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Subject:

Oak Grove 7/23 - SORA, Glossy Ibis, Kentucky Warbler

From:

"Lovelace Glen (DelDOT)"

Reply-To:

Lovelace Glen (DelDOT)

Date:

Mon, 24 Jul 2006 10:41:24 -0400

Hello everyone,
	I had an incredible day yesterday (Sunday, July 23) at my usual haunts at Oak Grove, between Seaford, DE and Federalsburg, MD.  Prior to this year my highest July day total was 50 species.  I had bettered that with 55 on 7/9 and again with 62 species yesterday.  I began the day on my farm with many of the usual suspects.  I then slogged through the mud that used to be a cornfield on the farm adjacent to mine to get to a good puddle out in the middle.  The puddle held 38 Least Sand, 1 Solitary and 2 Spotteds.  While I was positioned here, a flock of 8 Glossy Ibis flew over.  I shouted with excitement.  Glossy Ibis has been a particular nemesis bird to my homelist.  As many of you know, my homelist is a one mile circle around my house.  I have had ibis at least a half dozen times within an additional mile of the circle, but never inside in 12 or so years.  So that made my day right there.  Didn't care that it started raining then, I was a ways away from the car or that I had left the window down.
	I worked my way around to the railroad and followed it back down to my property and added many of the usual species from the adjacent cutoff woods (Chat, Field Sparrow, Towhee, but missed the Prairie Warbler as it may have already left).  At the back corner of my farm, I hear a soft chip/chuck note coming from the underbrush at the corner of the woods.  Offhand I did not recognize it, so I pished very softly to see if it would come out.  It responded immediately and revealed itself as a Kentucky Warbler - another new bird for the homelist.  Kentucky Warbler becomes much more common just a few miles north and west of my location.  It can be found along the east side of the Marshyhope and is fairly common on most all tributaries on the west side, but it is very uncommon and local along the Nanticoke in DE.  Like the Yellow-throated Warbler I had in the spring, it was one of those birds to be found within a few miles, but I never expected to find at home.  Since it is just past safe dates, this would seem to be the first migrant warbler.
	Moving on to Oak Grove Rd, the large field on the corner of North Oak Grove Rd has recently been cultivated.  It had been in winter wheat, but the harvest got delayed by the big rain.  It had finally dried out such that it could be harvested, disked and planted in soybeans.  So with the bare field and good rain overnight, I thought it worthwhile to scan the entire field with shorebirds and especially plover in mind.  It had 70 Killdeer, 125 Laughing Gull and 2 Herring Gull (1st July record) and a Kestrel.  And then a SORA calls from the puddle overgrown with grass (opposite the abandoned yellow house).  I was absolutely dumbfounded.  I went home and got the tape and batteries and returned.  At least 2 and maybe 3 Sora responded.  This made the 3rd new bird of the day.  From the N. Oak Grove Rd side, I later found a Semipalm Plover (1st July record), a Pectoral Sand (new for the year and 2nd July record), 4 Great Egret and 2 Cooper's Hawks.
	The biggest misses for the day were Red-bellied WP, House Finch (uncommon in summer), Grackle (really tough locally mid-July through September) and Wood Duck (seen recently at my pond).
	This month has been very interesting since the big rain on 6/25.  The puddles have brought it birds not normally seen this time of year to make 7 new July records (Solitary and Spotted Sand in addition to those noted above) and 2nd July records of Least and Pectoral Sand and Kingfisher.  The year list has recovered from the dry spring to stand at 124 species (125 this time last year).  And the 3 new species in one day....The last time that happened was in 1996 when I was still discovering more common species in my local area.

Good Birding,
Glen Lovelace III
Seaford, DE