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Subject:

Poplar Island, Friday 1/26; etc.

From:

Stan Arnold

Reply-To:

Stan Arnold

Date:

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 19:01:15 -0500

Hi Folks,

Elaine and I joined the Anne Arundel Bird Club on a visit to Poplar Island
(Talbot Co.) yesterday, and what a great place to be birding on such a
horribly blustery day (windchill was 1 above zero at BWI at dawn).  Nothing
like birding from the comfort of a heated bus!  Only our toes got cold as we
made frequent departures from the bus to set up scopes and scan the choppy
bay and island shoreline.  Many thanks to Tom Bradford for organizing the
trip (and to Chrissy _____, who led the tour).  We tallied 30 species for
the outing, mostly waterfowl and some shorebirds.  Following is the list,
with some crude numbers:

Mute Swan--5
Tundra Swan--30
Am. Black Duck--200+
Mallard--200+
N. Shoveler--40
N. Pintail--100+
Lesser Scaup--2 (probably many more)
Greater Scaup--15
scaup, sp.--30
Surf Scoter--50
White-winged Scoter--75+ (this was the largest number that most of us had
ever seen at one time)
Black Scoter--pair (plus one or two others reported)
Long-tailed Duck--15
Bufflehead--75
Common Goldeneye--10
Red-breasted Merganser--10 (actual count)
Ruddy Duck--1
Horned Grebe--10
RED-NECKED GREBE--1 (transitioning into breeding plumage, with distinct cap
and a lot of red on the neck)
Great Blue Heron--15
Bald Eagle--2 (1 adult; 1 imm); also, eagle nest was scoped
Killdeer--7
Sanderling--7
Least Sandpiper--3
WESTERN SANDPIPER--1
Dunlin--30
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Song Sparrow--2
SNOW BUNTING--25

    This morning (1/27), Elaine and I visited Tuckahoe State Park on the
Queen Anne's Co. side.  The lake there (about 30% open) had a bunch of
Canada Geese and four Ring-necked Ducks, but no Moorhen was seen.  We parked
in the lot with the boat ramp next to the lake, and within about three
minutes of getting out of the car we saw BROWN THRASHER, GRAY CATBIRD, and
HERMIT THRUSH, and to complete the set of mimids, a mocker flew in shortly
thereafter.  A RED-SHOULDERED HAWK screamed in the background, and after a
fashion a BARRED OWL responded to my calls.

    Later in the morning, Pickering Creek Sanctuary in Talbot Co. wasn't too
exciting, and the variety of birds was rather pedestrian.  I was able to
call up another BARRED OWL there, and a RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET chattered
noisily, but nothing else worth mentioning.

    I got an email a short while ago (6 p.m.) from Claudia Orr, who lives
near Bozman in Talbot Co., reporting that she heard and saw two or maybe
three WOODCOCKs on her road this evening.  Guess it's about that time of
year!

Stan Arnold
Glen Burnie