Hello all,

The not-quite gale force winds of this morning made me a little optimistic, so I thought I would try for the Northern Shrike with my girlfriend this afternoon. However, the wind was howling by the time we got to the Round Top and Kibler intersection and I figured it was either hunkered down or just plain out of sight because we didn't see it after 2 hours of searching. 

We did see at least 8 WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS (6 juv, 2 ad), 2 RED-BELLIED WOODPECKERS, 2 BALD EAGLES (one of which was feeding on a SNOW GOOSE carcass and the other was carrying nesting material), 2 N. HARRIERS (male & female) and at least 6 different RED-TAIL HAWKS, including 2 feeding on a CANADA GOOSE carcass with TURKEY VULTURES. There were at least 6 N. MOCKINGBIRDS, which gave made us look very hard at them each time one appeared.

We left there and headed over to where the Sandhill Crane was reported from last week, or where I thought it was reported from because when we got there we found no pubic access to the pond and a whole lot of private property, residents only signs. According to Google Maps it was the only Great Oak Pond in Kent Co., but on closer inspection it is actually called Stavley Pond on the map. It was just as well because we found a flock of ~ 40 AMERICAN PIPITS and 10 BALD EAGLES on a frozen farm pond feeding on a carcass on the ice (couldn't tell what it was). They were very close to the road and it was great to watch them interacting, flying and perched on the ground. There were 2nd and 3rd year birds for sure as well as adults. We also had ~ 200 SNOW GEESE fly over and several thousand CANADA GEESE (not including decoys) but none of the rarer goose spp. At one point we encountered a mixed flock of at least 40 WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS, 2 E. BLUEBIRDS, 4 N. CARDINALS, ~ 8 D.E. JUNCOS, a few SONG SPARROWS, 1 DOWNY WOODPECKER, 1 N. FLICKER, 1 C. WREN, and a couple C. CHICKADEES. 

On the way back to Annapolis, we saw 12 BRANT flying west alongside the Bay Bridge on the QA side. 


Good Birding, 


Frank Marenghi
Annapolis, MD

 		 	   		  
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