Hi All,

Nancy and I went down to Eastern Neck NWR for a couple of hours this 
morning and finally laid eyes on the GREAT WHITE HERON that has been 
there since 20 August. The bird was feeding along the edge of the marsh 
at the mouth of Calfpasture Cove near the end of the Tubby Cove 
boardwalk. The bird was present close to low tide at 11:00 AM, along 
with several other true blue Great Blues that were defending their 
fishing turf around the coves and Narrows. The bird appears to be a 
youngster, as it has an extensively dark upper mandible, and no sign of 
any breeding plumes on its head, back and breast. The amount of melanin 
in the bill and legs (straw colored with dark gray leading edge),  lack 
of any stray dark feathering, or reddish color at the bend of the wing 
or on the tarsal feathers suggest it is unlikely the bird is albinistic. 
The bird called once, there was nothing about its call to distinguish it 
from any other Great Blue Heron.

Other birds at Eastern Neck included a BLACK TERN and two Black-throated 
Green Warblers at the Marsh Overlook Trail (behind the Lodge), a 
Traill's (Willow/Alder) Flycatcher in the cornfield on the Lodge 
entrance road, and a Royal Tern and two Great Egrets at the Narrows.

At Great Oak Pd. the Can, Redhead, and Lesser Scaup continue. Also 
present were three Spotted Sandpipers, a juvenile Short-billed 
Dowitcher, 4 Lesser Yellowlegs, and four BLACK TERNS.

Good Birding,

Walter Ellison

23460 Clarissa Rd
Chestertown, MD 21620

phone: 410-778-9568

e-mail: rossgull(AT)baybroadband.net

"Nothing is as easy as you would like it to be, and nothing is as hard 
as you might fear"