Hi Everybody,

'Twas a long. long day, and I hope I can do it justice. Nancy and had 
124 species and 3479 individuals for our party totals.

Nancy and I were out from 3:20 Am to 8:15 PM. Before dawn we went to 
Lover's Lane in Rock Hall and on to Eastern Neck for night birds. Our 
first bird of the day was a Yellow-breasted Chat (first of 6) singing in 
the gloom of Elbon Road here at Chesapeake Landing. On Lover's Lane we 
had 2 CHUCK-WILL'S-WIDOWS and 2 screech-owls. On Eastern Neck proper 
(north of the island) we had another CHUCK and a Great Horned Owl. On 
Eastern Neck Island we had 3 more Great Horned Owls, 12 Marsh Wrens, 2 
VIRGINIA RAILS, and a Bald Eagle creakily greeting the new dawn. As we 
ran out of dark we added birds apace on the island including 
Yellow-throated Warbler, Wild Turkey, Spotted Sandpiper, and a late 
Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

We left the refuge and headed up Eastern Neck, as we went along we added 
Rose-breasted Grosbeak, BOBOLINK, Killdeer, and Caspian Tern. After we 
passed through Rock Hall we turned east toward Millington picking up 8 
Least Terns over Rose's Department Store in Chestertown (as well as some 
coffee at Arby's). At Morgan Creek on Morgnec Rd (MD-291) we had our 
only Yellow-billed Cuckoo of the day, our first of four Yellow-throated 
Vireos, and our only Swamp Sparrow singing in the marsh.

At Millington we added Least Sandpiper, Semipalmated Plover, Green 
Heron, and 3 more Spotted Sandpipers on the ponds north of town on 
MD-313 at Quail Run Nurseries. On Walnut Tree Road we started to get a 
feel for how many migrants were around as we added "Traill's" ( to me it 
looked like a Willow) Flycatcher Northern Waterthrush, Black-throated 
Blue, Black-throated Green, Blackburnian and Black-and-white warblers to 
our list, as well as local nesters such as Pileated Woodpecker (3 
total), Eastern Phoebe, White-breasted Nuthatch, Red-shouldered Hawk 
(first out of a total of 4 for the day), Louisiana Waterthrush, Acadian 
Flycatcher, Kentucky (6 total) and Prothonotary (6 total) warblers.We 
also added one Jim Stasz and one Hans Holbrook to our day's tally as 
they showed us Odonates (including harlequin darner, and attenuated 
bluet) and tipped us off later to the whereabouts of their marbled 
salamander (thank you). We spent a lot of time on No. 10 School Road and 
were rewarded with Chestnut-sided Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, and four 
VEERIES.  On Black Bottom Road we added Barred Owl (finally) and 
Worm-eating Warbler. On Bradford Johnson Road, north of Golts, our 
screech-owl recording brought in a "GRAY-CHEEKED " THRUSH (or was it a 
Bicknell's?).

At the Fox Hole public landing on the Sassafras River we counted 15 
Great Blue Herons in their colony across the river (admittedly in Cecil 
County) and there were two GREAT EGRETS present (the latter might be 
nesting but we had no proof on Saturday). We made a mad dash for Great 
Oak Pond and got there in time to tally two late SNOW GEESE, a lingering 
drake CANVASBACK, 36 Least Sandpipers, 45 (of our 51 total) 
BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS (in a harrowed field with gulls), a Short-billed 
Dowitcher (with the plovers), 38 Bonaparte's Gulls, and 2 WARBLING 
VIREOS. We ended the day at Eastern Neck Island  trying to rectify three 
of our big misses (the large gulls and Forster's Tern) and failing , at 
least there were three Bank Swallows flying around as a consolation prize.

Some notable figures:
Most common species - Common Grackle 405

21 warbler species

Good forest bird totals: 33 Ovenbirds, 34 Wood Thrushes, 22 Scarlet 
Tanagers, 66 Red-eyed Vireos, 3 Pileated Woodpeckers, 11 Acadian 
Flycatchers, and 23 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers (one pair nest building).

Good scrub and edge bird totals: 60 Northern Mockingbirds, 66 Carolina 
Wrens, 34 Orchard Orioles, 7 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, 14 Blue 
Grosbeaks, 72 Indigo Buntings, 26 White-eyed Vireos, 70 Common 
Yellowthroats, and 23 Eastern Towhees.

Fish hawks: 46 Osprey and 8 Bald Eagles (6 adults).

I am still jet-lagged but it was a solid outing. Maybe next year we'll 
find those elusive gulls, Accipiters, and bonus shorebirds.

Good birding,

Walter Ellison & Nancy Martin

23460 Clarissa Rd
Chestertown, MD 21620
410-778-9568

Observing Nature is like unwrapping a big pile of presents every time 
you take a walk.