Hi Everyone,

I spent a great day birding today with Jim Brighton, Tom Feild, and Mikey Lutmerding. We started early in the town of Crumpton in northern Queen Anne's Co. Jim Stasz had noted the number of spruces and hemlocks in town along the Chester River, and last weekend detected a single White-winged Crossbill on Front Street. We didn't have any luck with crossbills today, but the area did hold at least 11 PINE SISKINs, a soaring PEREGRINE FALCON, and a pair of courting RED-SHOULDERED HAWKs. 

Checking promising groves of cone-laden evergreens along the way, we decided to swing by the Chino area and try for the wintering but predictably unpredictable NORTHERN SHRIKE. We stopped at Jim B's last successful spot, stepped out of the car, and Mikey quickly picked it out in the distance. As recently observed, it was found north of Round Top Wharf Road west of Kibler Road. 

In the late afternoon, as we walked a hedgerow west of Tuckahoe Lake in Queen Anne's Co., Jim Brighton called our attention to a male American Robin with striking plumage. We were excited to recognize it as the black-backed subspecies of American Robin, BLACK-BACKED ROBIN (T. m. nigrideus), which nests in northeastern Canada (e.g., Newfoundland). Most striking was the bird's decidedly black upperpart coloration, which continued from the head and nape down its back. Once noted, it stood out among other robins even naked-eye and at a distance. Its breast was also a deeper orange-red. It was so strikingly black and red that it recalled an Eastern Towhee's coloration. Subspecies notes by Marshall Iliff list six USNM specimens of this subspecies from Maryland, as well as a record observed by Iliff and Hafner on 1/24/2002 at Parsonsburg, Wicomico County. Matt Hafner has seen the subspecies twice in Maryland. Marshall's notes mention that the MD/DCRC would like
 to archive documentation of this subspecies, so we'll put together some notes and bad photos. 

Below are some other noteworthy birds from the day:

Chestertown WWTP/John Hanson Road, Kent Co.

Northern Shoveler--5
Ring-necked Duck--86
Common Goldeneye--1
Bufflehead--1
Ruddy Duck--3
Ring-billed Gull--35

Rte. 309 Ponds, Queen Anne's Co.

Snow Goose--1000+
Tundra Swan--35
Green-winged Teal--68 between 5 ponds
Northern Pintail--4
Ring-necked Duck--4
Lesser Scaup--2
Northern Harrier--1

Tuckahoe Lake, Caroline Co. side

Wood Duck--2
Green-winged Teal--25
Mallard--30
Blue-winged Teal--1
American Wigeon--3
Ring-necked Duck--9
Hooded Merganser--6
American Coot--7
Wilson's Snipe--1
Winter Wren--1
Swamp Sparrow--2

Sparks Road, Caroline Co.

Eastern Phoebe--1
Brown Creeper--1

Mason Branch Road north of Rte 312, Caroline Co.

600+ blackbirds held about 400 Common Grackles
Purple Grackle--200+ 
Bronzed Grackle--8
(remainder weren't checked thoroughly)

Ridgely WWTP, Caroline Co.

Ring-necked Duck--1
Lesser Scaup--1

Rte 404 just west of Denton, Caroline Co.

Wild Turkey--1

Denton WWTP, Caroline Co.

Green-winged Teal--1
Ring-necked Duck--148
Bufflehead--5

Fields in northern Caroline Co.

Green-winged Teal--21
Northern Harrier--1 adult male
Savannah Sparrow--36
Swamp Sparrow--31
Song Sparrow--9
Non-avian: Calling New Jersey Chorus Frogs

Crouse Mill Road, Queen Anne's Co.

Eastern Screech-Owl--1
Hairy Woodpecker--1
White-breasted Nuthatch--2
American Robin--280
American Robin (Black-backed)--1
Song Sparrow--15
Field Sparrow--1

Dusk near Grasonville, Queen Anne's Co. 

Canada Goose--2000+ 
Green-winged Teal--98
Northern Pintail--61
Hooded Merganser--1
American Woodcock--1; peannting, one display flight
Eastern Towhee--1

Good birding!

Bill

Bill Hubick
Pasadena, Maryland

http://www.billhubick.com