Quick update on the above birds.

 

Arrived at Catch 54 around noon Saturday, July 4th (Happy Birthday Chris
Ordiway) and went to the end of Madison Avenue within minutes and spoke with
the wonderful elderly couple at the house at the end of the avenue.  They
had not seen the roseate spoonbill so far Saturday and thought maybe it had
moved on.  I decided to stay at the fence and watch the other birds Canada
geese 57 adults and 17 young, 2 black crowned night heron, 7 Great Egrets, 1
snowy egret, 2 Great Blue heron, 14 mallard ducks, 9 robins, 3 European
starlings, 1 turkey vulture, 3 common grackle which were all in the yard in
front of the little white building.  Out on the mud flat in front of the
marsh area was 2 oyster catchers, 3 killdeer, 1 willet, 3 pigeons, 1 snowy
egret, 1 osprey, 20 Royal terns, 4 black skimmers, 1 green heron, 1 little
blue heron, 2 Great Blue heron and finally around 4:50pm just the head and
bill of the roseate spoonbill in the marsh.  A couple minutes later Dave
Palmer from Easton arrived and I told him where I had seen the roseate
spoonbill and we both started looking again and it flew out of the marsh
onto the mud flat and we could see it with our binoculars, scope and through
our camera lens.  What a treat, I was so excited and Dave was very
knowledgeable about the bird.  We continued to observe for some time trying
to get pictures but the bird was just so far away.  It appeared to just be
hanging out as it was not eating, eventually the herring gulls and royal
terns intimidated the spoonbill and it flew back into the marsh not to be
seen again by us.  

 

I ask Dave about the location of Silver Lake and the black bellied whistling
duck and we decided to try to see it before it got too late.  We drove the
short distance to the lake me being driven by Tyrone Harris who is a new
birder.  Once there Dave and I got to take a few pictures since he had
already located the black bellied whistling duck with many mallards near the
two bench's next to the flag pole on the left side as you face the lake from
the road.  Both of these birds were life birds for me and I want to thank
Dave for his help in locating the duck.  (Wish I hadn't spooked the birds by
walking near the tree)

 

On our way to Fenwick in the morning we stopped at Blackwater NWR in
Cambridge and there was a tundra swan there.  We also saw 6 eastern king
birds, 10 redwing blackbirds, 1 red tailed hawk, 2 bluebirds, 6 purple
martins, 3 barn swallows, 15 tree swallows, 5 Great egrets, 5 osprey besides
the parents with the 2 young on the nest, 7 American robins, 1 pileated
woodpecker, 4 ruby crowned kinglets, 1 red belly woodpecker, 3 common
grackles, 1 yellow throated vireo, 1 prothonotary warbler, 3 carolina
chickadees, 2 tufted titmouse, 1 cardinal, 2 killdeer, 9 Great Blue heron, 1
orchard oriole, 3 more bluebirds, 1 Eastern phoebe and 4 great crested
flycatchers.  What a wonderful birding day.

 

Happy Birding to all,

Patricia (Pat) Rose

Callaway, St Mary's County, Maryland



 

Please forgive me if I failed to use totally correct names for the birds as
it has been a very long day.