Happy New Year Everyone!
I spent a blustery cold day at Blackwater NWR in Dorchester Co. yesterday
and noted 73 species. I stopped by Cambridge on my way there, but the
river was entirely icelocked and not a single duck in sight.

Highlights were:
Great Blue Heron--5
Bald Eagle--70+
Red-tailed Hawk--6
Northern Harrier--9
Sharp-shinned Hawk--1
American Kestrel--1
Killdeer--7
LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER--1 (with Greater Yellowlegs along Shorter's Wharf Rd)
Greater Yellowlegs--6
Great Horned Owl--1 (seen along the Forest Trail)
SHORT-EARED OWL--2 (hunting along Shorter's Wharf Rd. 2:30PM-dusk)
Pileated Woodpecker--1
TREE SWALLOW--1 (along Shorter's Wharf Rd.)
American Pipit--5
PALM WARBLER--1 (eastern at intersection Key Wallace Dr & Egypt Rd.)
WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW--8 (several small groups of immature birds in
patches of restored grasslands along Egypt Rd.)
Eastern Meadowlark--30

To my surprise, the only group of Common Grackles seen all day was a mixed
flock of Grackles and Blackbirds totaling less than 200 birds along Key
Wallace Drive near the Visitor Center.

Enjoy the higher temperatures coming our way!

Frode Jacobsen
Windsor Mill, MD 21244