Birders had to deal with morning rain and ice for the first few hours of
the St Michaels Christmas Count, but the rain stopped in late morning and
there were even a few glimpses of blue sky and sun in the afternoon.
Birding picked up in the afternoon, but the species numbers for quite a few
birds were sharply down due to the weather conditions.
    Highlights - Total species number was 97, which is close to normal for
the past few years. The fairly unusual species included several Cackling
Geese, Wood Duck (1), Green-winged Teal (1), Merlin (1).  Even more unusual
were: Rusty Blackbird (4), Brewer's Blackbird (1), Wilson's Snipe (1), and
Least Sandpiper (6).  Some very pleasing sparrow numbers occurred, mainly
reported from the Jean Shehan Audubon Sanctuary near Bozman:  Field Sparrow
(86), Savannah Sparrow (65), Song Sparrow (374), White-throated Sparrow
(1051) and Junco (1483).
    Most other species were present in numbers not terribly different from
recent years.  Mute Swan numbers were down to 52, compared to 328 in 2005.
Numbers of Canada Geese were slightly up.  Only 6 Northern Bobwhites were
found, and only 22 Eastern Meadowlarks.  All of the Meadowlarks were also at
the Jean Shehan Audubon Sanctuary.
    The Brewer's Blackbird (probably the best sighting of the day) was found
by Jan Reese near the intersection of Fairbanks Rd and Black Walnut Point
Road near the south end of Tilghman Island.
    Even with the uncomfortable weather, the turn-out of birders was
excellent, and included several visitors from outside of Talbot County.  
 
Les Roslund
Talbot County
Easton MD 21601