Hey everyone!

Finally I can post again! Sorry its a little late but I wanted to update everyone on the trip we took to Ocean City from Sat. 1/16 to Mon. 1/18.

   Wayne Bell and I traveled down Saturday morning to scout, lead the Talbot BC trip on Sunday, and casually bird on Monday. On our way down, we made a quick stop at Oakley St. to find a male REDHEAD among the hungry Cans, Wigeon, Black Ducks, and Mallards.  Around OC we picked up all the regulars, and managed to relocate the IPSWICH SAVANNAH SPARROW at the Hooper's Parking lot Sean McCandless' group found earlier, as well as 3 W. SNIPE. Castaways gave us a nice mix of shorebirds including a WESTERN WILLET and a MERLIN.  We made it to the inlet around 3pm in time for a good low tide.  The PEREGRINE FALCON was conveniently perched on the water tower and we walked right up to the RED KNOT on the close rocks.  Eventually the C. EIDERS wheeled out from the back of the rocks, giving us some nice looks at the different plumages. We ended the day at 32nd where we did not have the Eared Grebe, but had our only C. GOLDENEYE of the trip. Oh, and we also had the banded RBGU with orange wing tags #377 at W. OC Pond.
   Sunday was a different story.  The weather wasn't ideal for a Bird Club trip, but we made the best of it. We relocated a lot of the birds from Saturday and even had a LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL on Skimmer Island, a COOT at W. OC pond, and a nice WHITE-WINGED SCOTER and our only GANNETS, BOAT-TAILED GRACKLE and D.C. CORMORANT at the Inlet. Oh, and I'd like to thank the nice little Dovekie that decided to rub it in and swim up the inlet while I was somewhere else in OC at 3 o'clock :P
   Monday started out well with an unsual sighting....THE SUN. But seriously, it did start out good.  Because scaning out off the condo balcony at 76th St. just hoping to see that Dovekie, I spotted the long lost EARED GREBE diving not far from the shore; guess he just drifted out of the Inlet and never looked back. We later made a short trip to the Inlet though in time to see the Eiders dividing and growing rapidly into uncountable numbers, to see 4 BONAPARTE'S GULLS, and to be put on a pair of HARLEQUIN DUCKS by Frode Jacobson. The 3 HARBOR SEALS hauled out on the floating docks were cool too. Thanks!

It was nice to finally get down to Ocean City this year, and although we bombed on landbirds (not our focus obviously), 90 species was worth it. I've add the full list of birds seen below with the highlights CAPITALIZED for all the people too lazy to read them above: 

Snow Goose
Brant
Canada Goose
Tundra Swan
Gadwall
American Wigeon
American Black Duck
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback
REDHEAD -- Oakley St., Cambridge
Ring-necked Duck
Greater Scaup
COMMON EIDER -- Inlet
HARLEQUIN DUCK -- Inlet
Surf Scoter
WHITE-WINGED SCOTER -- Inlet
Black Scoter
Long-tailed Duck
Bufflehead
COMMON GOLDENEYE -- 32nd St.
Hooded Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Red-throated Loon
Common Loon
Horned Grebe
EARED GREBE -- seen from 76th St.
Northern Gannet
Double-creasted Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
MERLIN -- Castaways & Assateague Is.
PEREGRINE FALCON -- Water Tower & Inlet
American Coot
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
American Oystercatcher
WILLET (WESTERN) -- Castaways
Ruddy Turnstone
RED KNOT -- Inlet
Sanderling
Purple Sandpiper
Dunlin
Wilson's Snipe
BONAPATE'S GULL -- Inlet
Ring-billed Gull -- #377 orange wing tags at W. OC pond
Herring Gull
LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL -- Skimmer Is.
Great Black-backed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-beilled Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
GRAY CATBIRD -- Bayside
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow-rumped Warblers
Eastern Towhee
"IPSWITCH" Savannah Sparrow -- Hooper's Parking Lot
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
BOAT-TAILED GRACKLE -- Inlet
Brown(be)-headed Cowbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Whew!
Amanda Spears
Chestertown, MD

P.S. -- Since my posting wasn't working, I couldn't tell you that onFriday 1/15, I struck out on the N. Shrike in QA, but did have a nicefemale MERLIN in it's place