Hi Folks,

Following a couple of false starts to take care of family matters out of
state, Elaine and I finally got our opportunity to head back to Talbot Co.
for some atlasing, and had what I would consider our most productive weekend
of atlasing in our five years on the project.

Our birding highlights for the weekend were CANVASBACK, CATTLE EGRET, ROYAL
TERN, RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, and BOBWHITE in many locations.  There weren't
really any atlasing highlights, other than a lot of data collected and a
preponderance of Pileated Woodpeckers showing up where they had not been
recorded previously on either the 1980s atlas or the current atlas.

Block by block, the atlasing results were as follows:

ST. MICHAEL'S SE, where we began early on Saturday morning, 8 July.  This
block was already in great shape, and we wouldn't have even stopped here,
except for the fact that we found our first ever Talbot Co. RED-HEADED
WOODPECKERs here in late May along Miles River Rd., and wanted to see if
they were still around.  We walked different sections of the road for over
half an hour this trip before our objective appeared, just one adult this
time, but all we needed to T-code the species.  There was no indication of
nesting, though we spent a lot of time looking.  We were also able to
confirm Great-Crested Flycatcher (FL) and White-breasted Nuthatch (FL; I
know of no place in Talbot Co. where these nuthatches are more numerous),
and also added House Finch and Killdeer (fide Ed Heikes) to our confirms.
Another significant note:  We watched LEAST TERNs making multiple sorties
carrying food from Solitude Creek to what appeared to be the shore of Oak
Creek.  Ed Heikes told us that Oak Creek has a sandy shore on his property
there, and we watched a small swarm of 6 or 8 terns where the food was being
taken.  This could be a new nesting location for this species.  This block
now has 80 species (plus 3 obs) with 39 or 40 confirms (depending on status
of Least Tern).

ST. MICHAEL'S SW.  This is the block containing the town of St. Michaels.
While we will be hard pressed to attain 70 species in this block (not for
lack of trying) it has a good number of confirms, in part due to the fact
that Jan Reese lives here.  We visited the block on Saturday (8 July) and
again this morning (11 July).  While adding no new species (other than Least
Tern which will likely be O-coded), we added confirmations of Green Heron
(FL), Canada Goose (FL), and House Finch (ON), while Ed Heikes gave us
confirmations of Wild Turkey and N. Bobwhite which have brought fledglings
to his property in this block.  Ed, by the way, is a former youth member of
the Talbot Co. Bird Club (from many years ago).  This block currently has 68
species (plus 7 obs) and 39 confirms.  While visiting this block we found N.
BOBWHITEs in four different locations:  Solitude Rd., Mt. Pleasant Rd.,
Church Neck Rd., and Ray's Point Rd. where we heard one up in a tree, and
flushed it as we approached to investigate.

PRESTON CW.  This is not one of our assigned blocks, but it and Preston SW
were two of the most sparsely covered blocks in Talbot Co., and we thought
we would get some work done while in the area.  Both of these blocks are
located in the southeastern part of the county, along the west bank of the
Choptank River.  We arrived in this block very early on Sunday, 9 July, and
spent about two hours here.  The block had had 55 species with 18 confirms,
and to this we were able to add the following species:  Turkey Vulture (X),
Yellow-billed Cuckoo (T), Acadian Flycatcher (T), American Crow (X), E.
Bluebird (FL), Ovenbird (X), YB Chat (X), Summer Tanager (FL), and BH
Cowbird (FL).  Additional confirms included GC Flycatcher (FL), Carolina
Wren (FL), Indigo Bunting (FL) and House Finch (FL).  In this block we had
BOBWHITEs singing along Windy Hill Rd.  We left the block with 64 species
and 25 confirms, or so we thought.  We just learned today that Lynn Davidson
and Hal Wierenga had done some atlas work in the Dorchester Co. part of
these two Preston blocks on Saturday, so the blocks are probably in better
shape than we thought.

PRESTON SW.   With only 52 species and 9 confirms in this block, it needed
some serious attention.  We couldn't have been there at a better time,
because in a little over three hours on Sunday morning we were able to add
14 species and 14 confirms to the tally.  Species added were Turkey Vulture
(X), Red-tailed Hawk (FL), Barred Owl (P), RT Hummingbird (P), Hairy
Woodpecker (FL), RE Vireo (X), Am. Crow (T), Titmouse (FL), WB Nuthatch (T),
Cedar Waxwing (X), YB Chat (T), Summer Tanager (X), E. Towhee (X) and Field
Sparrow (T).  Additional confirms included YB Cuckoo (FY), RB Woodpecker
(FY), Downy Woodpecker (FL), Flicker (FL), Pewee (FL), Great-crested
Flycatcher (FY), Purple Martin (FL), C. Wren (FL), Indigo Bunting (FY), and
Cowbird (FL).  We returned to the block again Monday evening, hoping
(unsuccessfully) to find rails, and added another two confirms to the block:
Tree Swallow (FL) and Mourning Dove (FL).  Not taking into consideration
what Hal and Lynn may have added on the Dorchester Co. side, we know the
block has at least 66 species with 25 confirms, within arms reach of
completion.

