My son Declan and I had a picnic (some fancy pizza for me, bananas for
him) at the Greenbury Point Nature Center.

While we enjoyed lunch in the car, an American Kestrel hunted from a
tree top very near our parked Volvo.  Two hours later, on our way out,
we spotted the male Kestrel eating a mouse on a tree top about a mile
away from the visitor center where he was hunting earlier. The falcon
was dining in the area where the wildflowers grow near the entrance of
the Naval Academy Golf Course and the Point.  This Kestrel has
nice-sized territory.

No one left hungry, and I got some much-needed exercise.

Highlights of our 2-mile hike:
-A lone drake REDHEAD mixed in with a raft of Scaup and Canvasbacks on
the Western shore of the Point, the Severn River side.
-A lone male PEREGRINE FALCON flying in off the Bay and perching high
up in the Southern-most radio tower.
-The extensive tree-planting on the end of the point.  There must be
over 200 saplings in the now landscaped ground.

Noticeably absent on the Point:
-White-Tailed Deer.  For what must be the first time ever, I saw not
one single deer.  Greenbury Point has been famous for being over-run
with deer, and the ticks that love to hang with (and off of) them.
Hundreds of new trees and not one deer.  Coincidence?

Out on the Bay, the duck of the day: Bufflehead.  Probably 50 or more
scattered widely across the mostly-glassy blue waters.  Aside from
that, the Point held all of the usual suspects.

I hope everyone has a very Happy New Year.

Good Birding,

Dan Haas
West Annapolis, MD