Hi Everyone,
I spent Sunday (4/6) birding in the perpetual drizzle with Tom Feild, Dan Haas, and Matt Tillett. We began at Hoopers quite early to try for the White-faced Ibis, but had no luck during two fairly thorough checks. We followed the dawn heron flight to West Ocean City Pond, and then ran back for a quick check of the Inlet. Our highlight, as posted by Dan yesterday, was an adult male HARLEQUIN DUCK roosting near the hotel. After trying for the ibis back at Berlin, we continued south and birded back roads through Somerset to Deal Island. Here we enjoyed great studies of the WHIMBREL found by Hafner, Stasz, et al. It was feeding on many small snails and grubs that it was probing for in the grass. Who knew there was that much curlew-food in a patch of lawn? I just posted a cool series of photos of the Whimbrel feeding, as well as one shot of the Harlequin, on my site:
http://www.billhubick.com/new_set.html
After Deal, we were running late, but we caught the Whitehaven Ferry into Wicomico and worked points along the Nanticoke. Here are the eBird lists from each site, removing many of the most expected species for brevity's sake.
Skimmer Island, Worcester Co.
Brant (Atlantic)--65
Greater Scaup--45
Bufflehead--5
Red-breasted Merganser--3
Red-throated Loon--1
Common Loon--1
Double-crested Cormorant--40
Great Egret--18
Little Blue Heron--5
Black-crowned Night-Heron--1
Black-bellied Plover--7
American Oystercatcher--12
Willet--2
Bonaparte's Gull--1
Ring-billed Gull--50
Herring Gull--250
Great Black-backed Gull--80
Boat-tailed Grackle--2
West Ocean City Pond, Worcester Co.
Wood Duck--4
Mallard--24
Northern Shoveler--15
Green-winged Teal (American)--13
Canvasback--4
Great Blue Heron--4
Great Egret--2
Snowy Egret--3
Cattle Egret--11
Black-crowned Night-Heron--1
Killdeer--1
Bonaparte's Gull--1
Brown-headed Nuthatch--1
Ocean City Inlet, Worcester Co.
Harlequin Duck--1 adult male
Surf Scoter--2
Red-breasted Merganser--2
Red-throated Loon--6
Common Loon--14
Northern Gannet--125; best show I've seen from the Inlet
Peregrine Falcon--1
Forster's Tern--3
Berlin WWTP, Worcester Co.
Blue-winged Teal--2
Northern Shoveler--162
Green-winged Teal (American)--72
Ring-necked Duck--4
Ruddy Duck--5
Great Egret--2
American Coot--8
Bonaparte's Gull--1
Vessey Orchard, Somerset Co.
Wild Turkey--1; on nest with no eggs
Bald Eagle--2
American Kestrel--1
Laughing Gull--15
Hairy Woodpecker--1
Horned Lark--5
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher--1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)--120
Pine Warbler--1
Chipping Sparrow--1
Field Sparrow--5
Swamp Sparrow--1
(Matt closed out American Crow and House Sparrow--woohoo!)
Perryhawkin Rd x Perryhawk Church, Somerset Co.
Wild Turkey--9
Killdeer--1
Blue Jay--1
Pocomoke SF--Fleming Mill, Somerset/Worcester Co.
Barred Owl--4; SO/WO
Pileated Woodpecker--1; SO
Pine Warbler--2; SO/WO
Louisiana Waterthrush--3; SO/WO
Chance Inlet, Somerset Co.
Bufflehead--3
Common Loon--4
Northern Gannet--2
Double-crested Cormorant--5
Osprey--1
WHIMBREL (American)--1
Forster's Tern--1
Boat-tailed Grackle--2
Wenona, Somerset Co.
Common Loon--1
NORTHERN GANNET--1
BROWN PELICAN--1
Great Egret--1
Osprey--3
BONAPARTE'S GULL--2
Messick Road Pond, Somerset Co.
Green-winged Teal (American)--9
Bufflehead--6
Killdeer--1
Greater Yellowlegs--1
Deal Island--Green Dumpster Rd, Somerset Co.
American Wigeon--8
American Black Duck--7
American Bittern--1; Tom and Dan only
Great Egret--3
Snowy Egret--1
Little Blue Heron--1
Tricolored Heron--1
Clapper Rail--3
Greater Yellowlegs--162
Lesser Yellowlegs--4
Least Sandpiper--3
Dunlin--4
Wilson's Snipe--1
Forster's Tern--27
Belted Kingfisher--1
Tree Swallow--3
Savannah Sparrow--3
Eastern Meadowlark--3
Roaring Point, Wicomico Co.
Greater Scaup--13
Ruddy Duck--15
Osprey--3
Northern Harrier--1
Caspian Tern--1
Forster's Tern--2
Barn Swallow--4
Pine Warbler--1
Chipping Sparrow--1
Cedar Hill Marina, Wicomico Co.
Canvasback--25
Greater Scaup--2
Ruddy Duck--6
Common Loon--1
Osprey--4
Laughing Gull--1
Caspian Tern--14
Brown-headed Nuthatch--1
Good birding!
Bill
Bill Hubick
Pasadena, Maryland
http://www.billhubick.com |