Hi Folks,

I did an early morning bike ride along the BWI Trail today, and did a short 
jaunt off-trail to visit the wetland near the BWI Amtrak station.  The 
GRASSHOPPER SPARROWs are singing along the trail, and I counted six of them 
in the vicinity of the Andover Overlook, behind the Equestrian Center off of 
Andover Rd. (N. AA Co.).  A singing WOOD THRUSH and vocalizing GREAT CRESTED 
FLYCTCHER, were my first in AA Co. this year.

After I returned home, I was sitting in the yard watching for birds while 
entering my morning list.  I heard a warbler singing, which at first I 
shrugged off as a Yellow-rump, and then decided Parula was better with its 
rising inflection.  But as I listened, it rang of Black-throated Blue, but 
it was just too buzzy.  I didn't dare think what I was thinking, but 
unbeknownst to me Elaine had gone to look for the bird, and when I found her 
she said she had seen it.  My first question was "does it have a necklace?" 
to which she replied in the affirmative.  This was our first yard CERULEAN 
WARBLER, and a bird I had not seen in AA Co. in over ten years.  The bird 
continued singing for some time, but was tough to see straight up in our 
biggest Southern Red Oak tree.  Actually, it was when it flew off into a 
neighbor's yard that I was able to get the scope on it.  Hoping for a photo, 
I got out the ipod and played its tune, which brought it right back into our 
yard, but then I was faced with the earlier problem of not getting a 
reasonable angle on it, and I never did get a photo.  Elaine heard the bird 
again in the late morning, but nothing has been singing since the temps went 
over 90 degrees.  We also had a busy Yellow PALM WARBLER flycatching among 
our fruit trees, our second of the year.  This is the first year we've ever 
had this bird in the Spring, and with the large numbers at Oxbow Lake this 
year, seems like there is some kind of invasion.

It was a no less than spectacular weekend on the E. Shore.  With most of my 
students off on field trips on Friday, I took the day off, and went birding. 
I began the day at Tuckahoe State Park, looking for my closeout creeper in 
QA Co., and my closeout Common Loon in Caroline.  I batted 50%.  I ran into 
Helen Patton there, and helped her find her closeout gnatcatcher on the QA 
side of Tuckahoe Creek.  I had been there for more than an hour and a half 
when we were birding along Crouse Mill Rd. in QA, and seven COMMON LOONs 
flew over northward, all flying abreast in a wide swath.  Though they were 
generally in QA Co., I could tell that the right wing tip of the right-most 
bird crossed the county line into Caroline Co. for closeout #99.  Here's a 
rundown on our finds:

Tuckahoe State Park, QA & Caroline Counties:

Wood Duck--2 (both)
Common Loon--7 (6 QA, 1 Cn)
Green Heron--1 (QA)
Greater Yellowlegs--1 (both)
Chimney Swift--2 (both)
Pileated Woodpecker--1 (QA)
E. Kingbird--2 in each co.
Yellow-throated Vireo--1 (QA)
Gnatcatcher--1 in each county (closeout for Helen)
Wood Thrush--1 in each co.
Brown Thrasher--2 (Cn)
Black-and-white Warbler--1 in each co.
Prothonotary Warbler--2 (both counties)
Ovenbird--2 (Cn)
Kentucky Warbler--1 in each co.
Orchard Oriole--1 in each co.

From there it was off to the Jackson Lane wetlands in northern Caroline, 
where the most interesting birds were a Harrier, a pair of Barred Owls, and 
several singing Common Yellowthroats.

Kibler road had several vernal pools, but only a few had shorebirds, and all 
of these were either GREATER or LESSER YELLOWLEGs.

The wind had kicked up quite a bit by the afternoon, and the river from the 
town of Choptank (Caroline Co.) was well named with its very choppy water. 
Not a bird in sight on the river, but the boat docks had nine LEAST TERNs 
flitting about, and resting on the pilings.

It was late afternoon when I arrived at Tanyard Marsh, where I would meet 
Bill Hubick and Jim Brighton.  The tide was down, and there were hundreds of 
birds on the flats.  Best bird for me there was GLOSSY IBIS, with six of 
them sitting on a sand bar.  Unfortunately, they flew off to the east before 
Bill and Jim arrived.  However, they were rewarded with a BLACK-BELLIED 
PLOVER which I did not get to see, as I had moved down the road a bit.  Here 
are my highlights from Tanyard, which is different than what Jim and Bill 
saw:

Green-winged Teal--35
Blue-winged Teal--1 hen (positively ID'd when it flew)
Glossy Ibis--6
Sempalmated Plover--7
Greater Yellowlegs--60
Lesser Yellowlegs--45
Pectoral Sandpiper--4
Least Sandpiper--25
Dunlin--3
W. Snipe--4
Caspian Tern--6
Least Tern--1

From there it was off to the ponds along Frazier Neck Rd. where Bill and I 
counted 16 GADWALL with 8 GW Teal.

