My wife and I have a baby on the way in September and a 16 month old
(with quite a life list), so I've been focusing most of my time here
in good old AA County.  But the lure of an Eastern Shore marsh in the
middle of the night was simply too hard to resist.

Whips? Chucks? Owls? Rails? Coffee?

So the alarm was set for midnight.  Chris Murray and I headed to
Elliott Island Road, simply to enjoy the sounds of the marsh.  Rare
bird sounds perhaps?  Yes, that too. I was also hoping to hear a
blood-curdling Barn Owl scream, but there was none of that fun.

Around 1:30, I get a text from Bill Hubick about the 3 YERA in
Somerset.  Argh!  If I didn't have to be home early this morning, we
would've made the additional 1.5 hour trip.  But, truth be told, we
also wanted to see if perhaps a YERA or two might be clicking away in
Dorchester.

So, I pulled out my father's old Smith Corona typewriter and started
to work.  I got nearly 12 pages typed (single-spaced) before we heard
the Black Rails.  That was thrilling.  And NO, we did not use tape.
We simply exercised patience.  With the help of donuts and some
caffeine, our slow trip down through the marsh was, as it always is,
an adventure.

Here are some of the highlights:

Location:     Elliott Island Road
Notes:     We did NOT use tape to observe the Black Rails.  We did
have $.30 in our pockets, in search of the Yellow Rail. Despite our
best attempts at banging a quarter and a nickel together, no YERA was
heard on E.I.R. this AM.  Near where we heard the Black Rails, there
was some spray paint on the road that read, "I <heart> KeKe Kerr."  We
do too.

BLACK RAIL     2
Clapper Rail
Virginia Rail
Marsh Wren
Seaside Sparrow

Location:     Bestpitch Ferry Road / Wooded Area

Wild Turkey     (loud as could be, making it hard for the lady turkeys
and the hunters to resist.)
Great Horned Owl     2 (responding to the...)
Barred Owl     3 (loud as could be)
CHUCK-WILL'S-WIDOW     7
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher     2
Wood Thrush     2
Northern Parula     1
Pine Warbler     11 (everywhere)
Ovenbird     3
Common Yellowthroat     10 (also everywhere)
Chipping Sparrow     (a plethora of them)

Location:     Maple Dam Road

Gadwall     1
Green-winged Teal     4
Common Loon     1 (fly over)
Double-crested Cormorant     2 (fly overs)
Great Blue Heron     1!
Great Egret     1
Snowy Egret     1
Bald Eagle     37 (more like 100 or so, but 37 seemed more reasonable)
Northern Harrier     2
Clapper Rail     5
Virginia Rail     5
Killdeer     2
Greater Yellowlegs     15
WILLET      2
Lesser Yellowlegs     6
Dunlin     9
Laughing Gull     8
CHUCK-WILL'S-WIDOW     1
Brown-headed Nuthatch     4
House Wren     1
Marsh Wren     21 (singing all over the marsh)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet     1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher      2
Northern Parula     1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)     2
Pine Warbler     12
PRAIRIE WARBLER     1
Ovenbird     1
Common Yellowthroat     7
Seaside Sparrow     30
Swamp Sparrow     1

Location:     Crapo, MD

Wood Duck     4
Black Duck 2
Blue-winged Teal     2
Green-winged Teal     3
Greater Yellowlegs     10
Lesser Yellowlegs     2
Eastern Phoebe     1

Location:     Blackwater Refuge Parking Lot

Common Loon     1 (flyover)
Great Egret     1
Red-tailed Hawk     2
Greater & Lesser Yellowlegs
RED-HEADED Woodpecker     2
Chipping,  Savannah, Song, GRASSHOPPER SPARROWS
BLUE GROSBEAK     1
Eastern Meadowlark     4
ORCHARD ORIOLE     1

Location:     Egypt Road / North of Blackwater  / site of the new,
soon-to-be peep filled impoundments

Greater & Lesser Yellowlegs
LEAST SANDPIPER     1
Laughing Gull     (fields full of them)
Northern Parula     1
Pine Warbler     1
Prothonotary Warbler     2
Ovenbird     1
Common Yellowthroat     2
Grasshopper Sparrow     4

These reports were generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Good Birding,

Dan Haas
West Annapolis, MD