Hi All,
There was a question about the nature of the Big Sit, so here's a link
to the official Big Sit page from Bird Watcher's Digest:
http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/site/funbirds/bigsit/bigsit.aspx
The Kentish Plovers were on-site from 6:45 AM to 2:45 PM and tallied 64
bird species. Highlights of the day were having the currently resident
GREAT WHITE HERON in sight for a fair portion of the day at the mouth of
Calfpasture Cove; a good hawk flight featuring 55 Sharp-shinned Hawks,
10 BROAD-WINGED HAWKS (all youngsters) and a Merlin; the usual, but
nonetheless spectacular, Bald Eagle show; a brief visit by a
BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCH; a SNOWY EGRET; 7 Pied-billed Grebes in
Calfpasture Cove; a CACKLING GOOSE among the many Canadas; four Royal
and one Common Tern; over 500 Blue Jays with most trying to retreat
northward from the island; and two fly-over HORNED LARKS (scarce on the
refuge). It was a beautiful, if breezy, day enlivened by the near
constant presence of Palm (far more yellow than western) and Pine
warblers, the steady hawk flight in the morning, eagles and Osprey, and
our companions: Peter Mann, Meg Parry, Gail Regester, and Ryan
Scheuermann and friends.
I have appended a list below to entertain other Big Sitters who wish to
make comparisons among site lists.
Canada Goose; Cackling Goose; Mute Swan; American Black Duck; Mallard;
Northern Pintail; Green-winged Teal; Ruddy Duck (6); Pied-billed Grebe
(7); Double-crested Cormorant; Great Blue Heron (including Great White
Heron); Snowy Egret; Black Vulture; Turkey Vulture; Osprey; Bald Eagle
(14 with 7 adults); Northern Harrier (6); Sharp-shinned Hawk (55);
Cooper's Hawk (4); Red-shouldered Hawk (1); Broad-winged Hawk (10);
Red-tailed Hawk (2); American Kestrel (5; we offer to trade one of these
for one of Turkey Pt's Peregrines); Merlin (1); Yellowlegs (sp);
Laughing Gull; Ring-billed Gull; Herring Gull; Great Black-backed Gull;
Caspian Tern; Royal Tern (4); Common Tern (1); Forster's Tern; Belted
Kingfisher; Red-bellied Woodpecker; Hairy Woodpecker; Northern Flicker;
Eastern Phoebe (2); Blue Jay; American Crow; Horned Lark; Tree Swallow;
Northern Rough-winged Swallow; Carolina Chickadee; Brown-headed
Nuthatch; Brown Creeper; Carolina Wren; House Wren; Marsh Wren;
Ruby-crowned Kinglet; Eastern Bluebird; American Robin (just one);
Northern Mockingbird; European Starling; Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler;
Pine Warbler; Palm Warbler (ca. 2 Westerns & 20 Yellow); Blackpoll
Warbler (3); Common Yellowthroat; Song Sparrow; Swamp Sparrow; Dark-eyed
(Slate-colored) Junco; Northern Cardinal; Red-winged Blackbird.
Ah, if only those birds we had when we took bathroom breaks back at the
Tubby Cove parking lot could have been added (e.g. Golden-crowned
Kinglet, catbird; towhee, Winter Wren). Wait till next year (the
familiar cry of Red Sox Nation).
Good Birding (sitting or moving),
Walter Ellison & Nancy Martin
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" |