I had a very unusual and unexpected flyover at Schoolhouse Pond this 
morning.  There has been a lot of activity at the pond recently, with 
shorebirds, waterfowl, and gulls dropping in or flying over.  This morning I also 
had my first flyover Common Loons.

However, as I was watching a group of gulls, I saw a large dark bird 
approaching from the vicinity of Brown Station Road.  It was all dark and large 
and, before I got my bins on it I assumed it was an immature Bald Eagle.  The 
bird approached Schoolhouse Pond and flew directly overhead of my position.  
It appeared to be hawk sized, not crow-sized, and had long wings, a long tail, 
and large head and bill.  It flew very close to a Great Blue Heron that was also 
in flight, and the my impression again was of a very large, Raven sized bird, 
not dwarfed at all by the Great Blue as a crow would have been.  I watched 
the bird through my binoculars, and also pulled my bins down several times to 
make sure I was getting an accurate feel for its size.  It was big.  The bird 
continued to fly in the direction of Jug Bay and, unfortunately, was silent the 
whole time.  I got good looks at the tail, which was long, and appeared wedge-
shaped on the edges, although the tail was mostly swept back in flight and I 
did not see it spread out.  This is a bird that I would have called a Raven 
without hesitation in western Maryland.  However, as I noted earlier, it never 
vocalized and continued flying unabated in the general direction of Jug Bay.

Other birds this morning included a flyover Common Loon, a Double-crested 
Cormorant on the pond, Green-winged Teal, several Tree Swallows, two 
Osprey, 1 Greater Yellowlegs, several Snipe, and a singing Brown Thrasher.

Yesterday was also a neat day at the pond.  Just between my morning and 
noon walks around the pond, I totaled 48 species.  Nothing too unusual, but a 
nice assort of ducks, shorebirds, and songbirds.  

Fred Shaffer
Patuxent MOS