I went to Jug Bay Wildlife Sanctuary about 3 PM and spent two hours walking and birding a bit.   My list is quite different from the previous post today about Jug Bay – what a difference a few hours must make!  The only raptor was a Northern Harrier.  There were a few pintails in flight, a few mallards and a black duck or two, many Canada Geese, and a fair assortment of expected red wing blackbirds, chickadees, white throated sparrows and similar familiar faces, er, beaks.  
 
The best bird was a nice Rusty Blackbird on the RR Bed trail.  Also a pair of grebes, possibly the pied-billeds we saw several weeks ago.  Today we couldn’t get a really good view in the fading light – just a truly “grebe-y” silhouette.  
 
The water at Jug Bay is remarkably high.  The marsh boardwalk is submerged, the dock at Otter Point is submerged and water was pouring over the beaver dam.  Also, the RR Bed trail was flooded a bit past the Blind.  Several trees on the RR Bed trail are now leaning – quite hard – on the trees right across the road.  When we walked down the RR Bed trail, we noted that the river water was flowing onto the road.  We marked the edge of the water line and walked on.  A half hour later, when we returned, the marker was floating in the water – and the water was far beyond the original mark!  
 
And Dan – your Thomas Point Caspian Tern must have flow by Mayo Beach Park, or been hiding – I had a report from my friend who lives near there.  He was out around noon, and there were no terns at all in sight. He made special mention of that, because we’ve come to rely on seeing lots of Terns there lately.  I suspect the Forster’s at TP must have been Mayo birds, blown across the river by the gusts the last few days (or just looking for greener waters….)
 
Joanne



Joanne Howl, DVM 
West River, MD