Hi Everyone,
I spent a very fun and memorable day of birding out with Jim Brighton and Mikey Lutmerding today (11/29). We started the day at Fairmount WMA in Somerset Co. and gradually worked our way up to Ocean City. Although the action was steady all day, the Ocean City Inlet was exceptional. We were joined by Mark Hoffman in time to all enjoy several major highlights. Topping the list was a first-cycle FRANKLIN'S GULL that flew in off the ocean and put on quite a show, even posing for photos beside a "Ripley's Believe It or Not" billboard. Worcester birds are about as good as state birds, and if you're there when Mark Hoffman gets a county bird in Worcester, it's a great day! That said, if there's one thing even more exciting than Worcester birds, it's life birds. The next wave of excitement came quickly when Jim Brighton spotted a POMARINE JAEGER in the distance, which was a loooong-coveted life bird for both me and Mikey. (More details on both birds below.)
During our three-hour sea watch we counted over 1,000 southbound NORTHERN GANNETs, nearly 500 RED-THROATED LOONs, and over 400 BONAPARTE'S GULLs. Truly impressive! We also had a flock of eight COMMON EIDERs fly right past the inlet without stopping. Near the end of the afternoon Jim B. followed a distant bird as it approached and announced an immature male KING EIDER, which also kept on trucking right past the inlet. Add to these an impressive diversity of non-traditional Inlet water birds including two WOOD DUCKs, ten TUNDRA SWANs, and four HOODED MERGANSERs. Although its common to see migrant GREEN-WINGED TEAL over the ocean, I love it when there are randomly one or two in the middle of a line of scoters.
Here are the abridged lists with notes:
Halls Creek Road
Wood Duck--2. Pair. Pretty tough bird in the county.
Common Peafowl--1 (exotic)
Wild Turkey--1 heard
presumed King Rail--1. Heard only. Began calling after distant gunshots were fired. Slow, very evenly spaced calls sounded very good for King. Specific habitat appears much more appropriate for King Rail than Clapper.
Swamp Sparrow--3
White-throated Sparrow--3
Fairmount WMA
Canada Goose--47
American Black Duck--8
Mallard--12
Great Blue Heron--3
Bald Eagle--3
Northern Harrier--1
Clapper Rail--1
Virginia Rail--1
Greater Yellowlegs--5
Lesser Yellowlegs--6
Long-billed Dowitcher--7. All shorebirds roosting on one small marsh edge.
Ring-billed Gull--8
Herring Gull--3
Eastern Screech-Owl--2
Belted Kingfisher--2
Hairy Woodpecker--2
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)--8
Blue Jay--2
Tree Swallow--25. Carefully scrutinized for Cave Swallows, of course.
Brown-headed Nuthatch--7
Winter Wren--4
Sedge Wren--3. Quite vocal; one seen well but briefly.
Marsh Wren--9. Three different birds singing early in the morning; the rest were chipping and/or seen.
Golden-crowned Kinglet--3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet--5
Eastern Bluebird--10
Hermit Thrush--2
American Robin--34
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)--175. Great concentration early on in our hike.
Common Yellowthroat--3. Three different birds tracked down--an adult male, an immature male, and a female.
Eastern Towhee--2
Savannah Sparrow (Eastern)--4
Fox Sparrow (Red)--6. My county closeout (#115). Much singing throughout the morning.
Song Sparrow--14
Swamp Sparrow--36
White-throated Sparrow--5
Red-winged Blackbird--140
Eastern Meadowlark--3
Purple Finch--1. Flyover, calling. My first in Somerset.
Vessey Orchard
Turkey Vulture--7
Bald Eagle--8
Northern Harrier--1
Sharp-shinned Hawk--1
Cooper's Hawk--1
Red-tailed Hawk--2. Photographed an individual that Mikey spotted that appeared to have a mostly dark throat and a very weak breast band.
American Kestrel--2
Wilson's Snipe--2
Eastern Screech-Owl--1
Hairy Woodpecker--1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)--4
Horned Lark--2
Winter Wren--3
Eastern Bluebird--10
Brown Thrasher--1
American Pipit--2
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)--44
Savannah Sparrow (Eastern)--7
Fox Sparrow (Red)--1
Song Sparrow--5
White-throated Sparrow--9
Eastern Meadowlark--29. Nice concentration; very active and vocal, including a flock roosting in a tree amidst a larger flock of starlings.
