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Subject:

Cecil Arrivals, Queen Anne's/Talbot Bay birds +++

From:

Chris Starling

Reply-To:

Chris Starling

Date:

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:22:46 -0400

Greetings,

I had a few new arrivals to my yard (Hances Point, Cecil County) this past 
weekend. Going back to last Thursday I had my FOY Northern Parula heard 
singing from the tree-tops. However it has not been heard since. On Friday 
and Saturday I had Yellow-rumped Warblers singing all over the Hances Point 
area of Cecil County. This afternoon I had flushed a Greater Yellowlegs from 
my cove while standing over at the water’s edge. I also had two Cooper’s 
Hawks zoom through the yard. Barn Swallows are back in large numbers...

Of more interesting note (to me) were the birds which I saw while fishing on 
the Chesapeake Bay this morning. At dawn we left from Queen Anne’s Marina 
south of Matapeake on Kent Island. While the fishing was not so hot (blame it 
on the full moon<?>) the birding was great! I started with two chattering 
Least Terns in the marina basin. Oddly these were the only terns seen all day! 
Other birds of note included 39 NORTHERN GANNET! 37 birds were seen in 
Queen’s County and two were seen in Talbot County waters. All birds were 
adult and most provided great close-up looks! Also seen were 9 Common 
Loons (all fly-overs), 29 Double-crested Cormorants, 6 Great Black-backed 
Gulls, 9 Herring Gulls, 9 Ring-billed Gulls, 22 Laughing Gulls, 9 Osprey, and two 
Mute Swan (in the tidal basin near the marina. Two Turkeys were seen in a 
field on Kent Island as well. Are Turkeys common on the island?  

Also, just after dawn and in the marina, I had a large brown dove fly through.  
The bird did not call, was NOT a Rock Pigeon, and disappeared over the trees 
to the south before I could get a good look at it. Had I been in the Florida 
Keys, I would have had no problem calling this bird a Eurasian Collared Dove 
(!). Therefore, anyone traveling the south eastern portion of Kent Island 
should be on the look out for collared doves. I am stopping short of calling this 
bird, but it certainly got me wishing I had had a better look!

Good Birding,
Chris Starling 
North East, MD