Hi Folks,
I spent the day on the E. Shore beginning with a two-hour sea watch at the
Ocean City Inlet. This time, my fourth attempt, was successful in finding
PARASITIC JAEGER, a juvenile that came in towards the inlet seemingly with
an eye on a Laughing Gull (Laughers were the only gulls out over the rips at
this time), but apparently didn't find a dogfight to be worth its effort and
proceeded on its way. Maybe it was just playing. This powerful,
pointy-winged pirate, not much larger than the laugher, never stopped
flapping the entire time I viewed it. I can't imagine seeing six jaegers
during a single watch--Jim Stasz really hit the jackpot with his timing last
weekend. I don't think I've ever seen half that many at one time, even on
the best of pelagic trips.
The NORTHERN GANNET show wasn't as impressive as last weekend, but I still
saw well over 100 of them, mostly adults, with a handful of 3d and 2nd year
birds, but only two dark juveniles. Last weekend there were a lot fewer
adults. I also saw my first LONG-TAILED DUCK of the season. I guess if you
want to see really early Long-tails, you have to go to the shores of Carroll
Co.
From OC, I headed to the Salisbury Landfill to see if any of last weekend's
interesting birds were around. If they were, I didn't find them. I was not
able to pick out anything interesting from the 1500 Laughing Gulls. I just
don't have Bill Hubick's eyes and karma. Oh, this is IMPORTANT: when I
entered the landfill, I was given permission to visit the pond. When I
visited the pond there was some heavy equipment operation going on near by.
After returning to the active landfill, I was soon approached by the heavy
equipment operator and asked if I had permission to go back to the pond. I
told him yes, but he was uncomfortable with the whole idea since this an
area where the public does not go. Anyway, I was very defferential (sp?)
towards him, and let him know very clearly that we as birders greatly value
our access to this landfill, and will follow whatever guidelines are given
us. He said we should talk to the supervisor (who works Monday to Friday)
about visiting the pond. I asked him about visiting the pond from outside
the landfill, but again he said we should talk to the supervisor. There is
a new "no tresspassing" sign at the entrance to the new paved road that goes
past the pond from the main road outside the facility, so permission to
visit the pond should be obtained.
From Salisbury I headed down to southern Worcester, stopping at Truitt's
Landing Rd., the end of which is still under water. This is the third
weekend in a row with flooding. A VIRGINIA RAIL called spontaneously as I
drove slowly along the road, but the conditions were not attractive for me
to get out of the car, and I turned around and left shortly. From there I
went to Taylor's Landing Rd., where the marshes are still largely under
water, and part of the road beyond the parking area also under water. I
found no opportunity to get out here, so I stopped briefly at E. A. Vaughan
WMA North where I flushed at least seven N. BOBWHITEs, but nothing else of
note during my short visit.
My last Worcester stop was Geroge Island Landing Rd. east of Stockton. I
had to drive through some flood waters to get to the parking area at the
end, but once there I finally saw some habitat that I would be able to
access on foot. I walked along a flooded side road, and it is here that I
found my long-awaited NELSON'S SPARROW (Atlantic race), along with some
Saltmarsh, Swamp, and Song Sparrows.
Vessey's Orchard was the next stop, and though it was very birdy, most of
the birds were Tree Swallows and Yellow-rumped Warblers, with two House
Wrens being my best finds, though no big deal here. My last stop of the day
was at Rumbly Point Rd. where I thought for sure I would find some more
Nelson's Sparrows, based on previous reports, but I was only able to find a
couple of Saltmarsh Sparrows and plenty of Savannahs.
I hope things will have dried out a little before the rarity roundup in two
weeks.
Stan Arnold
Ferndale (AA Co.)
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