Hi Everyone,

Great seeing so many of you yesterday on what was certainly a historic day of Maryland birding. I've posted some photos of the celebrity waterfowl on my web site:

http://www.billhubick.com/new_set.html

I arrived at High Street at 7:30 a.m. to find Mikey Lutmerding and Jo Anna Leachman already using the first morning light. Mikey had found and photographed an interesting goldeneye that was very suggestive of Barrow's Goldeneye, but could there really have been a Barrow's Goldeneye AND a Tufted Duck? I got distracted by Tufted Duck fever and Mikey and Jo Anna had to leave for points east. Soon others began to arrive, including John Hubbell, Dave Powell, Dan Haas, Jim Green, Stan and Elaine Arnold, and Jim Stasz. After we'd enjoyed the Tufted Duck at length, we decided to stroll the marina in search of the goldeneye. Suddenly a bird took off from beneath a dock and I said, "There she is!" as she flew by. Stasz called it instantly, shouting, "That's not a Common!" We tracked the bird down on the west side of the marina and began a flurry of photos and phone calls. I ended up lingering at the marina for almost five hours, enjoying the unexpectedly nice
 sunlight for photos and the Who's Who of Maryland birding. The Tufted Duck spent most of its time near the red shack, and the hen goldeneye spent much time in the middle and west side of the marina. As Les Roslund pointed out, several birders have reported an interesting goldeneye here recently, so it may have been present for a while. To round out the credit list, I recently had a great discussion with Matt Hafner about Tufted Ducks and Barrow's Goldeneye records in Maryland. Damn if he didn't just last week call Cambridge his favorite site for the next Barrow's record. To summarize others, this appears to be the fourth record of the species for Maryland (one of which was a specimen), the first hen Barrow's Goldeneye recorded in Maryland, and the first record of Barrow's Goldeneye for Maryland's Eastern Shore.

Eventually I headed out with Jim Brighton, Hans Holbrook and his fiancee Angela, and Mike Burchett. We met up with Robert Ostrowski at Blackwater. Other notable sightings from Saturday included the following:

Route 50 bridge over the Choptank (Talbot Co.)--Peregrine Falcon eating breakfast on a stanchion

Blackwater NWR--Richardson's Geese (2), American White Pelicans (24)

Hip Roof Road--Pine Warbler (2)

Taylor's and Hooper's Island--Expected waterfowl in small numbers; over 1,000 Tundra Swans along Barren Island

Cedar Creek Road--Jim Brighton, Ron Gutberlet, and I ended the day standing in the drizzling rain, watching a pale Short-eared Owl hunting nearby.

The day was so good that it is just now occurring to me that I should mention the presence of the cooperative drake Eurasian Wigeon, also just west of the High Street marina. 

A most memorable day, and one of those rare ones that leaves me satiated enough to sleep in on a weekend day...

Have a good one,

Bill

Bill Hubick
Pasadena, Maryland

http://www.billhubick.com