Maryland Birders,
For the past four days I have been trying, obviously unsuccessfully, to 
escape the cold weather of Michigan here on the Eastern Shore.  Arrived in 
Dorchester County mid-Wednesday afternoon to find Common Loons, Bufflehead, 
Ruddy Ducks, Lesser Scaup and Surf Scoters on Fishing Creek.  The annual 
Osprey is on her nest and, as anthropomorphic as this may sound, I thought 
about her all night as that cold rain fell. They return to this nest year 
after year and are always very productive.  The expected birds, including 
Pine and Yellow-rumped warblers and Brown-headed Nuthatches are in the 40+ 
acres of pine forest surrounding the cabin.  On Thursday one each Hermit 
Thrush, E. Towhee and Field Sparrow showed up.  This morning a flock of 
Golden-crowned Kinglets accompanied by a Brown Creeper moved through.  No 
other migrants have arrived here yet.

Yesterday (Friday) Paul Noell, Steve Sanford and I went to Wicomico County 
along the Nassawango Creek and found two Black and White Warblers, several 
Yellow-throated Warblers, one Louisiana Waterthrush and one very distant and 
heard only Protonatary Warbler.  No Ovenbirds were seen or heard.  We had our 
best luck along Truitts Landing in Worcester County with a cooperative Am. 
Bittern and [probably] Virginia Rails.  We were hoping for King Rail but the 
wind was so stiff that it was difficult to decipher the rail calls.  Here we 
also had a Savannah (Ipswich) Sparrow.  Everything else was staying low.  
From Truitts Landing we went over to Scotts Landing and had a few other nice 
birds including two Tri-colored Herons and many Snowy Egrets.  The best for 
me were two daytime Woodcocks that were startled up from the road.  I've only 
seen Woodcocks calling and displaying at dusk and had never seen them well in 
daylight.  There was a large flock of Glossy Ibis feeding next to a farm pond 
on the way to Figgs Landing.  On the drive to Truitts Landing, three Cattle 
Egrets were alongside a small pond.

While the purpose of the trip was to see some early warblers and we didn't 
see many of these, we ended up with a 75 species day and found some very nice 
birds.  It's always special to bird in Maryland.  Tomorrow morning I return 
to Michigan's reported ice.

Looking forward to spring,
Cathy Carroll
Dearborn, MI        

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