Hi Everyone,

I spent a very enjoyable day of birding the lower Eastern Shore with Jim Brighton, Ed Carlson, and John Hubbell. We were joined for most of the day by Ron Gutberlet and Jim Green, and for parts of the day by Tom Feild, Geraldine King, and Rob Ostrowski. All main roads were fine, and even side roads were mostly passable. The more remote back roads could be a little sketchy without four-wheel drive.

Highlights of the day were as follows:

SHORT-EARED OWL - Flew right over the road at Assateague State Park at 6:55 a.m., just after the right turn past the causeway. Tough in the county, but rumored to be regular in the remote parts of Assateague. They're sometimes found at the landings such as Georges Island Landing and Scotts Landing, but we've tried a lot this year without luck.

AMERICAN TREE SPARROWs - Three in the large open area in the Assateague Bayside campground near A22. They were mixed in with a very large sparrow flock including Chipping and Field Sparrows. Ron and Jim also found a bird that most of us got to see along the circle of fields near South Point. We also successfully chased Jim Green's bird on Cherry Walk Road in Wicomico Co. Very rare in both counties.

COMMON MERGANSER - Female at the large pond behind the Rum Pointe Golf Course club house. Very rare in Worcester and Somerset Counties.

FIELD BIRDING - High quality throughout the area. 

RIVER OTTER - Choptank River, Choptank Marina, Caroline Co.

COUNTY CLOSEOUTs - When we decided to move on to Dorchester County fields, Rob Ostrowski told us he was going to stay behind in Wicomico Co. to try to close out Red-bellied and Downy Woodpecker (see them in his 23rd of 23 counties in Maryland). We decided to join him on this noble quest and hit a half-dozen or so high quality woodland stops on the way out of the county. We easily located Red-bellied at our first stop (w00t), but the rare and elusive Downy Woodpecker would not cooperate. We just didn't have what it takes. We found four Brown Thrashers, about 10 Hermit Thrushes, a sapsucker, Fox Sparrows, kinglets, and snipe, but that Downy Woodpecker will have to wait. If anyone finds a Downy Woodpecker in Wicomico Co., PLEASE, please contact Rob Ostrowski anytime day or night - preferably late at night - to let him know.

MONTH LISTING - While on the subject of listing, have you started keeping month lists yet? If not, you should! Just like many of us keep our all-time county lists, some of us have finally gotten more serious about keeping our all-time month lists (e.g., how many species in February in Maryland across all years). I can say that county listing has been the context for pretty much everything I've learned about Maryland bird distribution. Likewise, I can see that month listing has a similar, powerful effect on understanding temporal distribution. Keeping track of your-all time January list highlights not just what ISN'T here, but also how many hardy birds DO manage to winter here. And of course, like county listing, the greatest benefit is further motivation to visit the beautiful remote corners of the state at all different times of the year. 

You can also enjoy month listing without ever leaving your local patch. By seeing what's around each month of the year, one can become a local migration timing expert, which is really satisfying. If you combine such a local study with consistent eBird use, you'll be gathering the most valuable kind of data for your area. I love looking at my eBird bar chart for my yard and seeing that a species showed up just 1 day later than last year.

Several of us got our month closeout GRAY CATBIRD yesterday at locations on Assateague (who does land birding in February?). For me that was all-time February bird (in Maryland) #166 and month closeout #66. I ended January with 185 species. 

Good birding!

Bill

Bill Hubick
Pasadena, Maryland

http://www.billhubick.com