The Kent County Bird Club trip on Saturday, 14 March joined forces with 
a group from Anne Arundel County, led by Tom Bradford, at Pickering 
Creek Audubon Center, Talbot County. We started by going out to Sharp 
Road to check the far impoundments, where a few Mallards, pintails, 
black ducks, and a pair of Gadwall were made a bit wary by our presence. 
From the corner of the driveway, we spotted a large, dark raptor in a 
big tulip poplar at the back of the field. Walter got the scope on it, 
revealing the all-dark body, sharply marked white-based tail and 
straw-yellow nape feathering of a GOLDEN EAGLE. It remained perched, 
occasionally preening, as we walked along the road to where a flock of 
Canada Geese fed in an adjacent field. Walter picked out a pair of 
Cackling Geese just before the flock took to the skies, so not everyone 
got to see them. As we returned up the driveway, we noticed that the 
Golden Eagle had taken flight and was soaring overhead, revealing the 
very small white primary spots of a sub-adult bird. It was soon joined 
by a sub-adult Bald Eagle, with just a hint of a tail band, and the two 
eagles soared together, allowing ample study of the subtle differences 
in wing-shape between them - the Golden showing the characteristic bulge 
along the middle of the trailing edge in comparison to the Bald's more 
plank-like flight outline.

We spent the rest of the morning walking the trails, with particularly 
satisfactory encounters with White-crowned Sparrows, Ruby-crowned 
Kinglet, female Belted Kingfisher, an immature Red-tailed Hawk, Eastern 
Meadowlarks, and good numbers of Tundra Swans overhead. A complete 
species list follows this message.

All-in-all, it was a rewarding trip.

Good Birding,

Walter Ellison & Nancy Martin
Chestertown, MD

Complete Species List (51 total):
Cackling Goose, Canada Goose, Tundra Swan, Wood Duck, Gadwall, American 
Black Duck, Mallard, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Green-winged 
Teal, Bufflehead, Great Blue Heron, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Bald 
Eagle, Northern Harrier, Red-tailed Hawk, Golden Eagle, Killdeer, 
Wilson's Snipe, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Mourning Dove, Belted 
Kingfisher, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Downy 
Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Pileated Woodpecker, Blue Jay, American 
Crow, Horned Lark, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren, 
Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, Northern 
Mockingbird, European Starling, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Eastern Towhee, 
Field Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, 
White-crowned Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, Eastern 
Meadowlark, Common Grackle.