Hi Everyone,

Lance Biechele, Carol Broderick, Scott Housten, and I enjoyed counting southbound cormorants and loons at Bayside this morning (30 October 2009) from 7:15-9:00.  Highlights included 33 BRANT, 2 BUFFLEHEAD, 20 RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS, and 7 BONAPARTE'S GULLS.

Birds were still moving when Lance and I had to leave; Scott and Carol continued to Bayside Campground.  On the way back to school, I crossed paths with several big cormorant flocks over Ayres Creek as I drove toward Berlin from Assateague; wish we could have stayed out all day!

Have fun,

Ron Gutberlet
Salisbury, MD
 



Weather (from accuweather.com for Ocean City, MD): 57-58F, wind E at 6-7 mph, relative humidity 77-71%, barometric  pressure 30.27-30.28, overcast, no precipitation, visibility 10 miles.

Number of species:     27

Brant     33     flying low over the bay in small groups; most were southbound
Canada Goose     3
American Black Duck     4
Bufflehead     2     a pair flying north, low over the bay
Red-breasted Merganser     20     a flock of 6, followed later by a flock of 14; flying rapidly south just above the bay; all appeared to be in female/first year male plumage
Common Loon     46     flying south in small loose groups; most flying fairly low; largest group contained 13 birds
Double-crested Cormorant     898     16 were northbound; 882 were southbound; flock sizes in descending order: 200, 190, 120, 118, 113, 75, 50, 15, 1; most southbound flocks were over the mainland
Great Blue Heron     1
Great Egret     4
Snowy Egret     5
Bald Eagle     1
Northern Harrier     1     flying over the marshes on South Point on the mainland
Sanderling     2     2 fed near us briefly at water's edge
Dunlin     34     2 fed near us briefly at water's edge
Bonaparte's Gull     7     a single flock flying north low over the bay
Laughing Gull     1
Ring-billed Gull     6
Herring Gull     20
Great Black-backed Gull     2
Royal Tern     4
Red-bellied Woodpecker     1
Fish Crow     300     fairly careful estimate of one large flock that flew from somewhere south of Bayside toward South Point on the mainland
Carolina Wren     2
European Starling     12
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)     62     noticeably fewer than last week
Eastern Towhee     2
Northern Cardinal     2

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)