Last night's rain and clouds moved out very quickly this morning,
leaving a clear sky and brisk north winds. I was hoping for a good
day and was not disappointed--my very first bird, which flew over the
parking lot shortly after I strapped on my binoculars, was a GOLDEN EAGLE!
I had a brief but excellent view of the white patches on the 
underside of the wing.
The bird was soaring fast and I was not able to see it anymore on the walk in.
This was my first GE at Turkey Point., and our 3rd for the season so far!

The absent buteos have been coming through for the past few days,
and today was no exception. 61 Red-shouldered Hawks and 44 Red-tailed hawks,
along with 43 Sharp-shinned Hawks, made up the bulk of today's 160-bird total.
Not one falcon, although it's possible some slipped by when Bob and I 
were trying to
keep track of the hawk gaggles.

The birds were somewhat uncooperative today, circling back to the north to take
advantage of the strong updraft on the North East side of the cliff. 
We tried to be
careful not to double count or miss birds, but it was hard to keep 
track as they
circled overhead and swooped all over the place.

Also present today at the lighthouse was an Empid that two birders from Harford
County thought was probably a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. I took a 
look myself and
I'm less sure. I watched it as it tried to catch flies on the 
lighthouse--that is, the bird
was on the lighthouse railing but the flies were inside the glass, so 
it had a frustrating
few minutes trying to capture them. It had a noticeably yellow breast 
and abdomen
but the throat did not appear yellow to me. It didn't look white, 
either, though. There was no
gray band separating the throat from the breast. It had faint wing 
bars and the eye ring
was not white, nor was it really yellow. It pumped its tail like a 
Phoebe, which is what
I thought it was at first, until I saw the yellow underneath and the 
greenish look to
the back. Unfortunately, when Bob Strahorn went to look for it, it 
must have figured out
the flies were unreachable and was nowhere in sight.

Also at the point were many Yellow-crowned Kinglets; Yellow-rumped 
and Palm Warblers
(the yellow kind), one of which still had a nice reddish cap; loads 
of Bluebirds and Robins.
Juncos are getting more apparent and Blue Jays less so. 2nd best bird today was
a young Eastern Meadowlark that landed in the meadow. Bob Strahorn 
and I got great looks as
it tried to be unobtrusive with that blazing yellow breast and 
eyebrow stripe. What's with all
these yellow birds?

Also saw a big, beautiful buck as we walked out. Y'all be careful out 
there this hunting season.


--Pat

Pat Valdata, Elkton, MD | 
"The natural function of the wing is to soar upwards
and carry that which is heavy up to the place where dwells the race of gods.
More than any other thing that pertains to the body
it partakes of the nature of the divine." --Plato