Hi All,

Not much time for concerted birding this weekend, but addicts need their fix each day. I took a gander at Great Oak Pond on Saturday (8 Apr) afternoon. There are quite a few waterfowl hanging-on ever later there. The latest were a single Snow Goose (injured), a male Ring-necked Duck, a drake Canvasback, and a hen REDHEAD who kept pretty close to the Can. The Redhead exhibited an unusual looking (for me at least) plumage - she had a very dark crown and nape, contrasted with a very pale face. This made her look a bit like a Black Scoter, or more exotically, a hen Red-crested Pochard, the bill pattern was obviously that of a Redhead and the head shape and bill proportions also fit Redhead. She certainly did not have the "soft brown crown" referenced in the Sibley guide. I assume she was a one-year-old rather than the adults illustrated by Sibley and others.

We did some shopping in Chestertown yesterday (9 Apr) and took in the ponds off John Hanson Road when we headed homeward. The pond seemed quiet at first but it had its repayments. There were still lots of Ruddy Ducks and Lesser Scaup there, 20+ Bonaparte's Gulls on the back pond (thus hard to see and count), 14 Northern Shovelers, and another hen REDHEAD. The Redhead was much more typical in comparison to field guide illustrations than the Great Oak hen. She had the prerequisite "soft brown crown" and nape, a less contrasting face with a pale buff eye-ring, and, of course, the same bill pattern as the Great Oak bird. We also saw at least 6 Purple Martins, and a rough-winged swallow at John Hanson Road.

In addition to the above we had our first Blue-gray Gnatcatchers of the spring in our yard and on Fish Hatchery Rd near the Hatchery Pond on Sunday, both males. Today we had a female gnatcatcher in the yard. We also are still hosting several (four to eight, they're hard to count) Purple Finches at our feeders including a number of males in full song when they're not chowing down on sunflower seeds.

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"