Hi All,

I took a one-hour walk down to the landing below our house around noon, 
and Nancy and I spent about three hours in late afternoon and evening 
checking Eastern Neck Island and Chesapeake Farms. We managed to locate 
71 species for the day. Best birds here at  Chesapeake Landing were a 
Spotted Sandpiper, Caspian Tern, three Greater Yellowlegs, and a 
kingfisher (plus the usual two Bald Eagles). We also had three brown 
Purple Finches and two Red-breasted Nuthatches still coming to our feeders.

At Chesapeake Farms the water is starting to get low in the HQ pond. 
There were 18 Green-winged Teal, a young Snow Goose, four Greater and 
one Lesser Yellowlegs, and seven LEAST SANDPIPERS (first of the season), 
plus a wading and drinking  young Bald Eagle in view. We also spotted a 
Great Egret form MD-20 on one of the outlying ponds at Chesapeake Farms 
(just before Reeses Corner Rd). At the ponds at the sharp bend north of 
Eastern Neck I. (Alton Farms, across from Trumpington) we had a Wilson's 
Snipe, 7 Gadwall, and 33 Green-winged Teal.

We spent most of our time on Eastern Neck I. at Ingleside Picnic Area 
(recently opened on 1 April). Our reward there was a very cooperative 
plunge-diving adult NORTHERN GANNET (one finally got by the Kent Narrows 
Bridge). We also had 4 RED-THROATED LOONS flying by, a Common Loon on 
the water, 8 Surf Scoters (plus 15 distant unidentified scoters on the 
water), 345 Double-crested Cormorants vacating the Chester River for the 
evening, at least 12 Osprey (plus 9 others on the refuge), and a Yellow 
Palm Warbler along the entrance road. At Eastern Neck Narrows at low 
tide there were 5 Forster's Terns, 17 Bonaparte's Gulls, and a Greater 
Yellowlegs on the tide flat, and 40 Lesser Scaup, 34 Bufflehead and 14 
Ruddy Ducks at the mouth of Church Creek east of the Narrows. A good day 
in spite of chill winds, a little spitting rain, and overcast skies.

Good birding,

Walter Ellison & Nancy Martin

23460 Clarissa Rd
Chestertown, MD 21620

phone: 410-778-9568

e-mail: rossgull(AT)baybroadband.net

Observing Nature is like unwrapping a big pile of presents every time you take a walk.