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Report from Skimmer Island - 8/3/09

From:

Paul Pisano

Reply-To:

Paul Pisano

Date:

Mon, 3 Aug 2009 18:43:16 -0700

I spent the weekend in OC with my family.  Didn't do a whole lot of
birding, but did stop by Skimmer Island on my way home today. 
Highlights (clipped from ebird) are listed below (personal faves in all
caps).  Ebird questioned me on the number of Black Skimmers.  I haven't
been down that way enough recently to know if 14 is that high of a
number.  Have they really gone down that much for this to be remarkable?

And as noted, I saw a minimum of 6 Sandwich Terns.  Two of the terns
were immature birds (juvenile?), one of which was begging from an adult.
 Where's the closest nesting for this species?

Location: Ocean City--Skimmer Island
 Observation date: 8/3/09
 Notes: The island was scanned from both 4th St. and from the Rt. 50
bridge near Hooper's.
 Number of species: 34
 
 Brown Pelican 21
 Little Blue Heron 1
 Tricolored Heron 1
 Black-crowned Night-Heron 2
 Black-bellied Plover 1
 American Oystercatcher 15
 Willet (Western) 2
 WHIMBREL (American) 1
 MARBLED GODWIT 1
 Ruddy Turnstone 30 (rough estimate)
 Sanderling 50 (rough estimate)
 Semipalmated Sandpiper 10 (rough estimate)
 Short-billed Dowitcher 4
 Least Tern 6
 Common Tern 50 (presumably other species of interest mixed in, but I
had no luck pulling them out)
 Royal Tern 40
 SANDWICH TERN 6 
 Black Skimmer 14

Good birding,
Paul Pisano
Arlington, VA