Non-avian: Orange Sulfur (5), Common Buckeye (4), Checkered Skipper (1).
Berlin WWTP
No Cave Swallows--GW Teal, Am. Black Ducks, Red Fox.
Rum Pointe Golf Course
Brant (Atlantic)--20
Mallard--13
Pileated Woodpecker--1. Distant flyby picked out by Jim B.
Also a presumed oriole picked out by Mikey in same scope view as the Pileated. Too far to see anything except a mostly orange bird.
Ocean City--Skimmer Island
* Extreme low tide with many more mudflats visible than I've ever seen. Large numbers of starfish exposed in the shallows, which the gulls seemed to be enjoying.
Brant (Atlantic)--67
Bufflehead--7
Red-breasted Merganser--2. Roosting on a sand bar
Common Loon--2
Double-crested Cormorant--15
Great Blue Heron--2
American Oystercatcher--6
Greater Yellowlegs--2. Feeding actively on a sand bar
Sanderling--1
Laughing Gull--3
Ring-billed Gull--65
Herring Gull (American)--183
Great Black-backed Gull--37. One adult bird was wearing a bluish leg band with the letters "AV", but without a FWS band.
Ocean City Inlet
TUNDRA SWAN--10. Unusual location. Picked out by Mikey as they flew south over the ocean. My first from the Inlet.
WOOD DUCK--2. Unusual location. Pair spotted by Mark. A coveted O.C. Inlet bird. Flight photos of the drake.
American Black Duck--9
Mallard--1
Green-winged Teal (American)--16. Two drakes were in the middle of a line of scoters.
Greater/Lesser Scaup--7
KING EIDER--1. * Immature male spotted by Jim B. Distinctively shaped bright orange bill. Continued south.
COMMON EIDER--8. Two adult drakes and six hens flew directly south and continued right on past the north and south jetties.
Surf Scoter--29
White-winged Scoter--2
Black Scoter--21
dark-winged scoter sp.--34
scoter sp.--160
Long-tailed Duck--1
Bufflehead--16
HOODED MERGANSER--4.* Unusual at this site. Two drakes and two hens spotted by Mark Hoffman. My first at the Inlet.
Red-breasted Merganser--5
RED-THROATED LOON--483. * Impressive count! Certainly many thousands passed over the course of the day. Except for one bird feeding in the surf, all were heading south.
Common Loon--15
loon sp.--40
NORTHERN GANNET--1025. * Effort made to count all passing birds, but of course this is a fraction of the birds that actually passed today. Many plunge-diving very close. Aside from feeding birds, all birds appeared to be heading south.
Brown Pelican--4
Great Blue Heron--1
Ruddy Turnstone--4
Sanderling--14
Purple Sandpiper--3
BONAPARTE'S GULL--405.* Slow trickle past the O.C. Inlet, then two very large flocks counted quickly by 5s.
Laughing Gull--65. Mostly roosting north of the pier.
FRANKLIN'S GULL--1. ** Rare. Flew in off the ocean and spotted by Mikey and me. First-winter bird showing tiny bill, distinctive half hood, white nape, distinctive tail band, etc. Many photos. Relocated in the late afternoon roosting with the gull flock north of the fishing pier. Many more photos taken. County bird for all present, including Mark Hoffman!
Ring-billed Gull--615
Herring Gull (American)--480
Great Black-backed Gull--95
POMARINE JAEGER--1. * Awesome bird! Life bird for me and Mikey. Excellent spot in the distance by Jim Brighton. Quickly recognized as a jaeger, but flapping was slower and more labored, more Herring Gull-like than Parasitic Jaegers seen recently. (Parasitic always immediately reminds me of a Merlin, which this bird definitely did not do.) Stocky and deserving the often-used "barrel-chested" description even at a distance. Very dark overall, contrasty, with white belly. Mikey was able to make out tail barring, and several of us were able to make out the double white flashes in the primaries.
After two very slow weeks following the Nor'easter, it seems the coast has re-opened for business.
Good birding!
Bill
Bill Hubick
Pasadena, Maryland
http://www.billhubick.com |