Hi Everybody: 

I led a morning field trip for 3 Montgomery Birders  in western Montgomery County...(Riley's Lock, Hughes Hollow, etc.). The few highlights included 2 Caspian Terns flying down the Potomac River at Riley's Lock, a flyover Common Nighthawk (9:30 AM) in McKee Beshers WMA (spotted by Mike Bowen) and a distant but cooperative juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker at Hughes Hollow which allowed us to study it as long as we wanted until we walked away from it.  

Shortly after lunch I drove over to Anne Arrundel County.  I failed on finding the Upland Sandpipers at the turf farm on Pleasant Plains Rd. despite an hour and a half of scanning from every possible angle available.  I then headed across the Bay Bridge hoping to find the Glossy Ibis at Chesapeake Environmental Ed. Center. The rain that fell last Saturday covered up all of the flats. The only waders I saw were Great Egrets and the only shorebirds were Greater Yellowlegs.

Since I was across the Bay Bridge I decided to swing by the Turf Farm on John Brown Road. I arrived about 3:15 and my initial scan with binoculars came up empty with nothing except a field full of Killdeer. I set up the scope and scanned again and much to my delight found a WHIMBREL (a County Bird). For the next 30 minutes I enjoyed the show it was putting on. The bird was in constant motion, sometimes walking a few steps and stopping abruptly like a plover; sometimes running aimlessly and changing directions like I have seen egrets and herons do in shallow water. It seemed to be constantly feeding on insects that it was chasing down, catching and devouring. The entire time it had its bill slightly open like you see many birds do on hot summer days. I felt as excited as Danny Poet did on Sunday. Thanks to Danny for finding the Whimbrels. Hopefully they will stick around for others to see.

I then headed back across the Bay Bridge and proceeded down to the location where the Pectoral Sandpipers were seen over the weekend on Swamp Circle Road in southern Anne Arrundel County. This was strike two as I did not find these birds either.

 After a quick look at the map I decided that I was close enough to North  Beach and headed down into Calvert County. I had a number of shorebirds on the flats towards the right hand side of the wetland area at the north end of North Beach.

     4 Killdeer
     1 Semipalmated Plover   (a County Bird)
     2 Least Sandpipers
     3 Semipalmated  Sandpipers   (a County Bird)
     2 Western Sandpipers.....one had the longest bill that I have ever seen on this species   (a County Bird)
     5 peep sp....the angle of looking into the sun made some of the distant  ID's difficult
     2 Stilt Sandpipers... juveniles with very fresh scaly plumage (a County Bird) 

Jim Green 
Gaithersburg, MD

Work in Moderation, BIRD IN EXCESS!!!