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Subject:

Hanna and Ft. Smallwood

From:

"Kurt R. Schwarz"

Reply-To:

Kurt R. Schwarz

Date:

Sun, 7 Sep 2008 11:17:04 -0400

Sorry for the late post, but living in the Third World area known as the BGE Service Area (In HowCo where the storm was none too rigorous) , we lost power at 11:15, only to have it restored this morning.

I want to thank Fred for his preliminary post, and Frode Jacobson for confirming that I did, indeed, glimpse a Least Tern, before being distracted by a bigger Forster's.

I was there from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  Bill Hill joined me shortly after 9:00, and I did not really note when Fred showed up.  Bill left early afternoon, Fred shortly before 4:00

Also, we encountered a group of three persons, one of whom, a youngish person, seemed to be the only birder.  He thought he may have seen a distantNorthern Gannet, a big white bird, with black wingtips.  We did not see it, although Bill did recall seeing one very large bird that he could get no color on and was unable to identify.

One bird of note that Fred did not mention was a Black Tern at 10:30, slowly struggling upstream toward Baltimore.

The tally:

Double-crested Cormorant
Bald Eagle - 1 (adult)
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Greater Black-backed Gull
Black Tern - 1
Least Tern - 1
Caspian Tern - 20
Royal Tern - 3
Forster's Tern - 8
Killdeer - 2
Red-necked Phalarope - 1 (probable, Fred was not 100%.  Bill saw, I never really got on it).
Spotted Sandpiper - 1
Rock Pigeon - 6
Tree Swallow - 85+

Conditions were worst around noon.  Rain was almost horizontal, as wind got up to, we think, around 50 mph.  My wind gauge was at home, sigh.  

I dropped by there again this morning, shortly after 7:00.  Lovely, but no good bird action before I move on shortly after 8:00.

Kurt Schwarz
HowCo
goawaybird at comcast dot net