Hi All,

Sunday was a very pleasant day to go in search of waterfowl and other birds in Kent County. We had a sunny Indian Summer day with lots of wispy mare's tail clouds and just a touch of haze at the horizon. Nancy, Ian and I met Peter Mann, Jim Dennis, and Harry Lotis at the Dollar General store in downtown Chestertown at 9:00 AM, took in the view of the vultures at the end of Spring Street looking like black fruit in the trees and went of in search of ducks, geese and swans. We had a fine outing good for 73 bird species including 21 waterfowl. 

Our first stop was at the overlook on the Chestertown treatment plant on John Hanson Road. We appeared to be late for viewing geese at the plant as few were in evidence, the usual large flock being dispersed to feeding areas. Nonetheless there were over 300 Ruddy Ducks peppering the water, a few Ring-necked Ducks and Lesser Scaup, over 50 Northern Shovelers, four AMERICAN COOTS, 2 Gadwall, 2 BONAPARTE'S GULLS, eight Killdeer, over 30 AMERICAN PIPITS flying over, and a young Sharp-shinned Hawk passing by.

We moved on to check the scenic landings on Quaker Neck. A lot of birds were quite distant making for challenging identifications. An exception was provided by two Common Loons close at hand at Quaker Neck Landing. Otherwise we had to "pull in" 30 Common Goldeneye and a single Horned Grebe at Cliff City Landing, and the light was against us for viewing distant scaup on the Chester. We made a short stop to add some "dickie birds" at the intersection of Brice's Mill and Langford roads adding PURPLE FINCH, Brown Thrasher, Gray Catbird, several woodpeckers including Hairy, and an unexpected BELTED KINGFISHER flying overhead. Around Langford we added Northern Harrier, American Kestrel, a picturesque treetop adult Bald Eagle, Wood Duck, Green-winged Teal, EASTERN MEADOWLARK, and a distant, not entirely satisfying, CACKLING GOOSE to our list on Langford and Pentridge Roads.

At Chesapeake Farms the viewing pond was wall-to-wall Canada Geese, Northern Pintail (at least 500), and Northern Shovlers (70). In addition we added the reliable WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS in the hedges at the south corner of the pond.   

We wrapped up the trip at Eastern Neck NWR where there was an impressive low tide concentration of waterfowl, gulls and terns. Our best viewing was from the Tubby Cove viewing platform overlooking Calfpasture and Tubby coves. We were treated to a flock of 50 REDHEAD, American Wigeon, more COOTS, Greater Scaup, Gadwall, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, 500 Tundra Swans (mostly distant at the mouth of Eastern Neck Narrows), an unforseen 2 SNOW GEESE (uncommon at E. Neck) among the Canada Geese, 5 Horned Grebes, a late Laughing Gull, 2 more Bonaparte's Gulls, 41 Forster's Terns, and a late OSPREY. A full list of the bird species we found is appended below.

Snow Goose; Canada Goose; Cackling Goose; Mute Swan; Tundra Swan; Wood Duck; Gadwall; American Wigeon; American Black Duck; Mallard; Northern Shoveler; Northern Pintail; Green-winged Teal; Redhead; Ring-necked Duck; Greater Scaup; Lesser Scaup; Bufflehead; Common Goldeneye; Red-breasted Merganser; Ruddy Duck; Common Loon; Horned Grebe; Double-crested Cormorant; Great Blue Heron; Black Vulture; Turkey Vulture; Osprey; Bald Eagle; Northern Harrier; Sharp-shinned Hawk; Cooper's Hawk; Red-tailed Hawk; American Kestrel; Killdeer; Laughing Gull; Bonaparte's Gull; Ring-billed Gull; Herring Gull; Great Black-backed Gull; Forster's Tern; Rock Pigeon; Mourning Dove; Belted Kingfisher; Red-bellied Woodpecker; Downy Woodpecker; Hairy Woodpecker; Northern (Yellow-shafted) Flicker; Blue Jay; American Crow; Horned Lark; Carolina Chickadee; Carolina Wren; Eastern Bluebird; American Robin; Gray Catbird; Northern Mockingbird; Brown Thrasher; European Starling; American Pipit; Cedar Waxwing; Eastern Towhee; Song Sparrow; Swamp Sparrow; White-throated Sparrow; White-crowned Sparrow; Dark-eyed (Slate-colored) Junco; Northern Cardinal; Red-winged Blackbird; Eastern Meadowlark; Common Grackle; Purple Finch; House Sparrow.

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"