ALMOST ON TOPIC.  About 1.5 mi. S. of the MD/VA line at South Point Marsh,
VA (Just S of Smith I., MD) John Weske and crew banded 484 Brown Pelican
chicks on Sat., June 23.  They ran out of time and had to leave c. 200
unbanded.  The thinking is that this colony has diminished some (but is
still huge, obviously) while Holland Island, Dorchester County, MD, only
about 12 mi. to the N., has built up but the laying of eggs at Holland
occurred several weeks later.  John et al. banded 419 near Hatteras
village, NC, on June 26.  Thanks to John and Dave Brinker for this
information.

Now to get back on course with the main event:

Dorchester County, MD, 80th May Bird Count, May 12, 2007, Saturday., final
and complete totals.

Not exactly breaking news but ... it may be a while before these totals are
published along with those of the other counties in "Maryland Birdlife", so
here is a sneak preview along with some analysis (i.e., my opinions):

10 observers, 5 parties.  468 miles by car, 8 miles by foot;  28.5 hours by
car, 30.75 hours by foot;  80 miles owling, 10.5 hours owling.

65-77 degrees F., winds variously calm, NE or ENE 5-10, clear, fair or
mostly cloudy, also varying.  

PARTICIPANTS:  Terry Allen, George Armistead, Harry Armistead (compiler),
Mel Baughman, Diane Cole, John Hubbell, Gordon Jennings, Jared Sparks,
Diane Willey, Levin Willey.

172 species.  A very good species total for here due to the, at least by
Dorchester standards, good coverage plus a modest influx of migrant
passerines and the detection of all of the north Dorchester specialites
(vesper sparrow, Louisiana waterthrush, bank, cliff & northern rough-winged
swallows) plus a few unusual species elsewhere.
 
The most unusual species are in capitals.  

Canada goose 186.  mute swan 17.  [trumpeter swan 1; not counted; of
unknown provenance; heard, photographed, and seen at close range today;
present at Robbins for several years]  wood duck 39.  gadwall 2.  American
black duck 15.  mallard 157.  blue-winged teal 3 (declining here). 
green-winged teal 1.  ruddy duck 36.  

wild turkey 13.  northern bobwhite 21 (in precipitous decline).  common
loon 8.  horned grebe 1.  AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN 5 (2nd count record; the
1st was on May 5).  brown pelican 3.  double-crested cormorant 407.  least
bittern 2.  great blue heron 31 (not many).  great egret 37.  snowy egret
18.  cattle egret 1.  green heron 10.  black-crowned night heron 1.  glossy
ibis 4.  

black vulture 14.  turkey vulture 141.  osprey 83.  bald eagle 36. 
northern harrier 2.  red-shouldered hawk 1.  red-tailed hawk 18.  merlin 1.
 peregrine falcon 1.  black rail 2 (declining).  clapper rail 53 (new high
count; increasing).  king rail 1 (declining).  Virginia rail 51
(declining).  common moorhen 7 (increasing).  American coot 1.  

black-bellied plover 2.  semipalmated plover 32.  killdeer 26.  American
oystercatcher 4.  black-necked stilt 4 (fewer than in recent years). 
greater yellowlegs 31.  lesser yellowlegs 11.  solitary sandpiper 9. 
willet 19 (may be declining, at least on the islands, due to the presence
of peregrine falcon hacking towers).  spotted sandpiper 7.  WHIMBREL 1
(first count record).  ruddy turnstone 1.  sanderling 5.  semipalmated
sandpiper 6.  least sandpiper 168.  dunlin 395.  short-billed dowitcher 6. 
American woodcock 1 (declining).  unID'd peep 1.

laughing gull 3,905 (huge numbers around the hog farm in NE Dorchester, yet
often there are no places in MD where they breed).  Bonaparte's gull 8. 
ring-billed gull 250.  herring gull 45.  LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL (first
count record).  great black-backed gull 12.  Caspian tern 4.  royal tern 9.
 common tern 1.  Forster's tern 99.  least tern 42.  

rock pigeon 10.  mourning dove 91.  yellow-billed cuckoo 14.  barn owl 1. 
eastern screech-owl 3.  great horned owl 8.  barred owl 3. 
chuck-will's-widow 39.  whip-poor-will 5 (declining).  chimney swift 36. 
ruby-throated hummingbird 13.  belted kingfisher 1.  

