I had an excellent morning in Talbot County, picking up 13 county birds and 
numerous year birds.  I started at 5:30 am at Pickering Creek.  The dawn 
chorus included first-of-year birds such as Wood Thrush, Common 
Yellowthroat, and Grasshopper Sparrow.  Within half an hour, I had also heard 
Great Horned Owl, Barred Owl, Chuck-will's-widow, Sora, and a pumping 
American Bittern.  This was the first time I had ever heard a bittern, and it 
performed regularly until I left shortly before 8 am.  New arrivals during my 
walk through the trails included Yellow-billed Cuckoo, White-eyed Vireo, Blue-
winged Warbler, Ovenbird, Yellow Warbler, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and Blue 
Grosbeak.  Swamp Sparrows were everywhere.  The ponds had 6 Blue-winged 
Teal, 4 Green-winged Teal, 1 Lesser Scaup, 1 Northern Shoveler, 4 American 
Coot, and 1 Common Moorhen.

Based on a tip from Jim Brighton, my next stop was the first stream crossing 
south of Rt 404 on Rt 662 (Old Wye Mills Rd according to Delorme), where I 
saw 2 Louisiana Waterthushes, 2 Black-and-white Warblers, and a Blue-head 
Vireo.

Next I headed for the pond at the corner of Coveys Landing Rd and Lewiston 
Rd.  I didn't find plovers of any kind, but the Ruff was again present.  Other 
shorebirds were mostly yellowlegs, but there were a few Pectorals and 
Solitary's and 1 each of Dunlin, Least Sandpiper, and Wilson's Snipe.  In the 
same area, a Merlin was perched by the closest house, and 2 American Pipits 
flew into the fields with the Horned Larks.

Last stop in Talbot was Coveys Landing on Tuckahoe Creek.  New birds here 
were 1 Prothonotary Warbler, 2 Orchard Orioles, 2 Eastern Kingbirds, 2 
Forsters Tern, 2 Northern Parulas, 1 Palm Warbler (yellow), and a Yellow-
throated Vireo.

John Hubbell
Washington DC