Hello everyone,

Now that I've had a chance to sleep, I want to add some stuff to Mike's post. The first being that we had 4 Surf Scoters (not 6) and 2 Black Scoters. 

Mike, Tom, and I spent the entire day birding Harford County with some pretty good success, totaling 71 species. Our first stop was at Swan Harbor Farm Park, where it was raining for nearly the entire 3 hours we were there. The cornfields were very flooded, in some areas enough for Mallards and Black Ducks to set down happily. In one of the less flooded areas, we flushed several Wilson's Snipe. A park ranger, who had just opened the gate in front of us, told us about a little pond behind the ridge of pines on the left as your driving down the entrance road. We were glad he told us about this because on the pond we had 1 female American Wigeon (FOS) and one male Hooded Merganser, both county birds. Down by the bay, we added one female Lesser Scaup to our duck list. 

Next we checked out Tydings, Lapidum, Conowingo, Harford Glen Park, and a final stop at Lakeside Ponds, a series of ponds within an officeplex. 

At Tydings, Forster's Terns were everywhere. We also had 41 Coots around the marina, 6 Northern Shovelers hanging near the pier that runs parallel with the land, one female Blue-winged Teal at the end of said pier, along with 1 Greater Yellowlegs and one unidentified shorebird species. The shorbird sp. was seen flying away silently with the GRYE. All we could get on it was that it was smaller than the yellowlegs and did not have a white rump. It would've been nice if some walkers hadn't flushed them 2 min before we would've got down there. :)

Our next stop was at Lapidum where we got by far our best birds of the day, which Mike already posted about. SURF SCOTER and BLACK SCOTER both have nothing in the Yellowbook for Cecil County, but after talking to Hafner and Stasz, I know there has been records of each since 1996.

After Lapidum, we went to Conowingo to see if we could pick out any rare gulls, but if there were any, we didn't see them among the ~ 600 Ring-billeds, ~75 Herrings, and ~50 Great Black-backeds. There were 60+ Bald Eagles and almost as many Bald Eagle photographers, which they no doubt thought we were part of.

It was our first trip to Harford Glen Park, which looks like a really nice place. There is some decent edge, marsh, and woods habitat to explore. Our best birds here were a two Green-winged Teal and a female Northern Pintail.

Full lists:

Location:     Swan Harbor Farm Park
Observation date:     11/1/09
Number of species:     46

Canada Goose     330
Wood Duck     3
American Wigeon     1
American Black Duck     4
Mallard     115
Lesser Scaup     1
Hooded Merganser     1
Pied-billed Grebe     6
Double-crested Cormorant     4
Great Blue Heron     4
Bald Eagle     1
Sharp-shinned Hawk     1
Red-shouldered Hawk     1
Wilson's Snipe     3
Ring-billed Gull     1
Herring Gull     1
Great Black-backed Gull     1
Forster's Tern     11    
Rock Pigeon     36
Mourning Dove     46
Belted Kingfisher     1
Red-bellied Woodpecker     1
Downy Woodpecker     1
Northern Flicker     3
Blue Jay     2
American Crow     60
Fish Crow     40
crow sp.     10
Carolina Chickadee     5
Tufted Titmouse     2
Carolina Wren     2
Golden-crowned Kinglet     1
Eastern Bluebird     1
American Robin     15
Northern Mockingbird     5
European Starling     15
Palm Warbler     2
Eastern Towhee     1
Savannah Sparrow     7
Song Sparrow     17
Swamp Sparrow     17
White-throated Sparrow     10
Northern Cardinal     2
Red-winged Blackbird     27
Common Grackle     30
American Goldfinch     12
House Sparrow     2


Location:     Tydings Memorial Park, Havre de Grace
Observation date:     11/1/09
Number of species:     24

