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Subject:

Fields around Great Oak Pond 17 May '08: Lots of plovers incl. golden-plover & turnstone

From:

Walter Ellison

Reply-To:

Walter Ellison

Date:

Sat, 17 May 2008 12:59:44 -0400

Hi All,

On our way home from leading the bird walk at Heron Point in Chestertown 
we stopped off at Great Oak Pond and found the local corn fields full of 
earthworm-hunting Black-bellied Plovers plus some other shorebirds of 
note. Our black-belly count came to 520. With the plovers were a nearly 
as impressive 90 Dunlin, 4 Short-billed Dowitchers, a handsome alternate 
plumage RUDDY TURNSTONE, and an alternate plumage AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER 
(the latter visible from Fish Hatchery Road in the field belonging to 
Reese Corey on the east side of the road). We also had both orioles in 
the trees near Great Oak Pond, and a distant fly-by adult LITTLE BLUE 
HERON. Our e-bird report is appended below,

Good birding,

Walter Ellison & Nancy Martin

23460 Clarissa Rd
Chestertown, MD 21620
410-778-9568

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

Location:     Great Oak Pond
Observation date:     5/17/08
Notes:     Presumably post-fallout from previous day's cold front. Black-bellied Plovers on fields near Great Oak Pond, Fish Hatchery and Handy Point Roads accompanied by alternate plumage golden-plover (black lower belly & undertail coverts, long wings, slightly smaller size and dark crown) and turnstone, lots of Dunlin, and a few dowitchers. Adult Little Blue Heron flew by and briefly wiffled over a distant pond (on Fairgale Farm Lane) before moving on.
Number of species:     28

Canada Goose     2
Mallard     2
Great Blue Heron     1
Little Blue Heron     1
Turkey Vulture     5
Osprey     1
Bald Eagle     1
Black-bellied Plover     520
American Golden-Plover     1
Ruddy Turnstone     1
Dunlin     90
Short-billed Dowitcher     4
Ring-billed Gull     24
American Crow     2
Fish Crow     4
Horned Lark     2
Purple Martin     1
Carolina Wren     1
Northern Mockingbird     4
European Starling     12
Chipping Sparrow     2
Northern Cardinal     4
Indigo Bunting     1
Red-winged Blackbird     5
Common Grackle (Purple)     10
Orchard Oriole     1
Baltimore Oriole     1
House Sparrow     2

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)