11th DORCHESTER COUNTY, MD, FALL BIRD COUNT, Sat., September 16, 2006. 
Preliminary results.

132 species.

PARTICIPATION:  

1.  Neck District (W of Cambridge):  Levin Willey & Gordon Jennings.

2.  Extreme S Dorchester:  Diane Cole.

3.  Taylor's Island:  Wayne Bell & Paul Spitzer.

4.  Hooper's Island, Blackwater N.W.R. (BNWR), Hurlock Wastewater Treatment
Plant & Elliott Island Road (EIR):  Harry Armistead, Joe Eades & Bob
Rngler.  See my earlier posting for a summary of what this party found.

5.  Extreme N Dorchester:  Glen Lovelace.  Glen was participating in the
Caroline County count today but when at its boundary with Dorchester he
noticed a field with these birds just across the line in Dorchester and
took a few minutes to count them:  1 BAIRD'S SANDPIPER, 114 Killdeer, 1
Semipalmated Plover, 1 Horned Lark & 5 Bobolinks.

SELECTED SPECIES ANNOTATIONS/counts of interest (# in parenthesis is the #
of parties seeing them; does not include Glen's "party"):

Pied-billed Grebe:  strangely scarce in this county.  Party 4 had singles
in 3 places.

Brown Pelican 16 (2).  Although  almost 1,000 were banded on nearby Holland
Island, Dorchester County, this summer BRPE is usually still scarce close
to the mainland.

REDDISH EGRET 1.  2nd state record (?).  I did not learn of this until
Sept. 22 (I was away September 20 until late the 22nd).  Subject to review.
 I regret my late notice of this and even more that since it is in a major
cul de sac I will not reveal where.  The property owner cannot deal with an
influx of cars.  I have not received a description yet except that the
report is of a dark-phase bird.  If I am vilified for this, so be it.  I
will not subject a remote, sensitive property to even mild pandemonium. 
And I will not chase it myself.  My apologies.

Tricolored Heron 45 (new high; dusk flight at EIR).

Tundra Swan 1.  The somewhat controversial bird at BNWR.

Bald Eagle 85 (party totals of 1, 24, 19 & 41).

Wild Turkey 32.

Clapper Rail 11 (2)

BAIRD'S SANDPIPER 1.  By Glen at the corner of Adams Road & MD 577 about
1.75 miles north of Reliance.  One of the few county records.

Stilt Sandpiper 11 (party 4).

FRANKLIN'S GULL 1 (party 4).  Only other county record is one near BNWR
Dec. 4-5, 1999, seen by Dyke & Odear according to Bob.

Laughing Gull 3,873.  Mostly at the Hog Farm, which is a spectacle.  "Roll
up your windows and hold your nose.  That ain't no rose."

BLACK SKIMMER.  1 at by Diane.  Has bred in the county but is now an
uncommon visitor.

Red-headed Woodpecker 1 by party 3.  Several pairs breed in that area.

unidentified Empidonx 7 (2).  Almost certainly 2 species were involved but
due to the difficulty of this genus we'll call it one.

the titmice complex:  Carolina Chickadee 103 (4), Tufted Titmouse 35 (3) &
Brown-headed Nuthatch (56).  Party 3 did a star turn with these, as they
did last year, and the big majority of all 3 species was theirs.

Marsh Wren 7 (1), party 4.  An abundant breeder but they become reclusive
late in the summer.

European Starling 2,465 (4).  An enigma.  Does anyone really understand the
starling's spatiotemporal ways?  

Pine Warbler 24 (3).  In the face of a lack of a flight there's always Pine
Warbler, old faithful, responds beautifully to spishing and screech-owl
imitations.

Brown-headed Cowbird 540 (2).  Plenty.

COMMON BIRDS THAT ARE OFTEN UNCOMMON IN SEPTEMBER:

Green Heron 2 (2)
Wood Duck 1
Northern Pintail 1
Northern Bobwhite 1 (its slide continues)
Killdeer 11 (2)
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Common Nighthawk 0
Great Crested Flycatcher 3 (1)
Fish Crow 14 (3)
Horned Lark 1 (1)
House Wren 4 (2) 
Prairie Warbler 3 (2)
Ovenbird 0
Common Yellowthroat 14 (4)
Yellow-breasted Chat 0
Eastern Towhee 4 (3)
Field Sparrow 0
Grasshopper Sparrow 0
Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow 0
Song Sparrow 3 (2)
Eastern Meadowlark 4 (2)
Common Grackle 4 (20
Boat-tailed Grackle 0 (declining in this county)
Baltimore Oriole 2 (10
House Finch 14 (3) still scarce in much of the county at any time of year

Number of species for major bird GROUPS:

9 herons (good)
11 waterfowl
9 raptors
12 shorebirds
5 gulls (good; can always get GBBG, HEGU, RBGU & LAGU)
3 terns
3 owls
6 woodpeckers (the basic 6 are always here now but often Hairy or Red- 
headed will be missed)
4 swallows (except for Tree the others are often hard to get)
11 warblers (on a good flight day 6 or 7 more, or more would be expected)
5 sparrows (does not include towhee; except for Chipping Sparrow the   
others can't be taken for granted) 

MISSES (species one might reasonable expect on a day with 4 parties
working):  Glossy Ibis, Solitary Sandpiper, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon,
Black-bellied Plover, Short-billed Dowitcher, Gadwall, Northern
Rough-winged Swallow, any cuckoo, any "spotted thrush".

Best to all.-Henry ("Harry") T. Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia,
PA 19119-1225.  215-248-4120.  Please, any off-list replies to: 
harryarmistead at hotmail dot com  (never, please, to 74077.3176 ....)