Hi Folks,

Elaine and I took advantage of the great cool weather late last week and 
spent two nights at Irish Grove Sanctuary, while knocking out a few county 
breeders in several counties.  Before I give a summary of that trip, I want 
to mention some yard happenings:

Yard, Ferndale, AA Co.:

GLOSSY IBIS--Sat.(6/21) was a work-around-the-yard day following our E. 
Shore trip.  I was surprised to have a Glossy Ibis fly over at 8:15 a.m. at 
less than 100 feet elevation, heading due east.  This seems quite strange, 
because there have been no other ebird reports of GLIB in AA Co. this year, 
and this was the second yard flyover this year for us.  The bird may have 
been coming from one of the many storm water management ponds at BWI 
Airport, but I have no idea where the bird was going.  Curtis Creek is about 
3 miles away in the direction the bird was heading, but Furnace Creek is 
only a mile or so away if the bird were to change course in a more 
southeasterly direction.  The story doesn't end there, though, because this 
morning (6/23) at 7:40 a.m. a Glossy Ibis once again flew over our yard, 
same altitude, same direction.  There seems to be a pattern emerging.

FISH CROW--for years we've had these birds fly over our yard, usually from 
October to May, and normally in small groups at dawn or dusk.  This year, 
we've been having flyovers in June for the first time, and the birds have 
been showing up in the middle of the day as well, and even circling over the 
yard.  The culmination of all this is that on Sat., (6/21) at least five of 
these very very noisy birds landed in our trees in the late morning.  Well, 
Fish Crows are known to be notorious nest robbers, and it took no time for 
the alarm to go out among all of our robins, jays and grackles, who began 
chasing the bigger crows.  However, it was our local pair of mockers, whose 
nest sits atop one of our mature dogwood trees, that went absolutely 
berzerk.  The mockers squawked incesantly, taking chase as they could after 
the crows as they landed in the trees.  Elaine and I have assumed some 
protective responsibility in the rearing of our yard's nestlings, and were 
also alarmed.  Not knowing what else to do, I went around the yard, loudly 
clapping my hands, and this seemed to push the crows away a bit into the 
neighbor's yards.  Elaine and I left for some errands for a couple hours, 
and when we returned the crows were still around, and the mockers were still 
squawking, certainly exhausted by now.  Eventually the crows moved on, but 
in the late evening they came back, eight of them this time, but their visit 
was shorter.  We were relieved to hear the squeals of the mockingbird 
nestlings the following day, so at least that nest didn't get robbed.

HUMMINGBIRD--for my first ten years living in this house, I saw a 
hummingbird in the yard one time.  Then late in 2005 Elaine and I put out 
our first hummer feeder, and began planting for the hummers; we got a few 
visitors late that summer.  In 2006 and 2007 we got maybe one visit in 
April, and then a steady stream of hummer traffic from mid-July to 
mid-September.  This year, for the first time, we've had hummingbirds around 
in June, as has been the experience of a few other MDOsprey subscribers.  So 
far we have identified an adult male, an adult female, and a dusky-throated 
individual that may be an immature male.  These birds have visited us almost 
every day this month, and we are hoping that this is the beginning of a 
trend.

OSPREY--we usually get one or two sightings of this bird per year, but this 
year we are getting almost regular sightings, including a pair on Friday 
6/20.  Perhaps the birds are nesting further upstream on Marley Creek and 
Furnace Creek, bringing them closer to our Ferndale yard.

HOUSE WREN--last year, four of our five nest boxes successfully fledged 
seven broods of house wren.  This year we have had ZERO success.  Two 
completed nests were swarming with ants, and a third nest that had four eggs 
in it mysteriously emptied.  Usually it's a snake that does such a clean 
job, though I've not seen any in the yard this year.  Guess we need predator 
guards, but don't know yet where to get them.

