Details from this afternoon.
After finishing up at the OC Convention center for a work-related
event, I drove down to the inlet. A quick scan produced a few terns,
some Northern Gannets and not much else. I decided to hit Skimmer
Island to try to locate the gulls that Bill Hubick mentioned in an
earlier post. I was not able to locate them.
I stopped on the shoulder of Rt 50 Westbound and walked out onto the
bridge, immediately after noticing a sizable flock of terns feeding
over a large raft of cormorants. More below...
Roseate Tern Notes: Observed from Rt 50 bridge. The bird was feeding
with a large mixed flock of Common, Forsters (and three nearby flyover
Royals) over a huge raft of fishing DC Cormorants. It had a deep,
black bill, a full adult breeding hood, a silvery-white back with a
long tail. I would've liked to have seen it with a longer tail. I had
the bird in my scope for a good 20-30 seconds, watching it hover and
fly away from me. Occasionally, the bird would give a profile view,
displaying it's black bill and expected hood for a Roseate. It was
quite close and hunting at eye-level. It eventually flew North around
the pier at Hoopers and I lost it. I quickly got in my volvo and moved
to the parking lot at Hoopers in an attempt to refind the bird. I
found the cormorant flock and the many terns hovering above, but I was
not able to relocate the star of the show.
Other birds observed:
Brant 12
Canada Goose 2
Mallard 4
Double-crested Cormorant 75
Great Blue Heron 1
Little Blue Heron 1
Tricolored Heron 1
Black-bellied Plover 1
American Oystercatcher 8
Willet 2
Ruddy Turnstone 3
Laughing Gull 2
Ring-billed Gull 1
Herring Gull 30
Great Black-backed Gull 18
Least Tern 5
Common Tern 19
Forster's Tern 27
Royal Tern 3
Chimney Swift 1
Purple Martin 1
Tree Swallow 1
Barn Swallow 3
European Starling 2
Song Sparrow 1
Boat-tailed Grackle 2
Good Birding,
Dan Haas
West Annapolis, MD
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