Good morning.

Birds are a bit thin last couple days, but I have a few interesting birds to 
report.  Yesterday I had a lone SC Junco at the feeder (first since March 30), 
and there are a couple of nice Yellow Palm Warblers around.  I have seen a 
few grebes, all but one were Pied-billeds.  Yesterday and today I saw a single 
Horned, in full breeding plumage.  Yesterday I saw a nice adult male Harrier 
hunting behind the house, and this morning a group of 3 Common Merg's and 1 
R-breasted Merganser were on the river.  I saw a large tern go up-river, and I 
went over to Mt Calvert to look for it, but it had disappeared.  I think it was a 
Caspian; maybe I'll see it later and get to ID it.  Instead of the tern, I found 
my first Pine Warblers of the year, a nice view of a pair feeding on the ground!

After reading the string on Davisonville wild turkeys, I would add wild turkeys 
are around here (Jug Bay - both sides) - but in general are quite scarce, 
despite ideal habitat.  Although it is still rural, there are enough new homes 
built around here in the last 3-5 years to have made a negative impact on 
quality and quantity of wildlife habitat, but there is still plenty of it suitable for 
turkeys.  Despite some urbanization here, it is still rural enough that folks can 
hunt, and you don't see wildlife being protected as a result of inhabiting 
residential areas that are no longer hunted.  I've been here since 98, and wild 
turkey are definitely not spreading or increasing in number, if anything they 
are decreasing.  And quail are nearly extinct here now, just in the last 4-6 
years.  In the mid-late 90s there seemed to be more sightings of both, and 
they seemed more wide-spread.  We had 2 0or 3 (hard to tell) covey of quail 
right around our house (seen often, in the yard) when we moved here, but 
they are all gone now.  Certain areas got populated with turkeys well enough 
to attract attention, and then hunters and locals started harvesting them.  
This includes in teh park, where there is no hunting allowed.  Whereas 7-10 
years ago they were widespread and sometimes seen in large flocks (30-50), 
now they are only found occasionally in southern PG and AA Counties.  
Turkeys tend to find an area of the right mix for food, shelter and water, and 
they become habituated.  This predictability is their downfall - once it 
happens, hunters CAN and DO have an impact on their population.  Around 
here, hunting demand currently exceeds supply, and they are declining.

Regards-
Jeff Shenot
Croom MD