********************

On Wed. morning, 6/18, Elaine and I set out for two and a half days on the 
eastern shore, to take advantage of the marvelously cool weather.  We 
tallied 105 species for the trip; here is a synopsis of what we found:

**********Wed., 6/18**********

    Mullett Branch Rd. over King's Creek, Talbot Co:

Louisiana Waterthrush--2
Kentucky Warbler--1

    Wesley Rd., Dorchester Co.:

WE Vireo--1
Prairie Warbler--1
Prothonotary Warbler--1
Ovenbird--2
Summer Tanager--1

    Puckum Rd., Dorchester Co.:

Prairie Warbler--2
Worm-eater--1
Ovenbird--1
Kentucky Warbler--1

    Dog Kennel Rd., Dorchester Co.:

Worm-eater--2

    N. Tara Rd., Dorchester Co. (mistakenly called Johnson Rd. on ebird 
map):

Acadian Flycatcher--1
WE Vireo--1
Brown Thrasher--1 (county closeout)
Prairie Warbler--5
Prothonotary Warbler--2
Black-and-white Warbler--1
Worm-eater--1
Ovenbird--4
Kentucky Warbler--1

    Green Rd., Somerset Co.

E. Kingbird--2 (county closeout)

    Fleming Mill Rd., Worcester Co. at night:
Barred Owl--1
Chuck--2

**********Thursday, 6/19**********:

    Rumbly Point Rd., Somerset Co.:

Great Egret--9
Snowy Egret--23
Glossy Ibis--11
Clapper Rail--7
Virginia Rail--4
Willet--5
Royal Tern--2
Marsh Wren--9
Seaside Sparrow--14
Saltmarsh Sparrow--2
Meadowlark--2

    Irish Grove Sanctuary, Somerset Co.:

Wild Turkey--1
Va. Rail--1
King/Clapper Rail--1
YB Cuckoo--1
E. Screech Owl--1
Marsh Wren--1
Seaside Sparrow--1
Mosquito--10^6
Deer Fly--2 x 10^6
Greenhead--3 x 10^6

    Pocomoke Sound WMA, Somerset Co.:

BH Nuthatch--10
Pine Warbler--4
Prairie Warbler--1
Ovenbird--4
Chat--1
Blue Grosbeak--1

    Fleming Mill Pond Rd., Somerset Co.:

YB Cuckoo--1
Barred Owl--2
Pileated Woodpecker--1
WE Vireo--2
YT Vireo--2
Horned Lark--1
WB Nuthatch--3 (one of the few places in Somerset for this bird)
Yellow-throated Warbler--1
Prothonotary Warbler--2
Worm-eating Warbler--1
Kentucky Warbler--1
Summer Tanager--1
Blue Grosbeak--2

    Five Bridges Rd., Somerset Co.:

Hummingbird--1
Wood Thrush--1
Prothonotary Warbler--2
La. Waterthrush--1
Kentucky Warbler--1
Scarlet Tanager--1
Blue Grosbeak--1

    Fairmount Rd., Somerset Co.:

BH Nuthatch--1
Orchard Oriole--1

    Frenchtown Rd., Somerset Co.:

Royal Tern--2
Yellow Warbler--1
BT Grackle--1

    Janes Island State Park, Somerset Co.:

N. Bobwhite--1
Glossy Ibis--3
Willet--1
E. Kingbird--2 (on nest)
BH Nuthatch--14
House Wren--12

    Farm Market Rd., Somerset Co.:

Cattle Egret--11
Glossy Ibis--55 in a large wet field with Cattle Egrets.  Too much heat 
shimmer to look for White-faced.

**********Friday, 6/20**********

    Lover's Lane, Somerset Co.:

N. Bobwhite--1
Brown Thrasher--1
Prairie Warbler--1

    Capitola Rd., Wicomico Co.:

Cattle Egret--2
Chimney Swift--8

    Ellis Bay WMA, Wicomico Co.:

WE Vireo--1
BH Nuthatch--1
Ovenbird--2
Chat--1
Seaside Sparrow--3
Orchard Oriole--1

    Cedar Hill Marina, Wicomico Co.:

Great Egret--2
Royal Tern--4
Wood Thrush--1

    Roaring Point, Wicomico Co.:

Brown Pelican--1 on distant pound nets
Royal Tern--41, mostly on a sand bar to the right (upstream)

    Waterview, Wicomico Co.:

W. Turkey--1 hen
N. Bobwhite--1
Brown Thrasher--1

    Rewastico Pond, Wicomico Co.:

N. Parula--1

We had a great stay at Irish Grove, despite the flies and mosquitoes, and 
really enjoyed birding the area in the unseasonably cool weather.


Stan Arnold
Ferndale (AA Co.)