(the low numbers of most woodpeckers is curious) red-headed woodpecker 13
(new high count by 7; much ideal habitat for them due to the rather massive
dieoff of Loblolly Pines adjacent to the saltmarshes).  red-bellied
woodpecker 13.  downy woodpecker 3.  hairy woodpecker 3.  northern flicker
7.  pileated woodpecker 10.  eastern wood-pewee 22.  Acadian flycatcher 8. 
eastern phoebe 5.  great crested flycatcher 60.  eastern kingbird 48.  

white-eyed vireo 19.  yellow-throated vireo 2.  red-eyed vireo 26.  blue
jay 22.  American crow 63.  fish crow 11.  horned lark 33.  purple martin
184.  tree swallow 134.  northern rough-winged swallow 3.  bank swallow 55.
 cliff swallow 31 (new high count).  barn swallow 300.  

Carolina chickadee 23.  tufted titmouse 21.  white-breasted nuthatch 1. 
brown-headed nuthatch 24.  Carolina wren 34.  house wren 12.  SEDGE WREN 2
(historically not at all unusual but now an entire year can pass without
any county reports).  marsh wren 57.  ruby-crowned kinglet 1.  blue-gray
gnatcatcher 12.  

eastern bluebird 51.  veery 1.  Swainson's thrush 1.  wood thrush 20. 
American robin 233.  gray catbird 37.  northern mockingbird 50.  brown
thrasher 12 (my southern party, covering a daytime route of c. 120 miles,
sometimes misses them, but we did have 2 today).  European starling 230. 
cedar waxwing 23.

northern parula 8.  yellow warbler 10.  chestnut-sided warbler 1.  magnolia
warbler 2.  black-throated blue warbler 2.  yellow-rumped warbler 8. 
black-throated green warbler 3.  yellow-throated warbler 2.  pine warbler
48.  prairie warbler 32 (may be a new high count).  blackpoll warbler 7. 
black-and-white warbler 13.  American redstart 4.  prothonotary warbler 7. 
worm-eating warbler 1.  ovenbird 28.  Louisiana waterthrush 1.  common
yellowthroat 69.  Canada warbler 1.  yellow-breasted chat 14.  (Kentucky
warblers seem to have all but disappeared from the county)

summer tanager 13.  scarlet tanager 6 (always the scarcer tanager here). 
eastern towhee 25.  chipping sparrow 72.  field sparrow 29.  vesper sparrow
2.  Savannah sparrow 3.  grasshopper sparrow 18.  saltmarsh sharp-tailed
sparrow 8.  seaside sparrow 52.  song sparrow 8.  swamp sparrow 6 (uncommon
breeder here).  northern cardinal 58.  rose-breasted grosbeak 1.  blue
grosbeak 30.  indigo bunting 41.     

bobolink 5.  red-winged blackbird 650.  eastern meadowlark 15.  common
grackle 608.  boat-tailed grackle 9.  brown-headed cowbird 76.  orchard
oriole 37.  Baltimore oriole 18 (new high count, probably all migrants, a
scarce Dorchester breeder).  PURPLE FINCH 1 (only the 2nd count record ...
I think).  house finch 20.  American goldfinch 47.  house sparrow 73.      

MISSED:  little blue, tricolored, and yellow-crowned night herons nest
commonly on county islands but are often missing or hard to find on
mainland areas.  Common nighthawk, gone as a breeder here?  White-throated
sparrow retreats into the woods by mid-May and/or else disappears to the
north.  American kestrel is a rare county breeder.  You'd think there would
be a lesser scaup or red-breasted merganser around somewhere.  But there's
only so much 10 people can do in this large county.

As usual many of what I call northern-montane-spruce species were missed,
are hardly ever seen here in May:  hermit thrush, yellow-bellied sapsucker,
Cape May, bay-breasted, Tennessee, Wilson's, Blackburnian & Nashville
warblers, and empidonax other than Acadian.

Best to all.-Henry ("Harry") T. Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia,
PA 19119-1225.  215-248-4120.  Please, any off-list replies to: 
harryarmistead at hotmail dot com  (never, please, to 74077.3176 ....)