OXFORD SE.  After spending much of Sunday morning in the Preston quadrangle,
we reached the west side of Talbot Co. around 11 a.m.--not a good time to
begin birding/atlasing on a summer morning.  Steve Ford had tallied 65
species with 12 confirms in this block in 2005, and after driving all the
public roads in the block, I was amazed at what he had accomplished in just
a few visits.  This is one of those many Talbot Co. blocks that is mostly
water, and what isn't water is private land.  There are only a few miles of
public road here, and scarce few places to pull off due to drainage ditches
(now full of water and mosquitoes following the monsoon earlier in the
month) along both sides.  Elaine and I stayed for about an hour, pulling off
the road where we could, and then returned again Monday evening for another
hour.  Our gains were modest, but we were able to add one new bird--Pileated
Woodpecker (X), and five more confirms:  RB Woodpecker (FY), E. Kingbird
(FL), Blue Jay (FL), Titmouse (FL), and Ovenbird (DD).

CLAIBORNE NE.  This block is less than 10 percent land, and the only public
part of the block consists of the quaint little village of Claiborne.  I
really didn't think we would reach 50 species in this block, but thanks to
significant help from Les Roslund, along with some very helpful residents,
our tally is currently over 60 species.  Of birding interest, there were
quite a few terns perched atop the pilings at the town pier, including two
ROYAL TERNs, several Leasts, and many Commons.  While we were scoping the
terns, we were surprised to see an adult male CANVASBACK swimming along the
jetty.  The species we added were compliments of local residents:  Wade
Absher showed us his hummingbird feeders where he has had daily visitors,
and Nancy Clark told us of a Pileated Woodpecker that visited her yard on
both 5 & 6 July, and of a Kingfisher the previous week (she shared some of
her meticulous notes with us, some dating back to the 1980s).  New confirms
for the block were Mo. Dove (FL), Chimney Swift (NY--per a resident whose
name we did not get), Downy Woodpecker (FL), House Wren (ON--the female
popped out of the box briefly, then went back in, while the male sang
outside frequently; she is probably on eggs) and WB Nuthatch (FL--several
fledglings in a tree).  My count shows that the block now has 61 species
with 26 confirms.

CLAIBORNE SE.  Though this block only has a bit over 60 species, it is
pretty much finished.  Other than Pewee and Orioles (which just couldn't be
found), there isn't much missing.  A birder lives in the block, and this has
helped us a lot with the confirms.  We were able to add Cooper's Hawk (X)
and Red-eyed Vireo (T) to the species list, and confirm Killdeer (FL--fide
B. Minetti) and House Finch (FL).  The block now has 63 species and 33
confirms.  This block is probably the best place to find CATTLE EGRET in the
county.  They hang out with the cows in a pasture along Hwy 579 just south
of Bozman, and were there every time we passed this weekend.  We counted 12
on one occasion.

CLAIBORNE SW.  This is the block with Poplar Island, and while it had all
the great species and confirms from Jan Reese's visits to the island, it was
dismally lacking in coverage for the woodland and field birds.  We were able
to greatly alleviate this situation during this trip. We visited on Saturday
evening, and again for an extended time on Monday morning, and were able to
collect a lot of data by walking around the little town of Sherwood, where
we talked to several residents.  We also visited a private bay-front estate
facing Poplar Island, complete with woods and wetlands--a birder's paradise
(and it's FOR SALE! for someone who is independently wealthy; it sure made
my mouth water).  In the course of our meanderings, we were able to add the
following species to the block tally:  Cooper's Hawk (X), Wild Turkey (X),
Red-tailed Hawk (P), YB Cuckoo (T), Great Horned Owl (T), Chuck-will's Widow
(T), RT Hummingbird (T), Kingfisher (X), Pewee (T), Field Sparrow (T), Song
Sparrow (T), and House Sparrow (ON).  We were able to confirm the following:
RB Woodpecker (FL), Downy Woodpecker (FL), N. Flicker (FL), Titmouse (FL),
Brown-headed Nuthatch (FL), C. Wren (FL), Mockingbird (FY), Chipping Sparrow
(FL), N. Cardinal (ON), E. Meadowlark (FY), and House Finch (FL).  The block
now has about 81 species and 44 confirms.  This could be the showcase block
of Talbot Co. if it had a resident birder who could take advantage of the
"safe-date game" (being there as safe dates begin or end), and who could
gain access to private property.  While this block has the best numbers of
any of our Talbot Co. blocks, it also has the worst misses, such as
Bobwhite, Red-eyed Vireo, House Wren, Marsh Wren and Orchard Oriole--all
birds that I am sure are nesting there somewhere.

All in all, a very satisfying outing.  Hopefully our next venture will be
off to Garrett Co.

Stan Arnold
Glen Burnie