I had the day off on Wednesday and decided to go birding on the western shore. I made a number of stops along the way. One of my goals was to find a Wood Duck in St. Mary's County. The Wood Duck has been a longstanding but elusive goal for me.  I have needed it for a County Closeout for well over a year. I have included a complete list at the bottom of this posting of the day's results. 

I started on Smokey Road Patuxent River NRMA  at about 6:45 AM. I had been here before but had never taken the time to walk beyond the "No Vehicles" sign. Shortly after I got out of the car I had a pair of Barred Owls calling. I am guessing that I walked about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 miles to reach the Patuxent River. I was hoping for some early migrants but had to be satisfied with lingering winter birds. Highlights walking along the way and and back included Pine Warbler, Fox Sparrow, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Red-breasted Nuthatch. There were not any ducks on the Patuxent River; all of the dabblers I saw were in the marshy areas of Chew Creek.

A quick scan of the Chesapeake Bay from several locations in North Beach: Common Goldeneye, Horned Grebes in various stages of breeding plumage, Bufflehead and Lesser Scaup.

After a quick scan at Rose Manor (Anne Arrundel County) I began driving across Calvert County towards the Rt. 231 Patuxent River  Bridge. I stopped along the Mill Creek crossing on Stoakley Road (wood ducks, Red-shouldered Hawk and Swamp Sparrow) and then at the end of Buena Vista  Road (off of Leitches Wharf Road) where I counted 580 Ruddy Ducks and 1 female Canvasback.


After crossing into Charles County I headed straight into St. Mary's county. I drove several back roads that had stream/creek crossings in the hope of finding a Wood Duck. After 3-4 fruitless tries I found an inviting swampy area on Rt. 6 where it crosses Persimmon Creek.
As I exited the car I was face to face with a Sharp-shinned Hawk with fresh blood on its talons perched 15 feet away from me at eye level.
Ten Mallards quickly took flight and a minute later 6 ducks quietly picked up and flew overhead... they were WOOD DUCKKS!!! thirty seconds later I heard two and then saw one Red-headed Woodpecker.

I next visited the St. Mary's County Waste Water Treatment Plant outside of Leonardtown), asked and receive permission to check out their pond for waterfowl (Ring-necked Ducks and Lesser Scaup and Savannah Sparrows).

I then went to the Beauvue Ponds - 90% of the waterfowl I saw were on one pond (Mute Swans, Ring-necked Ducks,American Wigeon, Redhead and Gadwall.

After quickly checking the end of Abell's Wharf Road I headed for charles County. My four stops here were Allen's Fresh, Chapel Point State Park, Port Tobacco and Mattawoman Creek (accessed off of Rt. 224.

SMOKEY ROAD...CALVERT COUNTY
Great Blue Heron...2
Canada Goose...4
Wood Duck...5
A. Black Duck...2
Green-winged Teal...1
Osprey...1
Bald Eagle...3
Red-tailed Hawk...1
Least Sandpiper...7
Ring-billed Gull...3
Mourning Do...5
Barred Owl...2
Red-bellied Woodpecker......7
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker...2
Downy Woodpecker...2
 Hairy Woodpecker...1
N. Flicker...5
E. Phoebe...4
Blue Jay...6
 Fish Crow...2
 American Crow...5
Horned Lark...2
Carolina Chickadee...5 
Tufted Titmouse...6
RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH...1
BROWN CREEPER...1
Golden-crowned Kinglet...1
A. Robin...5
Brown Thrasher...2
E. Starling...5
Yellow-rumped Warbler...1
Pine Warbler...6
E. Towheee (seemed to be singing everywhere)...15
Field Sparrow...2
FOX SPARROW...2
White-throated Sparrow...20
Dark-eyed Junco...6
N. Cardinal...20
Red-winged Blackbird...5
Common Grackle...3
B.-H. cowbird..9
A. goldfinch...3

NORTH BEACH - CALVERT COUNTY
Horned Grebe...65
Bufflehead...95
Common Goldeneye...1 male... very close to shore

NORTH BEACH MARSH (high tide)
Great Blue Heron...3
Green-winged Teal...23

ROSE MANOR - ANNE ARRUNDEL COUNTY
Horned Grebe...15
Common Loon...3
Bufflehead...150
Surf Scoter...80
(Lots of Scaup species too far out to scope)

STOAKLEY ROAD (at MILL CREEK CROSSING)
Red-bellied woodpecker...1
E. Towhee...6
Song Sparrow...8
White-throated Sparrow...5
Swamp Sparrow...3 (County Bird)
Red-winged Blackbird...11

BUENA VISTA RD. (off of Leitches Wharf Road) - CALVERT COUNTY
D.-C. Cormorants...4 
Ruddy Ducks...580
Canvasback...1 (female) (County Bird)

RT. 231 - HALLOWING POINT - CALVERT COUNTY
Mallard...37 
Canvasback...1 (male.probably looking for the female I just saw)
Fish Crow...2
A. Coot...55

RT. 6 - PERSIMMON CREEK CROSSING - ST. MARY'S COUNTY
Mallard...10
Wood duck...6   (County Bird and County Closeout #71)
Sharp-shinned Hawk...1
E. Bluebird...7
A. Crow...5
RED-HEADED WOODPECKER...2
N. Cardinal...2
White-throated Sparrow...4

ST. MARY'S WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT
Canada Goose...12
Mallards...2
Ring-necked ducks...14
Lesser Scaup...5
Red-tailed Hawk...1
Red-bellied woodpecker...2
Downy Woodpecker...2
Blue Jay...1
Tufted Titmouse...2
Pine Warbler...1
Savannah Sparrow...6

BEAUVUE PONDS - ST. MARY'S COUNTY
Great Blue Heron...3
Mute Swan...5 (one on nest)
Canada Goose...62
American Wigeon...12
Gadwall...4
Ring-necked Ducks...89
Redhead...1
Field Sparrow...3
E. Meadowlark...1

END OF ABELL'S WHARF ROAD - ST. MARY'S COUNTY
Common Loon...1
Horned Grebe...4
Osprey...5
Scaup sp...46
D.-C. Cormorant...10

I next headed for CHARLES COUNTY. I was on Rt. 234 and intended to turn onto Allens Fresh Road. I missed my turn and did a U-turn. As I reapproached the intersection to make my turn, on the opposite side of the road I saw a rather large perched bird. The name of the intersection on that side of the road is Stines Store Road. I enjoyed 5 minute  scoped views of a PEREGRINE FALCON (County Bird). 

Allens Fresh was at high tide,; other than Bald Eagles and Ospreys I continued on.

CHAPEL POINT STATE PARK - CHARLES COUNTY
Lesser Scaup...10
Ruddy Duck...81
Swamp sparrow...1

PORT TOBACCO - CHARLES COUNTY
D.-C. Cormorant...14
Osprey...3
Ring-billed Gull...13
Forster's Tern...3 (FOY)
Belted Kingfisher...1

MATTAWOMAN CREEK Acessed from Rt. 234) - CHARLES COUNTY

A. Black duck...2
Wood Duck...5
Common Merganser...6 (County Bird)

As I was walking out of the woods and nearing the car I heard a Barred Owl calling several times.  I had a great day. I realized on the drive home that I began my day AND ended the day with vocal BARRED OWL(s).