Hi Folks,

Having been on the E. Shore during the weekend, I missed out on many of the W. Shore birds that were discovered, so spent yesterday afternoon making the rounds to look for some of the good birds.  I began on Wrighton Rd. near Jug Bay (AA Co.) where I lucked into three WW CROSSBILLs dropping into the Hemlocks, and then almost immediately spooking and flying off to the north.  My luck was not as good at the golf course on Hwy 260 in Calvert Co. where I spent about 20 minutes and not finding any crossbills in the spruces around the parking lot.

From there, it was down to Jefferson Patterson Park in southern Calvert Co.  I did the short hike down to the water from the parking area near the archaelogical site.  As I approached the water, I saw a raft of scaup sitting on the calm water just off the shore, and within minutes of scoping I picked up the male BARROW'S GOLDENEYE.  I could have kicked myself for not having a camera with me, as I would have had the perfect shot of a male Common and the male Barrow's together.  To date, I think my favorite bird photo is one that Bill Hubick took of two such birds flying together over the Gatineau River in Ottawa, Ontario when we were there in 2004 (this photo is on his website).

I left the park at 5:30 p.m., and it was beginning to get dark.  I made a beeline to Solomon's, hoping to get there with a little daylight.  I got there at 5:45, and was disappointed to see a small group of about 150 Canada Geese (not the 5000 I was hoping for).  I did a sweep of these geese with the scope, and saw nothing different.  I could have just left then, but decided to sweep back through the small flock one more time, and to my amazement, there was the GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE (reported by Jim Brighton a few weeks ago).

The 65-degree weather and nice birds made for a very satisfying late afternoon.

Stan Arnold
Ferndale (AA Co.)