Today myself and five others participated in the Patuxent  
River State Park "birding the lower patuxent" program.   
Highlights of the day were long-tailed ducks and an unusual  
sighting of three deer (buck and two does) swimming across  
one of the river bays.  List is below with some numbers and  
guesstimates. 
 
February 25, 2006:  Lower Patuxent River-Above and Below  
Patton Road Boat Launch near Benedict MD. 
 
Birding trip on the Lower Patuxent in john boat with Greg  
Kearns + 6 participants.  Cold, windy and choppy on the  
water.  Many birds and an unusual sighting of three deer  
swimming in the river. 
 
Mallard  <100 
Lesser Scaup  100s 
Canvasback  1000s, a couple of really large flocks numbering  
near 1000 
Long-tailed duck  ~10 
Common Goldeneye – Many good views 10s-100s total 
Bufflehead >1000 (many groups up and down the river) 
Ruddy Duck 5000-10,000 (one huge group numbered three to five  
thousand birds, by Greg’s estimate) 
Canada Geese 1000 
Mute Swan  few 
Tundra Swan 50-100 
Common Loon 1 
Double Crested Cormorant 10s 
Herring Gull many 
Ring-billed Gull many 
Great Black-backed Gull many 
Bald Eagle 7 
Northern Harrier 1 
Turkey Vulture several 
Black Vulture several 
Great Blue Heron 1 
Belted Kingfisher 1 
American Coot several 
Northern Shoveler  10