Co., AMERICAN BITTERN, PECTORAL SANDPIPER, and
CASPIAN TERN in Somerset Co., BARRED OWL in Wicomico Co., some nice birds
during the big sit (to be posted?), WILSON'S WARBLER in Dorchester Co., and
oh, did I mention BARRED OWL in Wicomico Co.?

Saturday  (8 Oct) couldn't have been more depressing.  I departed Glen
Burnie at 4:40 a.m. in the rain, and spent the entire day in the car till
6:30 p.m., except for a few short forays outside, hoping to hear something
(and getting soaked), and a few dry mintues inside Wawa getting the coffee
mug filled.  I was at Bayside on Assateague by 7 a.m., only to run into Bill
Ellis and find that the Big Sit wouldn't be till the next day.  So I headed
west through Wicomico Co. to Somerset Co. where I worked my way to Deale
WMA, finding nothing but wet roads and poor visibility along the way.  Deale
was marvelous, because for the first time that day I actually saw some
birds.  As I drove in the main impoundment area off the highway, I found a
small collection of shorebirds near the road, to include 9 PECTORAL
SANDPIPERs and 4 LEAST SANDPIPERs.  I drove to the boat ramp at the end, and
there saw an AMERICAN BITTERN flying over the marsh.  The impoundments along
Riley Roberts Rd. were quiet, except for a lone CASPIAN TERN, which was
needed on my Somerset county list.  From Deale I headed north and crossed
the Wicomico River on the Whitehaven Ferry into Wicomico Co.  Shortly after
turning west on Mezick Rd., I encountered a pasture with cows and 24 CATTLE
EGRETs, the most I've ever seen together in Maryland.  I continued west
towards the Nanticoke River, finding my way to Muddy Hole Rd., not realizing
at the time just how aptly this road was named.  This road would have been
an adventure in the most ideal of conditions, but during the current
monsoon, it was downright frightening.  I had no idea how deep my car would
find each pond which hid part of the road somewhere beneath the surface.  My
little RAV-4 somehow managed to make it through every one, and there were
scores.  But to add to the experience, the water-laden phragmites lining the
roadbed was now bent down towards the center of the road, giving an apparent
path that was literally three feet wide at points.  So it was like a
gauntlet from one perspective, or like a car wash from another.

Alas, I somehow managed to make it to the main highway, and headed south to
the town of Nanticoke.  Here I turned right on Harbor Rd., and drove the
short distance to a parking area with a nearby pavillion.  Directly behind
the pavillion from the parking area was a jetty with one or two hundred
gulls, and easily seen among the gulls was a BLACK SKIMMER, my first of the
year in Maryland, and my first ever in Wicomico Co.  Subsequent stops at
Bivalve, Tyaskin, and Wetapquin Marsh were not productive, so I headed
northeast towards Salisbury, having been informed by a call from Bill Ellis
that tomorrow's Big Sit crew would soon be assembling at the favorite
Mexican pub and eatery in W. Ocean City, and I sure didn't want to be late
for that.  But I still had a mission to accomplish.

Early this year, Bill Hubick and I did a lot of birding together, and
wherever we went, we called Barred Owls, and they would respond.  It didn't
matter where we went, we got them everywhere!  We got particularly adept at
luring these owls across county lines, and into new quarter blocks while
atlasing :).  Bill suggested how cool it would be to close out Barred Owl
for the year.  I still needed this bird in several counties, but this was an
interesting prospect.  When I got married, and Elaine came to live here from
Mississippi (where she is currently spending a few days with friends and
relatives), she and I traveled around the state and found Barred Owls
everywhere, I mean EVERYWHERE...EXCEPT Wicomico County.  I don't know how
many hours I spent along Bear Swamp Road in seemingly perfect habitat, and
coming up with nothing.  I now had Barred Owl in 22 counties this year, but
Wicomico Co. just would not relent.  Both Jim Stasz and Don Broderick were
very helpful with places to look, and I had just checked one out early this
morning, but maybe it was the steady rain that kept any responders mute.  So
now I was on my way to Pemberton Park along the Wicomico River in Salisbury.
It was getting late, it was getting dark, and I was getting desperate.  It
was the perfect time for my county closeout to make itself heard.  It just
had to be now.  It just had to be... But it wasn't.

So I dejectedly worked my way back to W. Ocean City, where the Big Sitters
were probably already on their second round of brew.  I drank my dinner that
night, listening to Matt Hafner tell me that Wicomico is the EASIEST county
for finding Barred Owl, and that's where they always got it for their Big
Days, and he had four the last time he was there and yadee, yadee, yadee,
ya... Alright, alright, alright, I thought.  Tomorrow's the Big Sit; I'll
give it another shot after the morning on Assateague.

The Big Sit, despite an unimpressive species count, actually produced some
pretty nice birds, and certainly some firsts for the event.  I'm hoping that
Matt or else Mark Hoffman will post the results.  I left the sit around
11:15 this morning, and headed straight for Wicomico Co.  It was cloudy
today, but at least there was no rain.  For the umpteenth time this year, I
drove along Bear Swamp Rd., and pulled off the road at the intersection of
Beach Island/Colbourne Mill Rd.  I threw out some owl calls, then took all
my paperwork to the hood of the car, and compiled my weekend sightings,
making the owls think that I really wasn't that interested in them :).
Every 20 or 30 seconds I would offer another owl vocalization.  It sure got
the attention of the local flickers, as four or five of them flew back and
forth over my head.  I had been calling intermittently for nearly 25
minutes, when I was done with my paperwork.  Darn, I thought, time to go,
and still no owl.  Not more than a few seconds after thinking this thought,
it happened.  Bellowing through the woods, the most beautiful "WHO COOKS FOR
YOU!"  And then within 30 or 40 seconds of this utterance, two or three more
owls chimed in with their own vocalizations.  And then a minute later,
silence.  I couldn't get them to say anything again.  Just like old times.
These were the most unsociable owls I've ever met.  So, for anyone wishing
to converse with Barred Owls, stay away from Wicomico Co.!  Come on up to my
neck of the woods along the Patapsco River, where you can talk to these
birds for 30 minutes at a time.

So with Barred Owl closed out for the year, everything else today was
anticlimatic.  I spent some time at Blackwater NWR in Dorchester Co. where a
BROWN CREEPER along the Marsh Edge Trail was nice, and a pocket of activity
along the Wildlife Loop just prior to the first exit produced my first of
the year WILSON'S WARBLER along with a fine MAGNOLIA WARBLER and other more
common birds.  I got a call from Jim Brighton about the Curlew Sandpiper at
W. Ocean City Pond, but it was just too late in the day for me to add
another 150 miles to my travels, so I had to let this one go.

As miserable as Saturday was, the rain is now almost forgotten, and it was,
in retrospect, a pretty fun weekend.  Good birding to all out there in
Osprey Land; Elaine and I are hoping to see some of you on the forthcoming
pelagic.

Stan Arnold
Glen Burnie