Hurlock WWTP in Dorchester Co. was not particularly exciting.  There were 
both BONAPARTE'S GULLs and RUDDY DUCKs decked out in breeding plumage--very 
attractive.

We finished the daylight hours in Somerset Co. looking for woodcocks.  Got a 
call from John Hubbel who had found one on Green Rd., but it had finished 
its activity before we got there.

From there it was off to Irish Grove where we hooked up with Hans Holbrook, 
Jim Stasz, Mike Walsh and Mikey Lutmerding.  We socialized till about 10 
p.m., and then went down Rumbly Point Rd.  Tom and Geraldine Feild, Ron 
Gutberlet, and Steve Collins joined the group during the evening.  Before  I 
left the group at 1:30 a.m., three YELLOW RAILs had been heard, and BLACK, 
VIRGINIA, and CLAPPER RAILs were also heard, along with MARSH WRENs and 
SEASIDE SPARROWs.  It was a good night.

I spent the remainder of the night sleeping in my car at the end of Rumbly 
Point Rd., hoping to get some more rails in the morning.  I was up at 4:30 
a.m., and was able to hear two BLACK RAILs before the sun rose, but no more 
Yellows.

Before it got too light out, I headed up to Green Rd., near Marumsco Rd., 
where Hubbel had found woodcock the evening before.  Before I even got out 
of the car, I had two AM. WOODCOCKs peenting, and was able to view one good 
flight display, and heard a lot of wing whistles.  This was my county 
closeout #100.

I birded a little around Irish Grove Sanctuary, finding a very very vocal 
SEDGE WREN near the "Stasz Lookout" at the back edge of the Rail Trail. 
Also had Wild Turkey, Screech Owl, Purple Martin, Tree Swallow, and a 
singing Blue Grosbeak found by Mr. Stasz himself.

One last trip down Rumbly Point Rd. netted a good look at a SALTMARSH 
SPARROW, among the dozens of singing Seasides.

The next stop was along Pocomoke River Rd., along the river with the same 
name, where I did my sexiest EURASIAN COLLARED DOVE impersonation, bringing 
in one of these birds immediately making a very interesting, non-dove-like 
alarm call of sorts.  If only I knew what I had said in its language.  A 
singing PROTHONOTARY WARBLER was the only other bird of interest in this 
residential community along the river.

From Somerset, I traveled to Ocean City in hopes of finding the WF Ibis.  I 
found the apartments and vernal pond in the field, but there was not an ibis 
in sight.  I then headed towards Ocean City, and about a half mile past the 
McDonald's, in a fairly rural (not for long) stretch, was a flock of ibis, 
and sure enough the WHITE-FACED IBIS was with them.  Upon leaving Ocean 
City, I noticed that the flock had gotten bigger, and I counted 41 total 
ibis.  I went back to the original ibis spot to see if anyone was looking 
for it, and there I found Bob Ringler, Jo Solem, Joel Martin, and June 
Tveekram?.  I told them where the ibis flock was, and learned later that 
they, and many other birders, were able to find the White-face right there 
along US 50.

My last birding stop of the day would be in Dorchester Co., and Norris 
Twilley Rd. in Wicomico had some interesting birds along the way:  PRAIRIE 
WARBLER, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, YB CHAT, GRASSHOPPER SPARROW, and ORCHARD 
ORIOLE.

I would try, for the fifth time, to find La. Waterthrush in Dorchester Co. 
along Puckum Creek.  I parked along Puckum Rd., and walked the large path on 
the south side of the creek, heading west.  Somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 
mile along the path I finally heard LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH.  The stop yielded 
a lot of other warblers including YELLOW-RUMPED, YELLOW-THROATED, PINE, 
BLACK-AND-WHITE, WORM-EATER, and OVENBIRD.  Also, PRAIRIE WARBLER was heard 
on Wesley Rd., not far away.

I was back home by early afternoon, and it was a good day for hawks, with 
six BROAD-WINGs flying over the yard, some of them quite low.  Also had two 
N. HARRIERs, two SHARPIES and a KESTREL.  Elaine had had our yard's first 
INDIGO BUNTING that morning, and we had our first BARN SWALLOWs in the 
afternoon.  We continue to get COMMON LOONs flying over the yard almost 
every day, with a high count of 27 last Tuesday, 21 April.

Good luck to all who try for the Yellow Rails.  We are learning a lot about 
this bird's distribution.

Stan Arnold
Ferndale (AA Co.)