Hi Folks,

I've been doing weekly surveys at Swan Creek since the beginning of April 
this year, and was there fairly early this morning.  I scoured the big 
dredge impoundments and was soon joined by Elaine Hendricks and Ed Carlson. 
We had pretty much the same birds that Dan Haas reported from yesterday, 
with the most notable additions being a singing SWAMP SPARROW, the first one 
reported there since 12 May, and a BANK SWALLOW flying with several Barn 
Swallows over the north dredge pond.  Shorebirds just have not made it here 
yet, other than a couple of Spotties (virtually resident) and a single 
distant peep.  For me, an enjoyable find was a YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO perching 
obligingly in the sunlight prompting me to run back to the car for my 
camera, but the bird was not refound.  It was nice to view fledgling LEAST 
TERNs as well, one of them being fed by an adult.  Below is the complete 
ebird report.

Yesterday I was joined by Leslie Starr and Joe Turner for a trip down the 
OSV zone of Assateague.  We had no boobies, just rain instead.  The entire 
zone is now open, so we drove down to the state line, and then visited Fox 
Hill Level.  We probably tallied around 20 WHIMBRELs for the trip, and a 
good variety of shorebirds, but no show-stoppers.  Our sea-watch was 
hampered by light rain blowing in from the ocean, and I suspect we had a 
single Black Tern, but otherwise only the common birds.  Probably the most 
notable find was an injured immature GANNET sitting on the beach.  We drove 
right up to it, and Joe took a bunch of pictures, and I got a few myself. 
The bird had a real struggle getting to the water when it tried to move.

Late in the morning we met Mike Burchett at Castaways where we all rented a 
motor boat with the plan of visiting the Assateague shoreline.  The trip was 
a fiasco.  Without any nautical charts, we had no idea where the deep 
channels were, and the water is generally extremely shallow all the way 
across to the island, as evidenced by the numerous mud flats seen at low 
tide.  After motor problems and then getting grounded, I think we were all 
happy just to end the trip.  A kayak would do better, but Kevin Graff and I 
tried this several weeks ago, putting in at the Verazano Bridge, and it was 
an exhausting trip.  It would probably be best to get permission from 
Castaways to launch a kayak there.

Time to get some rest.  I sense it's almost time to go chase another new 
state bird.

Stan Arnold
Ferndale (AA Co.)

>
> Location:     Swan Creek Dredged Material Facility
> Observation date:     7/24/09
> Notes:     Birded with Elaine Hendricks and Ed Carlson.
> Number of species:     51
>
> Canada Goose     21
> Mute Swan     2
> Mallard     6
> Double-crested Cormorant     9
> Great Blue Heron     11
> Great Egret     4
> Snowy Egret     4
> Little Blue Heron     13
> Cattle Egret     2
> Green Heron     3
> Glossy Ibis     2
> Black Vulture     1
> Turkey Vulture     4
> Osprey     3
> American Kestrel     3
> Killdeer     5
> Spotted Sandpiper     2
> peep sp.     1
> Ring-billed Gull     1
> Herring Gull (American)     7
> Great Black-backed Gull     40
> gull sp.     25
> Least Tern     3
> Forster's Tern     2
> Mourning Dove     1
> Yellow-billed Cuckoo     1
> Belted Kingfisher     1
> Eastern Kingbird     3
> American Crow     3
> Purple Martin     7
> Bank Swallow     1
> Barn Swallow     9
> Tufted Titmouse     1
> Carolina Wren     5
> Marsh Wren     3
> American Robin     2
> Northern Mockingbird     1
> European Starling     6
> Cedar Waxwing     6
> Common Yellowthroat     1
> warbler sp.     1 (yellow with wing bars; best viewed by Ed)
> Eastern Towhee     1
> Song Sparrow     1
> Swamp Sparrow     1
> Northern Cardinal     4
> Blue Grosbeak     3
> Indigo Bunting     3
> Red-winged Blackbird     18
> Common Grackle     2
> House Finch     1
> American Goldfinch     5
>
> This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
>