Jim Stasz and I visited Tuckahoe Lake this afternoon from about 2:30 til 
about 4:00. The 4 swallows were still there when we left. We also had a 
large number of ducks on the lake today, including Mallard, Black Duck, 
Pintail, Green-winged Teal, American Wigeon, Greater Scaup, Ring-necked 
Duck and Wood Duck, along with a flock of about 250 Canada Geese and 3 
American Coots. The birds were all on the Queen Anne County side when we 
arrived but eventually they all got up and circled the lake a few times 
before most settled back in.

When we drove out on Rte 309 the Snow Geese were still there at about 
4:00. Other than a single Snow Goose in Caroline County, we saw no other 
Snow Geese on the southern Eastern Shore of Maryland south of the 
Choptank over the weekend. We covered a good deal of Somerset and 
Wicomico Counties on Saturday and came up completely empty in them.

Over the weekend there were what appeared to be larger concentrations of 
ducks and geese in some places and fewer numbers in other places that 
were reliable most of the winter. At the Fairmount Wildlife Management 
Area we had 5 species of shorebirds and 1,500 Green-winged Teal. At the 
Ocean City inlet this morning we has American Oystercatchers on several 
occasions and a group of Pintails on another that were heading north in 
apparent migration. Despite Mother-Nature's worst attempts to provide 
unfavorable conditions lately, I guess some instinctual drives are too 
hard to resist and the cycles of life continue no matter what.

Even though I had a life bird over the weekend, I'll leave it to Jim to 
post the goodies and numbers.

Ed Boyd
Westminster, MD

Strobel, Warren wrote:
> Despite a bizarre and unwelcome snow squall, Lisa and I had four Tree Swallows over Tuckahoe Lake at Tuckahoe State Park, Caroline County, around 11am this morning. Never seen TRSWs in the snow before. These were FoY for us. Also seen was an adult Bald Eagle, which flushed waterfowl, including Northern Pintail and Wood Duck. We had 11 Northern Flickers in one spot in between the park and Adkins Arboretum.
>  
> A bit later, over in Queen Anne County, we watched in delight as a huge flock (500+) of Snow Geese landed in a field right next to Route 309.
>  
> On Saturday, Lisa observed two Red-Tailed Hawks mating in the trees next to the house. They must've known that Birdcouple calls our pad "The Lovenest." :)
>  
> Good Birding All.
>  
> Warren & Lisa Strobel
> Annapolis, MD
> www.birdcouple.com
>  
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