A visit to the Easton Waste Water Treatment Plant around noon today
produced several interesting birds.
    Highlight for me was a Lesser Black-backed Gull.  This bird was within a
flock of 200 or more gulls on the surface of the larger pond - bathing from
their most recent trip to the nearby landfill.  I have been expecting to
find this species at the WWTP for the past 12 years, but have always missed
it, even after others reported the sighting and I would rush over to try to
find the bird.
    Also amongst the gulls was a single Bonaparte's Gull.
 
    Quite a few duck species were present, but numbers were small:  Ruddy
Duck - 122; Ring-necked Duck - 1; Hooded Merganser - 1 F;  Green-winged Teal
- 9; Northern Shoveler - 1.
 
    The upper pond hosted two Tundra Swan.  The lower pond held two American
Coots.
 
    On the way back to Easton, along Chilcut Road I had the great good
fortune of encountering a cooperative flock of American Pipits.  There were
close to 200 in the flock.  Three temporarily perched on the power lines
right above my truck.  Several stopped on the berm close to the side of the
road, and the rest dropped into a wheat field but often took brief positions
on dirt clods to provide excellent viewing.
 
    Yesterday - Nov 11 - a trip to Black Walnut Point yielded two Rusty
Blackbirds and a flock of at least 25 Pine Siskins.
 
    And finally, today in my yard my first of year Fox Sparrow showed up
beside the driveway.
 
Les Roslund
Talbot County
Easton MD 21601