It has been a much better day today here in Worcester County than last Saturday’s Noah’s Ark deluge.  In our backyard and environs this morning we had a much more typical mix of late migrants and over-wintering arrivals this morning:
 
Great Blue Heron, 1
Cattle Egret, 3
Black Vulture, 1
Turkey Vulture, 3
Canada Goose, 36
Mallard, 27
Merlin, 1
Killdeer, 3
Spotted Sandpiper, 1
Ring-billed Gull, 7
Herring Gull, 11
Mourning Dove, 6
Ruby-throated Hummingbird, 1
Belted Kingfisher, 1
Northern Flicker, 2
Eastern Phoebe, 1
Blue Jay, 3
Tree Swallow, 50
Carolina Chickadee, 3
Brown-headed Nuthatch, 2
Carolina Wren, 3
American Robin, 7
Gray Catbird, 2
Northern Mockingbird, 1
Brown Thrasher, 1
Northern Parula, 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler, 18
Pine Warbler, 1
Ovenbird, 1
Eastern Towhee, 2
Song Sparrow, 1
Northern Cardinal, 5
Red-winged Blackbird, 13
House Finch, 5
American Goldfinch, 4
 
Heading for the inlet we were once again frustrated—this weekend the parking lot is closed for a Corvette Owner’s Club Rally.  Seems odd to me, a parking lot full of identical automobiles that differ only in their color.  I suppose they admire each other’s paint jobs.  We did verify the PEREGRINE FALCON on the water tower though.
 
At Ocean City West Pond we stayed only about 15-20 minutes.  During that time we didn’t relocate the Curlew Sandpiper, but those who are in the area should definitely keep trying, since it was seen at least through Thursday.  Here’s what we did see here:
 
Great Blue Heron, 1
Turkey Vulture, 3
Canada Goose, 45
American Black Duck, 11
Mallard, 2
Semipalmated Plover, 27
Greater Yellowlegs, 1
Least Sandpiper, 7
Pectoral Sandpiper, 3
Tree Swallow, 150
Brown-headed Nuthatch, 1
European Starling, 1
 
Moving on to the Tyson Chicken Plant sewage lagoons in Berlin we began to turn up some newly-arrived waterfowl:
 
Double-crested Cormorant, 3
Great Blue Heron, 1
Great Egret, 11
Turkey Vulture, 3
Canada Goose, 37
Gadwall, 4
American Black Duck, 4
Mallard, 35
Blue-winged Teal, 18
Northern Shoveler, 11
Northern Pintail, 4
Green-winged Teal, 13
Bald Eagle, 1
American Coot, 2
Semipalmated Plover, 26
Greater Yellowlegs, 3
Lesser Yellowlegs, 2
Pectoral Sandpiper, 6
Laughing Gull, 6
Herring Gull, 7
Great Black-backed Gull, 6
Belted Kingfisher, 1
Blue Jay, 6
Fish Crow, 17
Tree Swallow, 500
Northern Rough-winged Swallow, 3
Northern Mockingbird, 1
Eastern Meadowlark, 1
 
On Assateague Island, where the winds were beginning to blow at near gale level, we found large sections of the bay side of the island completely flooded, a combination of some very high tides and the strong westerly winds pushing even more water into the low-lying backside marshes.  There were lots of warblers on the island (many of them the long-awaited flood of myrtles) but the very strong winds made getting looks at the birds difficult indeed.  Here is what Fran and I managed to identify there this morning:
 
Brown Pelican, 5
Double-crested Cormorant, 650
Great Egret, 7
Snowy Egret, 1
Little Blue Heron, 1
Laughing Gull, 7
Ring-billed Gull, 15
Herring Gull, 15
Great Black-backed Gull, 5
Northern Flicker, 2
American Robin, 18
Brown Thrasher, 1
Black-throated Blue Warbler, 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler, 250
Pine Warbler, 1
Field Sparrow, 7
 
Not a bad morning considering the wind!
 
Norm & Fran Saunders
Colesville & West Ocean City, MD