Since the information hasn't been past yet I thought that I'd post some of the highlights of my swing through Southern Maryland over the weekend with Jim Stasz. Jim I know will be putting the data into eBird, but I'm not sure what else will show up on MDOSPREY so here's some of the information:

Saturday
 
Greater White-fronted Goose - The bird found by Jim Brighton and Dan Small on 2/21/10 remains in the small Canada Goose flock on Dublin Road in Somerset County.

Snow Bunting - The bird reported by Mike Walsh was still being seen in the driveway of the home of Coulbourne Creek Rd. in Somerset.

COMMON TEAL - Found in a very large flock of Green-winged Teal (~1,500 birds) at the Fairmount Wildlife Management Area in the impoundment off Lower hill Road in Somerset County. The birds were in the last half of the impoundment heading south from the parking area. This bird was refound on Sunday. Also in the impoundment were more than 50 Greater Yellowlegs, a dozen Lesser Yellowlegs, at least 8 Long-billed Dowitchers, a couple of Dunlin and a Western Sandpiper. The shorebirds numbers reported to us on Sunday were not as large.

Short-eared Owl - 4 Birds were found over the marsh at Deal Island Wildlife Management Area starting about 90 minutes before sundown. 2 birds were seen along Green Dumpster Road (Game Reserve Road on Google Maps). The birds were on a leafless small tree and a fence post as we drove in. As we drove out they were seen flying over the marsh on the east side. The other two birds were seen harassing a Northern Herrier near the west end of the marsh along Deal Island Road.

Sunday

Common Eider - More than 40 birds at the Ocean City inlet. Most birds were seen in the Ocean well south of the south jetty when we arrived but they eventually moved against the jetty and became hard to see from the parking lot about 30 minutes after we arrived. A flock of about 15 birds moved to the north jetty and were feeding off the ocean side tip for the last hour or so that we were there. We did not see the King Eider that was reported later in the day despite our searching through the Eiders for a couple of hours.

Harlequin Duck - A pair of birds seen mixed in with a flock of Surf Scoters on the South side of the south jetty. The birds remained close to the south jetty for nearly the entire time that we were there and were difficult to locate most of the time. The high tide made it somewhat easier when the birds would occasionally move away from the jetty. There were at least 2 seals working the inlet and jetty today and they may have been the reason that the birds would disperse once in a while.

American Oystercatcher - We had a scattering of small flocks moving up the coast throughout the morning. Although not remarkable at this location, these birds gave the appearance of migrational movement and did not appear to be local birds. We also had a flock of Pintail that flew over, again appearing to be in migration north out over the ocean.

Greater White-fronted Goose - We found a large flock of Canada Geese in a field on Hunting Creek Rd. just off Blades Road in extreme southern Caroline County east of Choptank. The White-fronted was found on the edge of the flock close to the road when we first arrived. Our presence made the flock uncomfortable and they walked deeper into the field while we observed the birds but the flock did not fly off while we were there.

Northern Pintail - A pair of birds were found in a flooded field with some Canada Geese and a half dozen Mallards along Eveland Road about a mile south of the Adkins Arboretum along Eveland Road. in Caroline County. 

Black Duck, Northern Pintail, American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal, Greater Scaup, Ring-necked Duck, Wood Duck - Tuckahoe Lake. Almost all of the birds were on the Queen Annes County side of the lake when we arrived. We walked the shore of the west side of the lake and most of the birds flushed as we approached. They flew up and circled around the circumference of the lake several times before most settled back down on the northern end of the lake. 3 Coots were seen on the Q.A. side and were not seen on the Caroline County.

As stated in my post yesterday, notable was the nearly complete lack of Snow Geese on the lower eastern shore below Queen Annes County. We had a single bird in a flock in Caroline County and that was all that we ran across in a day and a half. Also missing were Northern Gannets in the waters off Ocean City yesterday. As the schools of fish start moving north in the next couple of weeks, that should change quickly.
 Edward Boyd
Westminster, MD 




________________________________
From: Jim Moore <>
To: 
Sent: Sun, February 28, 2010 9:20:36 PM
Subject: [MDOSPREY] Gr. White-fronted Goose--Talbot County; nice sea duck show at OC Inlet Sunday

Late Saturday morning I was pleased to discover a Greater White-fronted Goose mixed in with a flock of about 1000 Canada geese in a field adjacent to Route 50 in Talbot County. The bird was on the west side about a half-mile north of Easton Airport (which is also adjacent to Route 50). 
Sunday afternoon there was a nice sea duck show at Ocean City Inlet. Just north of the south jetty and fairly close to shore, a tight flock of about 30 birds was assembled that included the gorgeous (continuing) male and female Harlequin Ducks, as well as adult male and female Black Scoters, Surf Scoters, and Long-tailed Ducks.  If only a male King Eider had been in the mix, I would have been in sea duck heaven!  As if to tease, a female King Eider did put in an appearance fairly far out to the west of the north jetty (presumably the same bird that hung around in January for a while).

Good birding!
Jim Moore
Rockville, Maryland
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