Sorry for the late posting but our ISP was down yesterday.

The Southern Maryland Audubon Society has an annual birdathon the first
weekend of May. There are three teams, one each for Calvert, Charles and
St. Mary's counties. Jane Kostenko and I were the Calvert team this year
going up against George Jett and Gwen Brewer in Charles and Patty Craig
and Kyle Rambo in St. Mary's. If you want to pledge toward the
fundraiser, let me know!

Anyway, shorebirding in Calvert county is iffy and you have to go to
many locations to try and find the few shorebirds that do touch down
there. We were extremely fortunate to find a nice breeding plumage male
PIPING PLOVER at the point at Flag Ponds Park just north of the nuke
plant. The Yellow Book shows a small black square which means at least
one record for the county. In conversation with Arlene Ripley, who
couldn't participate as she is in California dealing with the death of
her mother, she said that Marty Cribb had found one at the same location
about 4 or 5 years ago.

With the rain today, it's possible the bird is still there. I hope some
other folks have a chance to see this bird. We made some phone calls
yesterday but everyone we called was either busy or we got a voice mail.
Sigh.

Tyler Bell

California, MD