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Subject:

St. Mary's County (mostly) - Tues. 9/29

From:

Jim Green

Reply-To:

Jim Green

Date:

Thu, 1 Oct 2009 09:59:45 -0400

Hi Everybody: 

I met Dave Powell in Waldorf early Tuesday morning and then we road together to Point Lookout and arrived just after daylight. As we were driving through St Mary's County. Dave casually said that he thinks he just saw a Red-headed Woodpecker (we had just been talking about this species) in a fairly hidden snag along the side of the road. We did a U-turn and saw the bird in predawn light, an amazing sighting by Dave from the car at 60 mph.. After Point Lookout we checked some other nearby roads and then Bellveaue Ponds hoping for some early waterfowl. Our last stops were in Charles County for several afternoon hours which produced absolutely nothing (which did not surprise us too much. I guess G. Jett did a good job of hiding the birds that day). I continued on after Dave headed home mid-afternoon. Below is an abridged list of our results:

POINT LOOKOUT STATE PARK: We only found one small pocket of migrants; had no thrushes at all; shortly after daylight 
                                                the wind picked up considerably                                    
Brown Pelican     1
Black Duck   (I barely had one foot out of the car when I saw 4 flyover ducks that circled around several times). 
                    A County Bird and Closeout #84 for me.
Osprey     2
Bald Eagle    2
Red-shouldered Hawk     1 (DP only)
Greater Yellowlegs     1 (County Bird - JG)
Foster's Terns    14    (Gulls seen were all expected species:Laughing, Ring-billed, herring and Grt. Bl-backed)
Yellow-billed Cuckoo     1
Belted Kingfisher    1
Red-bellied Woodpecker    2
Downy woodpecker      3
Hairy Woodpecker     1   (DP only)
Flicker    12 (a conservative number - they were all over the fort trails and actively flying around)
E. Phoebe    1
White-eyed Vireo    1
Red-eyed Vireo    2
Tree Swallows     120? - a conservative estimate     Small loose flocks moving overhead throughout the morning
Brown-headed Nuthatch    (JG - heard only)
House Wren    3
Marsh Wren     2 (DP only)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet    1
Brown Thrasher    2
N. Parula Warbler    2
Magnolia Warbler    2
Cape May Warbler    1   (a very drab looking individual-County Bird for DP; I did not get good enough looks at it)
Pine Warbler    3
Palm Warbler    1
Black & White Warbler   2
A. Redstart     2      (County Bird for me and Closeout #85).
Chipping Sparrow    2
 
CORNFIELD HARBOR ROAD
A. Kestrel    2

Long Neck Road
A. Kestrel    8
 
BEAUVUE PONDS   (absolutely no early waterfowl - had a probable Merlin flyover)
Mute Swan    13
Great Egret    1

Dave and I spent the next several hours in Charles County: nothing at Allen's Fresh -very high water levels; nothing in Morgantown at the Sod Farm or John Hubbell's Brown-headed Nuthatch location. Dave dropped me off in Waldorf at my car and headed home; I spent an hour in Cedarville State Forest and had nothing but a few Chickadees and T. Titmice. As I was leaving Dave Powell called me from home and alerted me to the Western Kingbird that had been reported on Collins Road. I was there from 3:45 to 4:15 PM and saw no sign of the bird. I did have a female Baltimore Oriole in the wooded area at the other end of Collins Road.

I then headed across the Bay Bridge and decided to look for a QA county Pied-billed Grebe that I have needed as a closeout for almost 2 years. I checked out the pond at Terrapin Park (nothing) and then headed to the eastern side of Kent Narrows and checked the water areas behind the Holiday Inn. I have been looking here for well over a year at the advice of John Hubbell. There were many Canada Geese and Mallards to the right of the Holiday Inn. When I checked behind the building there was one duck?-like bird with its head tucked in that looked possible. I ran back to the car and grabbed the scope and 5 minutes later the bird raised its head and HOORRAY!!! I finally had my Anne Arrundel Pie-billed Grebe and Closeout #86...(Thanks John H...)

My last stop was Tanyard  and even though it was low tide there were no lingering shorebirds. Green-winged Teals (12) have started to move in and there were 3 Forster's Terns and 2 Caspian Terns.

I stayed overnight in St. Michaels and have absolutely nothing notewothy to report for Wednesday. I started the A.M. at Black Walnut Point (end of Tilghman Island in Talbot Co.) and saw nothing in 30-40 mph winds. I then drove over to Taylor Island in Dorchester County and encountered more wind. The only thing I saw in 2+ hours here was one American Redstart.

I decided to head to Swan Creek and try for the good shorebirds. I guess I had all of my luck on Tuesday because I saw 1 Killdeer only and 7 Least Sandpipers...no Buff-breasted or White-rumped Sandpipers which had been previously reported.

Jim Green
Gaithersburg, MD

Work in moderation, BIRD IN EXCESS!!!