Yesterday, I spent the last hour of light scanning the upper bay and North 
East River from my usual Hances Point (Cecil County) perch. Though waterfowl 
numbers of the Susquehanna Flats were few than on Friday, there were still 
many birds to see. Due to better light conditions, I was able to note that 
there were numerous flocks of Black Scoter moving around out there. Still, 
scaup sp. made up the brunt of the species. Other notables include 15 
Common Loons (many sporting their alternate attire), 10 Red-breasted 
Mergansers, 5 Common Mergansers, at least 1000 Tree Swallows (they looked 
like mosquito  swarms), and approximately 100 Bonaparte’s Gulls. 

Today I had two unexpected treats while traveling around work (Aberdeen 
Proving Ground –Harford). The first came at the Phillip’s Army Airfield where I 
had six raptor species in a half mile stretch of road these were: American 
Kestrel, Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Harrier, Osprey, Bald Eagle, and a surprise 
Merlin!  

The Second highlight was in a small flooded area of a field in the Mulberry 
Point area of the base. This wet-spot held 4 Greater Yellowlegs, 1 Lesser 
Yellowlegs, 1 Pectoral Sandpiper, and at least 22 Wilson Snipe! Additionally, I 
discovered that Gull Island (off of Mulberry Point at the mouth of the Specutie 
Narrows) has an active Heronry! I had never noticed this before. There are 
only a handful of trees on this island but they are covered with heron nests... 
many herons were present as well. 

Good birding,
Chris Starling
North East, MD