Hi Everyone,

I found myself unable to resist the novelty of the Patterson Park Seaside Sparrow this afternoon, and so spent about 30 minutes slowly walking around the pond. I blame the level of human activity for the sparrow's absence, but there were a few other very interesting birds. The great part about the park is that many birds can be identified as obvious migrants. Among these today was a LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH, my first in Maryland that I could label a definite migrant. It flew around the pond repeatedly, chipping a lot and foraging near the boardwalk. Some other birds of note were the following:

Lesser Scaup--1 drake; resting on the pond's island
Pied-billed Grebe--1
Osprey--1
American Coot--1
Ring-billed Gull--45
Northern Flicker--1
Tree Swallow--1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet--1; foraging actively and singing
Field Sparrow--1; seen and heard singing; another obvious migrant!
Swamp Sparrow--1
Red-winged Blackbird--3

I then met up with Matt Hafner and we checked Back River from Diamond Point Road. We found only five BONAPARTE'S GULLs and moved on.

Our next scheme was a bay watch from Fort Howard in hopes of a Northern Gannet that had overshot the nearly perfectly gannet-proof Bay Bridge. We had no gannets, but instead found the following:

Greater Scaup--2 drakes on the creek before the point
Bufflehead--27
Common Goldeneye--1 hen; Matt only
Ruddy Duck--17
Red-throated Loon--2 in Baltimore; 1 off Fort Smallwood in AA
Double-crested Cormorant--65
Osprey--6
Bonaparte's Gull--25
Ring-billed Gull--150
Herring Gull--250
Great Black-backed Gull--5
Caspian Tern--1
Eastern Phoebe--2
Purple Martin--1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher--1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)--1
Eastern Towhee--1

Finally, one Peregrine was perched on the lighthouse just off Miller Island Boulevard. 

Good birding,

Bill

Bill Hubick
Pasadena, Maryland

http://www.billhubick.com