About a year ago, when returning to the OC inlet after dinner to
retrieve one of our cars, Debbie Terry and I witnessed the
glowing gulls - it was quite ethereal.  It was quite cold but
calm weather.  The water in the inlet was nearly invisible.

Bill Ellis
Eldersburg
billellis
at ellislist dot com

-----Original Message-----
From: Maryland Birds & Birding
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Marcia Watson
Sent: Wednesday, March 01, 2006 7:57 PM
To: 
Subject: [MDOSPREY] Worcester County weekend birds


Gene Scarpulla and I spent a long weekend birding in Ocean City
and
nearby parts of Worcester County.  Gene already reported the
Razorbill
that we saw on Sunday 2/26.  Below is our complete list and I
have to
admit that we did not spend as much time outdoors as we would
have liked
because the bitter cold and wind were too much for me.  I'm not
as tough
as I used to be.

Notable by their absence everywhere were Bonaparte's Gulls.

Also notable was a magical spectacle that we witnessed on Monday
evening
2/27 at about 7:45 p.m.  We drove to the Inlet, hoping to eat
dinner at
Harrison's, but they were closed.  But, there was an amazing
sight at
the Inlet.  Hundreds of Ring-billed Gulls were in the air above
the
water and resting on the water itself.  The lights from land
reflected
off of each gull so that it looked like it was glowing from
within.  The
glowing gulls were a strong contrast to the darkness of the water
and
the sky above the water.  The water in the Inlet was barely
moving -
dead calm and almost slack tide.   There was a very slow movement
of the
tide coming in but there were no white caps - unusually calm,
especially
after the fierce winds we had had.  There was a systematic
movement of
the gulls - they would slowly ride the tide into the Inlet, like
a
conveyer belt, and then when they got to the inland end, they
would
slowly rise from the water and fly up the Inlet and either land
on the
water at the rip line and ride the current back in, or some few
would
fly into the pitch black sky of the open sea.  Also, a few gulls
were
constantly coming in from the sea, beyond where the lights from
land
reached.  It was a surreal spectacle - the glowing gulls, the
black
water and black sky, and above all the utter quiet - no surf
sound.
Gene and I have never before heard this spectacle mentioned on
Osprey
and we wonder if anyone else has seen it or tried to photograph
it???

(Restaurant note:  We could not find any place open in Old Town
for
dinner on Monday.  We ended up at Reflections, the restaurant in
the
Holiday Inn at 64th Street. Excellent classic cuisine but very
pricey.
We also highly recommend Olive Tree on Philadelphia Ave at 126th,
behind
the Holiday Inn Express.  Excellent traditional Italian food,
reasonable
prices, friendly staff, open only Thurs through Sunday in the
off-season.   We were there on Sunday.)

Back to the birds.

Saturday 2/25, Ocean City beach at 33rd St.
- Northern Gannet - 50+ observed in just a few minutes time
- Black Scoter - several flights of 2 to 12 birds
Also, Common Loon, Red-throated Loon, Ring-Billed Gull, Herring
Gull

Saturday 2/25, Ocean City Inlet,  4th Street Flats, Convention
Center,
Old Bridge Rd
- Common Loon
- Red-throated Loon
- Brant
- Mallard
American Black Duck
- Common Merganser
- Red-breasted Merganser
- Bufflehead
- Surf Scoter (four separate flocks with 12 to 100 birds each,
plus many
more fly by)
- Black Scoter (6 mixed in with Surfs)
- White-winged Scoter (3 mixed in with Surfs at the end of the
south
jetty)
- Common Eider (one adult male, one female mixed in with Surfs at
the
end of the north jetty)
- Long-tailed Duck  (24 or more, with Surf Scoters)
- Ring-billed Gull
- Herring Gull
- Great Black-backed Gull
- Purple Sandpiper
- Ruddy Turnstone
- Rock Dove
- American Pipit (1 flyover at Old Bridge Rd)
- Carolina Wren
- Savannah Sparrow
- House Finch
- Also, at the inlet South jetty, three Harbor Seals, including
one
tangled in netting, which Gwen Brewer and George Jett reported to
the
Coast Guard and Marine Mammal Stranding Network.  Gwen said the
Stranding folks will keep an eye on the seal and attempt to free
it if
they can.

Sunday, 2/26, Ocean City Beach at 33rd
- Razorbill as noted above
- other birds same as Saturday

Also on Sunday, we visited Indian River Inlet, Silver Lake, and
Gordon's
Pond in Delaware.  Nothing unexpected but the number of Surf
Scoters at
the Inlet was remarkable and they were in close, giving very good
looks
despite exceptionally rough seas.  Also there were Sanderlings
and
Purple Sandpipers on the rocks of the south jetty.  At last two
Great
Cormorants in the area.

Monday, 2/27, E A Vaughn Central Tract plus roads en route from
Ocean
City
- Wild Turkey (two flocks of about 20 birds each, along Rt 113
north of
Rt 12)
- Tundra Swan
- Canada Goose
- Snow Goose (flyovers)
- American Black Duck
- Mallard
- Northern Shoveler
- Green-winged Teal
- Gadwall
- Hooded Merganser
- Turkey Vulture
- Northern Harrier
- Golden Eagle
- Bald Eagle
- Greater Yellowlegs
- Herring Gull
- Ring-billed Gull
- Mourning Dove
- Downy Woodpecker
- Red-bellied Woodpecker
- Northern Flicker
- Carolina Wren
- Belted Kingfisher
- Eastern Phoebe (1, in hedgerow bordering the water)
- Carolina Chickadee
- White-breasted Nuthatch
- Cedar Waxwing
- American Robin
- Yellow-rumped Warbler
- Northern Cardinal
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Song Sparrow
- Swamp Sparrow
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Common Grackle (purple race)

Also on Monday, 2/27, at the Ocean City beach at 33rd, the same
birds as
previously, plus dolphins (species unknown) just out beyond the
surf
line.  We saw the dolphins again the morning of Tuesday 2/28,
just
before we left for home, plus also there was a Horned Grebe as
well as
the same birds as the other mornings.

Marcia

Marcia Watson
Cecil County, MD