Happy New Year Everyone!
Carol and I made the rounds in parts of Worcester County today. We had a great day with 22 waterfowl species (including 2 KING EIDERS at the OC Inlet) and 8 shorebird species (including a WESTERN SANDPIPER and a "Western" WILLET at Eagles Nest Campground). Also, there are now TWO SNOWY OWLS in the Assateague ORV Zone. Today they were just north of the Bullpen, not too far from one another--very cool!
We first saw the King Eiders (a female and an immature male) at about 9 am near the tip of the south jetty. They provided fairly decent views (we could see the pale orange of the male's bill), but a bit distant and in the chop. We had better views at the end of the day when the water was calmer at the inlet. During both of our visits, the eiders were only in view for a few minutes before disappearing behind the south jetty.
It was good to run into Mike Burchett and his friend Betsy at Eagles Nest Campground. Mike pointed out the Willet and a couple Brown-headed Nuthatches. Conditions at Eagles Nest were great at about 3:30 pm, with many flats exposed and busy with shorebirds.
We hope you'll find some other birds of interest in the lists below. Best wishes for a great birding year in 2009! Have fun,
Ron Gutberlet
Salisbury, MD
Location: Ocean City Inlet
Brant 20
American Black Duck 6
King Eider 2
Surf Scoter 10
Black Scoter 3
Long-tailed Duck 15
Bufflehead 50
Red-breasted Merganser 10
Red-throated Loon 6
Common Loon 5
Northern Gannet 2
Peregrine Falcon 1
Ruddy Turnstone 4
Sanderling 1
Purple Sandpiper 4
Bonaparte's Gull 35
Ring-billed Gull 150
Herring Gull 8
Great Black-backed Gull 3
Rock Pigeon 40
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling 20
Location: Bayside Development
Gadwall 33
American Wigeon 76
Mallard 20
Redhead 12
Ring-necked Duck 3
Greater Scaup 1
Lesser Scaup 5
Ruddy Duck 2
Great Blue Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 3
Bald Eagle 1
Ring-billed Gull 1
American Crow 1
Eastern Bluebird 4
Northern Mockingbird 2
European Starling 20
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 2
Palm Warbler (Western) 4
Savannah Sparrow (Eastern) 2
Song Sparrow 1
American Goldfinch 1
Location: South Point
Brant 45
Canada Goose 4
Canvasback 1
Greater Scaup 480
Surf Scoter 20
Bufflehead 160
Common Goldeneye 2
Red-breasted Merganser 2
Common Loon 2
Horned Grebe 14
Black Vulture 3
Turkey Vulture 1
Killdeer 1
Herring Gull 2
Great Black-backed Gull 1
Mourning Dove 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 1
Carolina Wren 1
American Robin 20
Northern Mockingbird 1
Brown Thrasher 1
European Starling 20
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 8
Song Sparrow 5
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 1
Red-winged Blackbird 3
Eastern Meadowlark 4
House Sparrow 6
Location: Eagles Landing Golf Course
Gadwall 4
Mallard 26
Pied-billed Grebe 1
American Coot 1
Ring-billed Gull 20
Location: Eagles Nest Campground
Brant 48
Canada Goose 12
American Wigeon 20
American Black Duck 40
Bufflehead 15
Red-breasted Merganser 2
Common Loon 1
Horned Grebe 1
Black-bellied Plover 2
American Oystercatcher 8
Willet (Western) 1
Sanderling 30
Western Sandpiper 1
Dunlin 70
Ring-billed Gull 200
Herring Gull 60
Great Black-backed Gull 3
Downy Woodpecker 1
Carolina Chickadee 1
Brown-headed Nuthatch 2
Carolina Wren 1
American Robin 9
Gray Catbird 1
European Starling 10
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 20
Chipping Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 2
White-throated Sparrow 12
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 1
Northern Cardinal 1
Red-winged Blackbird 30
American Goldfinch 1
Location: West Ocean City Pond
Canada Goose 10
Mallard 10
Canvasback 1000
Hooded Merganser 20
This report was generated semi-automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org) |