Hi Everybody: 

     I have been on vacation since this past Saturday; with my wife having to work I took full advantage of my days of and decided to work on my County Lists. I met Bill Hubick & Ron Gutberlet before 5 AM in St. Mary's County to participate in the statewide IBA Bird Blitzes. I will not comment on the Blitzes we did and the ensuing birding in Calvert County since Bill H. has already reported very nicely about our results. I have been birding non-stop since Sunday (6/28) and this is the first chance I have had to set down my binoculars and post my results. So I do apologize for the late postings but birding in the field definitely has its priority over posting about birding in the field. I am giving a report separate report for each day.

     Before I met Bill & Ron on Sunday morning (I think I left Gaithersburg about 2:15 AM) I stopped at Smokey Road in Calvert  County hoping for Whips. I took a half hour walk into the woods and struck out on the Whips but I did hear a Yellow-billed Cuckoo calling and inadvertently walked very close to some begging Barred Owls making their "Whooshing" sound. I am guessing there were 2 of them. My next stop was behind the St. Mary's County Airport where I also had no luck with nightjars. I stood on Lawrence Hayden Road and heard the following species (listed in the order in which I heard the first species of each calling) from 5 Am to 5:30 AM. I thought it was interestinG to hear which birds started earliest and for that reason I wish I could have been there even earlier.

     Yellow-breasted Chat    4
     Grasshopper Sparrow    2
     Eastern Bluebird    1
     Indigo Bunting    1
     Catbird    1
     Great- horned Owl    2   calling off and on for about 15 minutes       (a County Bird) 
     N. Cardinal    1
     E. Towhee    2
     Common yellowthroat    2
     Mourning Dove     1
     Wild Turkey    1     Calling periodically for about 20 minutes    ( a County Bird)
     Field Sparrow    1
     Wood Thrush    1

     After meeting Bill & Ron, each of us doing our separate IBA Bird Blitz, and then birding together in St. Mary's and Calvert Counties I left the two of them and headed for the Eastern Shore. I was planning to be home no later than Wednesday evening. After crossing the Bay Bridge I pulled into a parking lot and took an hour "power nap" in the car. Feeling revived I headed east on Rt. 50 and made the following stops before dusk, all in Dorcester County:

Dorcester County - Linkwood Road at Higgins Mill Pond (south of Rt. 50):

     Wood Duck     1 (female)
     Carolina Wren    1
     Prothonotary Warbler    !

                             Ennalls Road - Dorcester Sewage Treatment Ponds (most swallows WERE on telephone wires)

     Wood Ducks    2
     Red-tailed Hawk    1
     Tree Swallows  easily 500 with lots of immatures
     Barn Swallow    22
     Purple Martin    3 ( all juvenals)
     Horned Lark    3

                             Rt. 14 Bridge Crossing over Marshyhope Creek near Eldorado

     Fish Crow    2
     Barn Swallow    4
     Cliff Swallow     5       (a County Bird)
     Prothonotary  Warbler    1


    Jim Green
    Gaithersburg, MD

     WORK IN MODERATION, BIRD IN EXCESS!!!