Hi Everyone,
I spent most of Saturday showing my cousin and his girlfriend around the Ocean City area and Assateague Island. We spent about five hours hanging out just north of the Maryland/Virginia line on the ORV (OSV) zone. Activity was consistent, but I picked out no sulids during a lot of scanning. We did enjoy two flyby Gull-billed Terns, three Black Terns (two roosting on the beach), and one very active Sandwich Tern. I counted 63 Whimbrel, most of them roosting on the beach. Juvenile Herring Gulls and Great Black-backed Gulls were present this weekend, and the Lesser Black-backed Gull count was 41. We did note two Eastern Willet amidst the far more numerous Westerns (~40), an adult and a juvenile. Before a good lunch at Hoopers Crab House, there was a Red Knot among the expected species on Skimmer Island.
We spent the late afternoon enjoying Blackwater NWR, where they got their first scope views of Bald Eagles and then had a lot of fun using my optics to take pictures of the moon. On the way to Blackwater, I was psyched to find three BLACK-NECKED STILTs in the northernmost of the new impoundments on Egypt Road.
After our visitors headed west this morning, I ran to my car in a torrential downpour and headed northeast to start with John Hubbell's shorebirds at Courthouse Point. There seemed to have been a lot of turnover since he left. My only shorebirds were a Spotted Sandpiper and 13 Lesser Yellowlegs. There were 17 Great Egrets, 3 Snowy Egrets, 2 Little Blues, and a Cattle Egret. Three BANK SWALLOWs joined the more expected species over the pond. A flock of over 110 Canada Geese appeared over the trees and descended to the pond.
Bethel WMA had 21 CATTLE EGRETs, while nearby Cayots Corner Road (Rte 310) had a total of 143 more!
At Sassafras NRMA in northern Kent County, a chattering YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT was my county closeout (#106).
Betterton Beach had only expected gulls and terns, but among them were juvenile Ring-billed Gulls, Laughing Gulls, and Forster's Terns.
I then took my time working toward Horsehead (CBEC), where I planned to end the day enjoying the Black-necked Stilts found by Thomas Ostrowski. I was disappointed to see the facility now closes a gate outside of the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., especially since it was about 6:00.
WEEKEND PHOTOS:
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Good birding!
Bill
Bill Hubick
Pasadena, Maryland
http://www.billhubick.com |