My husband and I were 2 of the over 50 in Terry and Norm's caravan at
Blackwater yesterday morning. Thanks to both of them for a morning very
well spent. We were near the back of the caravan for the first hour so I
missed some of the birds Norm and Terry found; too bad, since a couple would
have been new birds for me. But after a time, most of the crowd went off on
their own, and we ended up with a manageable few cars and 10-15 people
gathered at the masters' feet -- or scopes, as it were. So I still ended up
with 3 new birds on the day.
I thought I'd add to Norm's list of birds seen during the day at Blackwater,
with the caveat that we made a second loop after lunch. Some of these were
on that round. I'm sorry, tho, that I don't have counts for all seen.
Am Black Ducks 4
Ring Neck Ducks
Comorant (I'm pretty sure it was a double crested) 1
Ospreys 3
Female No. Harrier 1 (the Harrier yesterday was a Male)
Am White Pelicans 5: a note about the Pelicans. They're sneaky! On our
second loop, I saw 5 birds coming in over the tundra swans, but noticed their
black wing tips. So stayed with them until they were clearly in sight; we were
thrilled! Watched them land and sit for a few minutes some ways off from the
swans, then pick up again and cruise over to land in the middle of a large
group of swans. They all but disappeared in the crowd. If you didn't know
they were there, you would have to look at every bird of over 100 to find
them and they were at scope distance, not distinguishable with just binocs.
We went back to the refuge this morning before driving back to DC and found
a great white egret on a little pond.
Also of note yesterday was a delmarva fox squirrel just off the side of the
road.
In addition, we took Norm's suggestion and went to the end of Oakley in
Cambridge looking for redheads both yesterday afternoon late and this
morning. Yesterday, many, many canvasbacks, a fair number of ring-necks
and maybe a dozen wigeons. Today: one male redhead! Thanks, Norm!
Lastly, both Friday late afternoon and yesterday afternoon, we saw a dozen
or more adult and imm. surf scoters on the Choptank around the pilings of the
Rt 50 bridge. I thought I saw a white-winged scoter, but wouldn't count it
since I couldn't get a good fix on it before it dove out of sight. |