Canada Goose     22
Mallard     52
Mallard (Domestic type)     1
Blue-winged Teal     1    
Northern Shoveler     6     
Pied-billed Grebe     3
Double-crested Cormorant     1
Great Blue Heron     6
Great Egret     1    
Bald Eagle     1
Cooper's Hawk     1    
Red-tailed Hawk     1     
American Coot     41   
Greater Yellowlegs     1    
shorebird sp.     1     
Laughing Gull     100     
Ring-billed Gull     29
Herring Gull     1
Great Black-backed Gull     1
Forster's Tern     6     
Blue Jay     1
American Crow     3
Carolina Chickadee     1
Carolina Wren     1
Song Sparrow     1
Northern Cardinal     1

Location:     Lapidum
Observation date:     11/1/09
Number of species:     18

Canada Goose     50
Wood Duck     10     
American Wigeon     2
American Black Duck     3
SURF SCOTER    4     http://www.flickr.com/photos/35144142@N04/4066908494/
BLACK SCOTER     2     **An excellent bird for Harford County. Somewhat distant, but we got prolonged scope views of the birds on the water and in the air. These two birds stayed close to each other and slightly apart from the Surf Scoters, but were loosely associated with them (often close enough for easy comparison with surfs). Overall black including under the wing. Dingy white-ish cheek (easily seen to be more extensive than white spots on nearby female surf scoters). Steeper forward and smaller bill than nearby, more easily identifiable male Surf Scoters. Perhaps slightly smaller than Surf Scoters, but difficult to judge at this distance. 
Bufflehead     15
Double-crested Cormorant     8
Great Blue Heron     1
Bald Eagle     2
Ring-billed Gull     4
Herring Gull     2
Forster's Tern     15     
Belted Kingfisher     2
Red-bellied Woodpecker     1
American Crow     1
Carolina Chickadee     2
Song Sparrow     1

Location:     Cecil County as viewed from Lapidum
Observation date:     11/1/09
Number of species:     9

Canada Goose     10
Surf Scoter     4     
Black Scoter     2   
Bufflehead     15   
Double-crested Cormorant     16
Ring-billed Gull     50
Great Black-backed Gull     2
Forster's Tern     5    
Rock Pigeon     5

Location:     Conowingo Lake, Harford County
Observation date:     11/1/09
Number of species:     13

American Black Duck     2
Mallard     2
Double-crested Cormorant     180    
Great Blue Heron     31
Black Vulture     20
Turkey Vulture     2
Bald Eagle     45
Ring-billed Gull     550
Herring Gull     5
Great Black-backed Gull     1
Rock Pigeon     40
Fish Crow     1
Northern Cardinal     1

Location:     Harford Glen Park
Observation date:     11/1/09
Number of species:     35

Canada Goose     1
Wood Duck     1
American Black Duck     2
Mallard     30
Northern Pintail     1
Green-winged Teal     2
Cooper's Hawk     1
Accipiter sp.     1
Mourning Dove     11
Belted Kingfisher     1
Red-bellied Woodpecker     3
Downy Woodpecker     2
Hairy Woodpecker     2
Northern Flicker     6
Pileated Woodpecker     1
Blue Jay     5
American Crow     2
Carolina Chickadee     4
White-breasted Nuthatch     2
Carolina Wren     2
Golden-crowned Kinglet     1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet     2
Eastern Bluebird     1
American Robin     3
Northern Mockingbird     2
European Starling     18
Yellow-rumped Warbler     10
Eastern Towhee     2
Field Sparrow     1
Song Sparrow     9
White-throated Sparrow     50
Dark-eyed Junco     1
Northern Cardinal     2
Red-winged Blackbird     45
House Finch     2
American Goldfinch     5

Location:     Lakeside Ponds
Observation date:     11/1/09
Number of species:     9

Canada Goose     40
Mallard     4
Pied-billed Grebe     2
Great Blue Heron     1
American Robin     4
European Starling     15
Song Sparrow     1
White-throated Sparrow     1
Eastern Meadowlark 2

Robert Ostrowski
Crofton, MD