I went out this morning for two hours looking for storm birds. I was hoping to see waterfowl (divers in particular), grebes, loons, gulls, and shorebirds. I found nothing exceptional but some notables included:
At my house (looking at Jug Bay) (9:15-10:00am):
Forster's Terns - 11 foraging over Jug Bay
Northern Shoveler 30
Ruddy Duck 18
Ring-necked Duck 22
Bufflehead 2
also Mallard, Black Duck, Pintail, GW Teal, C Goose, DC Cormorant, PB Grebe
also ~ 2,000 C Grackles, and a few RW Blackbirds, BH Cowbirds and Starlings feeding in fields. I scanned them carefully and saw 3 different grackles with their 2 central tail feathers completely white. It seems odd that all 3 had same 2 feathers like this.
Merkle WMA (from the Visitor Center, which is closed) - 10:15-11:00am; Scope was mandatory to view distant birds:
Arrived to find 4 Bald Eagles. One was a HY bird eating some large animal carcass in ag field (groundhog sized, but not a groundhog). It was pestered by a 3 or 4 YO bird that was not quite fully white in its head feathers, and eventually took off with its meal. That left the other 3 (other 2 were an adult and another HY bird) to pester each other, which explained the very skittish behavior of the waterfowl and shorebirds!
C geese ~ 175
Mallard 12
Gadwall 2
Black Duck 3
GW Teal 14
Shoveler 2
DC Cormorant 1
Killdeer ~ 55
G Yellowlegs 10
L Yellowlegs 1
Pectoral Sand 2
Dunlin ~7
The Dunlin and Killdeer were out in the ag field which was difficult to view due to windy rainy conditions.
Also saw 2 Chipping Sparrows, 2 WC Sparrows, plus WT, Song, Swamp, Towhee, and Juncos around Vis Ctr.
Also saw ~ 4,000 Grackles, ~ 1,200 RW Blackbirds, plus ~ 300 cowbirds and starlings.
I looked carefully at all the "black"bird flock and saw nothing exceppt teh above noted species.
Selby's Landing - nothing unusual
~ 200 C Geese in field feeding
~ 5,000 Grackles, plus a few hundred blackbirds etc mixed in.
Cheers!
Jeff Shenot
Croom MD |