Folks

I took a short trip east to work on my big photo year.  I am reporting only the highlights as there were too many birds to keep track of for the two plus day effort.  I posted numbers on ebirds if anyone is really interested.

 I started on Wednesday at Elliot Island and quickly found good numbers of Willets, Marsh Wren, and Seaside Sparrows.  While trying to photograph a SESP a single male Black-necked Stilt wondered into my view.  Click, click, click.  It was an upgrade from the Hart Miller Island birds taken in April.  

Next morning I took a short pelagic on the Judith M out of Ocean City.  There are no formal summer pelagic's until August this year, and I am concerned that the Sooty Shearwaters will have long passed though Maryland waters by late summer.  I had good numbers of Common Tern around the boat as we motored out into the open waters.  Click, click, click - another upgrade from the Hart Miller Island trip.  

The trip was a fishing trip, and I was the only birder on board so I had plenty of room up top.  About an hour into the four hour trip I spotted a larger two tone bird flying toward the boat.  Not my target bird but a shearwater.  As the bird came closer I got the camera on it and again click, click, click. ( I use digital so I can click as much as I want.)  Viewing the images I determined the species to be a Greater Shearwater.  Not a bad fine.  The only other species of note were a few distant Wilson's Storm Petrels.  Crappy click, click, click.

Next I headed north on Assateague Island.  I walked about three miles before I gave up on my quest to find Piping Plover.  Tired I headed back to Irish Grove where I was staying.  As I got out of the car I quickly realized why MOS members don't stay here in the summer.  Millions of deer flies descended on me, and tried to eat me alive.  I quickly got into the house with my gear, and stayed inside the rest of the evening.  

Early the next morning I was down into the Irish Grove marsh.  This nearly two mile stretch can be very productive.  I had good numbers of Marsh Wrens, Seaside Sparrows and finally I heard my next target species - Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow.   I got the big lens on them and got some distant but decent shots.  Along the way I heard and photographed a Virginia Rail and heard Clappers.  Clappers seem to be more shy then the smaller species.

While I was trying to upgrade my Seaside Sparrow shots from Wednesday, I noticed a larger tern like bird out of the corner of my eye.  Holly crap a Black Skimmer.  I  quickly turned the lens toward the skimmer and fired away.   I got off about ten shots before the bird wondered away.  Black Skimmer are extremely hard to find in Maryland now that Herring Gull have taken over their nesting locations.  Maybe the U.S. FWS (Fish and Wildlife Service) should do something to help bring the skimmer back to Maryland as a breeding bird.

I then headed to Deal Island looking for Clapper Rail.  I had a singing bird within feet of me but could not see the bird.  As soon as the bird started to appear two Black-necked Stilt few in.  A male and a female doing some sort of flight maneuvering.  This distracted me from the rail and click, click, click again.  By then the rail had wondered away again.  Persistence and knowing that rails often cross the road away from the buy with the camera, I decided to wait a few minutes to see what this guy was going to do.  Being tired and thirsty I decided to eat my orange.  As I was peeling the orange the rail decided to sneak across the road.  I quickly dropped the orange, grabbed the camera and click, click, click.  Gotcha!!!.  Time to go home.

Next day Mike Callahan had invited me to come down to Allen's Fresh and help him band Barn Owl.  We banded seven young in two nests.  Before banding I took out my trusty Canon 40D and click, click, click.  The Barn Owl is number 260 species photographed in Maryland in O8, and the only in hand species so far.  I will upgrade.

I am doing this nutty effort as a fund raising effort for the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) to protect the Blue-knobbed Curassow.  My goal is to see if I can photograph 300 species in Maryland in 2008.  Seeing (identifying) 300 species is old hat for those that try, so I wanted a larger challenge.  To justify the expense and energy required I decided to do this as a fund raiser for ABC.  More on this later.  

J.B. Churchill is building me a website and I am hopeful of sharing some of these images at a later date.  I will let all know when we go live on line.  

For now I need to plan my next 40 species.  It is not going to get any easier.

Good birding however you do it.

George