Hola,
 
On Monday afternoon, 2 April, I spent forty-five minutes or so looking at  
the mudflat at North Beach, just near the Calvert and Anne Arundel County  line. 
 Impressive were the eighty or more Wilson's Snipe feeding in the  open on 
the mudflat.  Other shorebirds included four Least Sandpipers, one  Dunlin, 
eight Greater Yellowlegs, two Lesser Yellowlegs, and maybe twenty  Killdeer.  
 
There was a Snowy Egret, a pair of Wood Ducks, forty Green-winged Teal all  
on or near the flats, and a hen American Wigeon on the bay in the cove to  the 
east.  A very pretty adult Forster's Tern with long tail streamers was  
hunting the shallow water.  A Bald Eagle emerged from the trees in Anne  Arundel, 
sending everything on the flats into the air, and prompted the nesting  Osprey 
nearby to pose a challenge.  
 
An out-of-place bird I had earlier in the day at our house on Holland Point  
was a Meadowlark.  The bird doesn't belong there, and it had really no  
business feeding in the narrow strip of lawn in front of the houses along the  
point, with occasional forays into the trees.  I never did get a good look  at this 
bird to rule out the very-unlikely Western Meadowlark, but it will go on  the 
yard list as an Eastern Meadowlark.  I added Pied-billed Grebe to it  too.  
Harry, I'm coming for you.  
 
Totals below.
 
Green-winged Teal, 40
Wood Ducks, one pair
American Wigeon, one hen on the cove
Wilson's Snipe, 80 or more
Least Sandpipers, at least 4
Dunlin, one getting some black on the belly and a little rust in the  
scapulars
Greater Yellowlegs, at least 8
Lesser Yellowlegs, 2
Killdeer, 20
Jim Stasz, 1 tanned adult
Bonaparte's Gull, 5
Forster's Tern, 4
Snowy Egret, 1
Bald Eagle, 2
Osprey, 2
Cooper's Hawk, 1
Northern Rough-winged Swallow, 1
 
Cheers, 
 
Todd
 
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Todd Michael  Day
Jeffersonton, Virginia
Culpeper County,  USA

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