Marylee Ross and I went to Irish Grove Sanctuary Saturday 
afternoon.  The weather was as nice as it can be, although the 
mosquitoes were fierce around the house.  Out on the marsh, on Rumbly 
Point Road, the bugs were not a problem at all ad the road is in 
great shape.  The following is a list of birds seen along Rumbly 
Point Road, with a couple thrown in that were seen just before going 
out into the marsh.

Location:     Rumbly Point Road, Marion Station, Somerset County, MD
Observation date:     8/23/08
Number of species:     38

American Black Duck     12
Wild Turkey     5 (before marsh)
Northern Bobwhite     2  (before marsh)
Double-crested Cormorant     16
Great Blue Heron     8
Great Egret     4
Snowy Egret     46
Little Blue Heron     4
Tricolored Heron     4
Night-Heron (imm prob. Yellow-crowned)    1
Black Vulture     2
Turkey Vulture     6
Northern Harrier     4
Semipalmated Plover     220
Spotted Sandpiper     4
Solitary Sandpiper     1 (before marsh)
Greater Yellowlegs     9
Lesser Yellowlegs     7
Semipalmated Sandpiper     65
Least Sandpiper     25
Short-billed Dowitcher     8
Laughing Gull     24
Ring-billed Gull     4
Herring Gull     6
Caspian Tern     10
Forster's Tern     8
Fish Crow     2
Eastern Wood-pewee  1 (before marsh)
Tree Swallow     4
Barn Swallow     7
Carolina Chickadee     4 (before marsh)
Brown-headed Nuthatch     2 (before marsh)
Marsh Wren     2
Seaside Sparrow     2
Song Sparrow     1
Northern Cardinal     1
Red-winged Blackbird     2
Eastern Meadowlark     5
American Goldfinch     2

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

In addition, on the mud about 100 yds south of the first turnout, and 
about 15 yards off the east side of the road, was a strange little 
plover.  This bird was with 3 semipalmated sandpipers, and was very 
slightly larger in body than them, but much, much longer in legs.  It 
was a gray color, in contrast to the brown of the semi plovers, with 
distinctly scaly wing coverts.  The legs are yellow, becoming greener 
nearer the body.  The belly was black, with rufous side and back 
fringes. The black of the central belly carried up both shoulders, so 
that it looked like an apron from the front. Eyes and bill are jet 
black, with the eyes set in a gray patch that was not even close to 
being connected to the beak.  The forehead and throat are white, and 
the white extended over the eyes, leaving a gray skullcap.  Below the 
eyes, the white extended all the way around the back, forming a ring, 
below which was the black of the apron.  There may be a black leading 
edge on the wing - Marylee thought she saw that and the picture seems 
to show it.  The bird dipped frequently, not unlike a 
waterthrush.  We watched it for quite a while from close range, and 
then there was a loud "eeek" sound from the nearby marsh grass and 
the birds flew away and didn't return.  I got a poor image of it by 
putting my digital camera to the objective of Marylee's Leupold 
Katmai binoculars.  I don't have a way to post the image right now, 
but could email it to anyone interested in seeing this.  We counted 
the semi plovers further down the road several times, and saw nothing 
amongst them that even remotely resembled the little guy.

While looking at it and drawing some images of the plover, I happened 
to glance up in time to see a tiny black bird running along the edge 
of a close patch of Spartina alternaflora.  Just as I started to 
focus on it, it turned and ran into the grass.  The patch was about 8 
feet in diameter, and we could see the grass moving now and then as 
the bird moved around in there, but we never saw it again.  Perhaps 
it was a seaside sparrow, although its posture didn't suggest that. I 
think it was a black rail, but can't be sure of that. We will never 
know.   I don't believe that anyone has had one on Rumbly Point Road 
this year.



3709 Devonshire Drive
Salisbury, MD 21804
410-572-9950
443-783-1268 (cell)