Hi Everyone,

Thanks for posting from yesterday, Mikey. I've posted photos of the cooperative eiders and Piping Plover, as well as some other fun shots from the weekend: http://www.billhubick.com/photos/updates/20091107.php.

Jim Brighton and I decided to do Eastern Neck this morning (11/8), eventually working our way over to Caroline Co. It was a beautiful day and actually quite birdy, but none of our sightings were terribly unexpected. The natural history highlight was a memorable flight of scaup at Eastern Neck soon after dawn. Flocks appeared in huge skeins that filled the sky. Counting quickly by 10s, then 50s, we counted a very conservative minimum of 4,850 scaup.

A Greater White-fronted Goose was present at Chestertown WWTP, and we had our first-of-season Tundra Swans, Common Goldeneyes, American Pipits, and Fox Sparrow. Here are the abridged lists for the day.

Eastern Neck NWR

Canada Goose--2750
Tundra Swan--5; first of season for us
American Black Duck--14
Mallard--7
Greater Scaup--X; see below
Lesser Scaup--X; see below
** Greater/Lesser Scaup--4850
Surf Scoter--1 drake
Long-tailed Duck--7
Bufflehead--481
Common Goldeneye--5; first of season for us
Red-breasted Merganser--4
Ruddy Duck--512; nearly all in a single raft at Bogle's Wharf
Red-throated Loon--1
Common Loon--26; most at Bogle's Wharf, the rest on the Bay
Double-crested Cormorant--4
Bald Eagle--10
Northern Harrier--3
Sharp-shinned Hawk--1
Cooper's Hawk--1
Laughing Gull--9
Ring-billed Gull--21
Herring Gull--25
Forster's Tern--16
Royal Tern--3
Eastern Screech-Owl--1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker--3
Hairy Woodpecker--3; one flew across the water at Bogle's Wharf, calling
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)--11
Horned Lark--2; flyovers, calling
White-breasted Nuthatch--1
Brown-headed Nuthatch--2; loblolly edge north of turn to Bogle's Wharf
Winter Wren--4
Ruby-crowned Kinglet--3
Eastern Bluebird--32
American Robin--12
Gray Catbird--1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)--7
Eastern Towhee--6
Chipping Sparrow--4
Field Sparrow--2
Fox Sparrow (Red)--1; first of season for us
Song Sparrow--29
Swamp Sparrow--9
White-throated Sparrow--48
Red-winged Blackbird--1680
Common Grackle--370
Brown-headed Cowbird--60
Purple Finch--3; two of them doing their "vireo" calls, one flyby calling
American Goldfinch--23
Non-avian: Cabbage White (1), Orange Sulfur (2), Anglewing sp. (1), Autumn Meadowhawk (1).

Chestertown WWTP

Greater White-fronted Goose--1; heard calling, then tracked down out on the ponds
Canada Goose--1660
Northern Shoveler--86
Lesser Scaup--6
Ruddy Duck--271
Black Vulture--3
Bonaparte's Gull--2
Laughing Gull--1
Ring-billed Gull--84
American Pipit--6; first of the season for us

Northern Caroline Co. fields

Wood Duck--3
American Black Duck--1
Mallard--14
Northern Pintail--3; two drakes and a female
Green-winged Teal (American)--7
Ring-necked Duck--1
Pied-billed Grebe--1
Bald Eagle--2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker--1
Golden-crowned Kinglet--3
Hermit Thrush--5
American Robin--36
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)--2
Field Sparrow--3
Song Sparrow--9
Swamp Sparrow--11
White-throated Sparrow--8
An impressive non-avian list: Green Frog (3), Spring Peepers (vocal), New Jersey Chorus Frogs (a few calling), Slender Spreadwing (4), Blue-faced Meadowhawk (3), Autumn Meadowhawk (5), Orange Sulfur (2), Cloudless Sulfur (1), Question Mark (2), Common Buckeye (4), Pearl Crescent (1), Variegated Fritillary (2), Checkered Skipper (1), Azure sp. (1; photos).

Denton WWTP

Ring-necked Duck--22
Black Vulture--15
Turkey Vulture--25; both species raiding bags outside of the dumpster
Non-avian: Painted Lady (well seen), Shadow Darner

Williston Lake - Great Egret--1

Town of Choptank, Caroline Co.

Ruddy Duck--6
Laughing Gull--80
Ring-billed Gull--10
Herring Gull--25
Great Black-backed Gull--10

Good birding!

Bill

Bill Hubick
Pasadena, Maryland

http://www.billhubick.com