Hi Everyone,

Recent reports from Dan Haas encouraged me to put Anne Arundel County on the menu today.  I also birded in Queen Annes County and added a few more species in Wicomico and Talbot Counties.

WICOMICO

The previous two days had not yielded any Red-breasted Nuthatches, so I decided to start the day in our backyard.  At least two continue to visit our feeders in Salisbury and were there again this morning.  Another "missing" species for the week, Brown Creeper, visits our backyard daily while I'm out birding.  Carol keeps tabs on it after she gets home from work and seems to enjoy asking me whether I've seen any yet.  Not yet...

On the way out of town at the Salisbury Landfill, I was greeted by 200 Laughing Gulls standing together.  (See FUN and GAMES below for a few thoughts about this).

ANNE ARUNDEL

My first stop was Weems Creek in Annapolis.  I tried both vantage points that Dan described in his recent post, but was unable to relocate the Red-necked Grebe.  Then it was on to Asquith Lane in Arnold to see if the Painted Bunting was still around.  It may be, but it didn't appear during the 45 minutes I was there.  There was 1 Chipping Sparrow at the feeder though.  I didn't really feel like striking out twice, but I had places to go and birds to see...  (It was worth the visit just to see that funny little sign--"Painted Buntings for Obama"--that the homeowners posted).

Bill Hubick picked Fort Smallwood as his favorite Anne Arundel birding location, so I went to check it out.  What a great spot!  Nice views of the Patapsco River where it enters the Bay and enough trees and thickets to harbor a nice diversity of woodland and edge species.  I saw my first Yellow-bellied Sapsucker of the week, and some scoping of the Bay produced a distant flock of 22 Bonaparte's Gulls.  Another plus here was meeting Matt Grey, Sue Ricciardi, and Marty Miller.  Marty pointed me toword Hilltop Pond where I was able to add a few more species, including about 700 Canvasbacks, several Ring-necked Ducks, and a single female American Wigeon.

QUEEN ANNES

I had a nice walk at Terrapin Park--another Bill Hubick favorite and also suggested by John Hubbell.  I crossed paths with an Eastern Phoebe, several Eastern Towhees, and a northern water snake that was out sunning.

On Hwy 8 near Terrapin Park I stopped to look at a Red-tailed Hawk, which actually turned out to be a Great Horned Owl--cool!

Next, feeling a touch of waterfowl deficit disorder for Queen Annes, I decided to head down Carmichael Rd to the bridge over Wye Narrows.  It was a lucky choice, yielding Lesser Scaup (10), Ruddy Duck (15), and Common Merganser (4).  Two Ospreys perched close to one another by the narrows, and 4 Forster's Terns fluttered and swooped above the water.

On the way back to US 50, I saw a Horned Lark and an Eastern Meadowlark near the Wye Island Historic Sign on Carmichael Rd.  Another Eastern Meadowlark sang in the distance.

TALBOT

On the way home at about 7:15 pm, a flock of 30 Tundra Swans flew over US 50--a great way to end the day.


FUN and GAMES

As fun as it is to forage for bird sightings--and man is it fun!--another benefit of this spring break project is the particular way that it's allowing me to experience migration.  The perspective I'm getting feels more immediate and direct--it's more personal--than the "real time" view now available to us through eBird (which is really amazing in its own right!) and wonderful online communities like MDOsprey.  On Saturday and Sunday, I saw Laughing Gulls in 5 out of 6 counties--just one or a few birds amidst large aggregations of other gulls.  I was experiencing the leading line of migration of this species from the vantage of multiple locations.  If I'd only seen the single Laughing Gull on Skimmer Island on Saturday and then had gone back to work, I'd have been pleased with the observation--a welcome sign of spring.  But seeing that one bird in Worcester, then 3 in Wicomico, 1 in Dorchester, 1 in Talbot, and 2 in Caroline, I experienced the pattern of it, not just an isolated instance.  And then today, suddenly, there were 200 Laughing Gulls at the local dump!  What a privilege to experience this little slice of migration firsthand.  Fun and games...and a little more too.

County totals so far:

Worcester--76
Somerset--52
Wicomico--64 (added 10 species today)
Dorchester--69
Talbot--59 (added 1 species today)
Caroline--46
Queen Annes--41
Anne Arundel--51

Total Species so far: 118
Total Ticks so far: 458

After yesterday, I'd recorded 22 species in all 6 counties.  After today, I'd seen only 16 species in all 8 counties.  I wonder if any of these will hold on to reach closeout status by the end of the week?

Have fun,

Ron Gutberlet
Salisbury, MD