Yesterday I took a day off and headed south to work on what has been my  
most pathetically anemic county list, St. Mary's. It was a great day of  
exploration with some very nice birds, although there were virtually no  
migrants. I had 84  total species for the day, which could have been much  higher 
with any kind of migration.
 
I crossed the bridge into St. Mary's at around 5 AM and turned onto  
Patuxent Blvd., where a distant CHUCK-WILL'S-WIDOW was singing near Mill Cove  
Road. From there it was straight to the St. Mary's county airport. I first  
drove down Airport Road where another Chuck was singing, then went around to  
Lawrence Hayden Road and parked at the west end of the runway. Lots of  
GRASSHOPPER and FIELD SPARROWs, CHATS and PRAIRIE WARBLERS. A single  
WHIP-POOR-WILL gave a brief but strong burst of song near the intersection with  
Huckleberry.
 
Next stop was the Beauvue ponds area. The ponds themselves were socked in  
with fog, but I had nice looks at MEADOWLARKS and BLUE GROSBEAKS, as well as 
 several BLACKPOLL WARBLERS in the cedars, my only migrant warbler of the 
day.  Best bird was a NORTHERN BOBWHITE that called to the south of Abell's 
Wharf Road  -- at least I'm pretty sure it was the real deal. Anyone know if 
Bobwhites exist  in that area?
 
On to the St. Mary's River Park wildlands area described in a recent post  
by Tyler Bell. During a long walk I found 2 SWAINSON'S THRUSH and 1  
GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH, at least 5 HOODED WARBLERS and 2 KENTUCKY's, and a singing  
SUMMER TANAGER, along with some commoner species.
 
I finally made my way to Point Lookout SP, which was very quiet. Best bird  
here was a ho-ho-ho-ing LEAST BITTERN in the last patch of phrags before 
the  point parking area. It seemed to respond to my lame vocal imitations but  
would not show itself, even though it was just feet away. A little later I 
ran  into Sigrid Stiles, who was able to also hear the bird. In return, 
Sigrid  directed me to a RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, practically in her back yard, 
which I  was able to see before heading home.
 
Stops along Cornfield Harbor and Longneck Road were mostly unproductive of  
new species except for a GREAT EGRET flyover on Longneck.
 
Thanks to Sigrid and to Patty Craig for their advice, and to Tyler Bell,  
Bill Hubick and others who have posted such detailed information on this and  
many other parts of our state.
 
Joel Martin
Catonsville, MD
 (mailto:[log in to unmask])  
 
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