Hi Folks,

I was not planning to visit Swan Creek today, but after seeing John 
Hubbell's report of three White Ibis flying into AA County yesterday 
afternoon, I decided to see if these birds might have wandered north to Swan 
Creek.  Alas, they were not there, but I did get a nice consolation prize. 
Yesterday at Assateague both Bill Hubick and I were bemoaning the fact that 
we were both missing any dowitcher on our AA county lists; in fact this was 
the most glaring hole in my list.  Well, the hole was plugged this morning 
when I viewed a single SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER in the company of five LESSER 
YELLOWLEGS     at the wetland.  Interestingly, these birds were not present 
when I first walked past the wetland, but were there on my return trip. 
While I was viewing them, they all took flight, and headed south towards the 
power plant.  Perhaps they will continue along the shoreline and work their 
way to Fort Smallwood, where maybe Bill and Matt can intercept them this 
afternoon.  This produced a little milestone for me, AA County bird #260.

Other birds of interest were three SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERs at the north 
dredge cell, an impressive eight SNOWY EGRETs, and a whopping 21 LITTLE BLUE 
HERONs (7 adults, 6 calico, and 8 white imms).  A single immature CATTLE 
EGRET was also present, and three BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERONs were seen 
flying off toward Fort Carroll.  A lone TREE SWALLOW over the north dredge 
cell was the first I've seen in weeks.  Also noteworthy is that this is the 
first time in months that I have NOT seen Glossy Ibis, and ditto for Least 
Tern.  In fact, I saw NO terns today, which is unusual.

Because I'm still looking for those White Ibises, I am considering a "Fort 
Carroll watch" from Ft. Armistead this evening, from about 6 to 8 p.m., and 
will probably also check out Sandy Point very early tomorrow a.m.

Stan Arnold
Ferndale (AA Co.)


> Location:     Swan Creek Dredged Material Facility
> Observation date:     7/27/09
> Number of species:     46
>
> Canada Goose     40
> Mute Swan     2
> Double-crested Cormorant     11
> Great Blue Heron     11
> Great Egret     3
> Snowy Egret     8
> Little Blue Heron     21
> Cattle Egret     1
> Green Heron     1
> Black-crowned Night-Heron     3
> Osprey     5
> Bald Eagle     1
> American Kestrel     1
> Killdeer     3
> Spotted Sandpiper     1
> Lesser Yellowlegs     5
> Semipalmated Sandpiper     3
> Short-billed Dowitcher     1
> Laughing Gull     1
> Ring-billed Gull     2
> Herring Gull (American)     12
> Great Black-backed Gull     46
> gull sp.     15
> Yellow-billed Cuckoo     1
> Belted Kingfisher     1
> Red-bellied Woodpecker     1
> Downy Woodpecker     1 (Kembo Rd.)
> Eastern Kingbird     4
> Red-eyed Vireo     1 (Kembo Rd)
> American Crow     4
> Purple Martin     2
> Tree Swallow     1
> Barn Swallow     7
> Tufted Titmouse     1
> Carolina Wren     4
> Marsh Wren     2
> Northern Mockingbird     1
> Cedar Waxwing     6
> Common Yellowthroat     1
> Eastern Towhee     1
> Northern Cardinal     2
> Blue Grosbeak     1
> Indigo Bunting     2
> Red-winged Blackbird     12
> Common Grackle (Purple)     1
> American Goldfinch     4
>
> This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
>