Marcia Watson and I visited Hart-Miller Island today in search of Thursday's 
reported unidentified shrike.  We came up shrikeless.

On a different note -
We were on the lower perimeter road on our way back to the boat.  When we 
neared the larger woodland, we heard a sound that neither of us was familiar 
with.  It was loud, explosive and sounded like a cross between a mammal and 
a raptor.  It came from the 20-foot tall sweetgums along the edge of the 
road.  I saw the sweetgums move and heard something flush from them.  My 
view of the large woodland was partially blocked by a 20-foot tall loblolly 
pine.  I observed the tail end of a large bird crossing over the marsh from 
the sweetgums and laterally penetrating fast into the 80-foot sweetgums and 
willow oaks approximately 40-feet up from the ground.  All I saw was a very 
dark back and white on the tail.  I started to move to my left to get away 
from the obstructing loblolly, when I had an identical look at a second 
bird.  Marcia saw neither of the birds.  The two birds disappeared into the 
woodland.  Two thoughts entered my mind: Bald Eagles and Fulvous Whistling 
Ducks.  Although Bald Eagles have nested for years high in the trees of the 
large woodland, I have never heard any sounds except their chirps.  I have 
never seen them perch in the small sweetgums.  I have never seen them 
penetrate the woodland laterally.  They normally perch in the trees on the 
edge of the large woodland.  If flushed, they fly away and up.  The sounds 
and the behavior would have been very atypical for Bald Eagles.  This led me 
within seconds to possible Fulvous Whistling Ducks.  The sounds would have 
been more consistent with Fulvous Whistling Duck and the flight behavior 
would have been as well.  I cannot say with any certainty that these two 
birds were Fulvous Whistling Ducks, but the circumstances were intriguing.

Gene

Gene Scarpulla
Millers Island, Maryland
Editor, The Maryland Entomologist