Hi Folks,

I spent more than seven hours hiking North Assateague this morning, and when 
I got back to the car I checked my emails to see that there was a Roseate 
Spoonbill in Delaware close to the Maryland line.  I got to the the 
spoonbill location shortly after 2 p.m. to find several Maryland birders 
(mostly from Wicomico Co.), but Delaware birders surprisingly absent. 
Doesn't anyone from the First State play hooky from work for a bird like 
this?  Anyway, the question on the minds of many Maryland birders is "can we 
wait around until it flies into Maryland?"  And the answer is probably not. 
The bird is not sitting in some remote marsh where it might move around to 
the next similar marsh.  When I saw the bird it was essentially sitting in 
someone's back yard near a small inlet of the Indian River.  I was told that 
the bird had been there for a couple of days, and would fly around the local 
neighborhood.  It's in a location where Maryland is not visible, so if it 
did fly south, one could not tell where it went, and a search would have to 
ensue.

Many folks on this listserve may still want to see the bird, so here are 
some directions:  from Hwy 1 in Ocean City going north, pass 146th street, 
cross the Delaware line, then turn left onto Rt 54 (Lighthouse Rd.).  Go 
about 1/2 mile and pass the Catch 54 Restaurant on the right, and take the 
next right onto a narrow little road.  It's probably best to park in the 
Catch 54 overflow parking lot on the right, though I don't know if this has 
been cleared with the restaurant yet.  From this lot walk north 100 yards to 
a fence, and look across to the inlet.

Assateague North

My main reason for writing is to post on a few birds I found while hiking 
north Assateague.  Rob Ostrowski was going to join me, but sadly work 
interfered, so I ended up going solo.  Got to the Assateague Visitor Center 
parking lot at 5:35 a.m., had some breakfast, and then began my 7.5 mile 
round-trip hike.  No major finds today, but I was hoping for at least PIPING 
PLOVER, and it took a mile or two before I saw my first of 29.  This is only 
a percentage of the island's population; I talked to some NPS census takers, 
and they said there were 43 active nests on N. Assateague.  I saw one little 
fledge running from the beach to the dunes, while a parent did the 
"look-at-me-I'm-injured; see-I-have-a-broken-wing; 
no-make-that-two-broken-wings" routine.  The winds were out of the north, so 
not conducive to bringing in any of the pelagic species I was hoping for.  I 
was therefore surprised to scan out to sea and find a flock of 23 WILSON'S 
STORM-PETRELs all in a line, taking turns on being the leader.  They 
eventually dispersed, but I did periodic scans of the ocean throughout the 
morning, and consistently came across 6 or 8 of these birds with each scan.

Other interesting finds were a single WESTERN SANDPIPER among 16 Semi 
Sandpipers, and a single BLACK SKIMMER flying along the beach.  I counted 
seven NORTHERN GANNETs, mostly first and second year birds, but at least two 
were full adults.  LEAST TERNs were plentiful, and I estimated a very 
conservative 90 of them.  They were also very territorial, and did not 
hesitate to dive bomb me when I walked next to their restricted area.  In 
fact, one of those little sh_ts actually hit me with a salvo on my bare arm, 
which I had to wash off with wet sand.  I got the message, and continued my 
walk much closer to the waves.

Most of North Assateague, by the way, is a restricted area for the nesting 
birds, and there is little access to the bay side areas.  I recall from 
several years ago that full access returns sometime in early August.

The full ebird report for the outing is below.

Stan Arnold
Ferndale (AA Co.)



> Location:     Assateague North (Vis Ctr to OC Inlet)
> Observation date:     6/24/09
> Number of species:     57
>
> American Black Duck     1
> Mallard     1
> Wilson's Storm-Petrel     23
> Northern Gannet     7
> Brown Pelican     29
> Double-crested Cormorant     26
> Great Egret     6
> Snowy Egret     4
> Little Blue Heron     1
> Tricolored Heron     1
> Osprey     4
> Black-bellied Plover     3
> Semipalmated Plover     1
> Piping Plover     29
> Killdeer     3
> American Oystercatcher     18
> Willet (Eastern)     45
> Ruddy Turnstone     2
> Sanderling     4
> Semipalmated Sandpiper     16
> Western Sandpiper     1
> Laughing Gull     65
> Ring-billed Gull     2
> Herring Gull (American)     18
> Lesser Black-backed Gull     1
> Great Black-backed Gull     15
> Least Tern     90
> Common Tern     6
> Forster's Tern     5
> Royal Tern     9
> Black Skimmer     1
> Mourning Dove     7
> Eastern Kingbird     4
> American Crow     1
> Fish Crow     4
> Purple Martin     5
> Barn Swallow     4
> Carolina Wren     1
> House Wren     3
> American Robin     3
> Gray Catbird     6
> Brown Thrasher     3
> European Starling     8
> Yellow Warbler     3
> Common Yellowthroat     3
> Yellow-breasted Chat     1
> Eastern Towhee     3
> Chipping Sparrow     1
> Northern Cardinal     1
> Blue Grosbeak     4
> Indigo Bunting     2
> Red-winged Blackbird     10
> Eastern Meadowlark     7
> Common Grackle (Purple)     9
> Boat-tailed Grackle     12
> American Goldfinch     3
> House Sparrow     3
>
> This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
>