This afternoon I joined Sarah Warner for about an hour and a half of birding at Jug Bay (PG side), and despite the high winds it was very birdy.  Although we could here occasional cheeps and call notes, small passerines were difficult to find in the trees, which are mostly leafed out now and were in constant motion in the wind.

We saw two large flocks of swallows.  One zoomed past in my yard so fast that we did not get to really look before it was gone.  I estimated about 150 birds.  About ten minutes later we saw another flock, working over the fields at Mt Calvert in a classic foraging frenzy.  There were about 200 in the second flock, and we enjoyed watching the frenzy for about 15 minutes.  The birds were really impressive in their abilty to maneuver in the stiff winds.  Most were tree swallows but there were also barn, rough wing, and banks, plus we later heard and saw a lone purple martin.

The highlight was a Black-headed gull (still in wiwnter plumage) that was with a mixed flock of about 110 gulls loafing on the flats at Western Branch (PG side).  Nearly all were Laughers, but there was also Ringers, Bonies, plus Caspian and Forster's Terns.  When we first saw the Black-headed, I suspected it might be one based on its comparable size to the Laughers, plus to me it had a different look than the Bonies.  Its mantle was a slightly different shade and its bill seemed a bit more beefy.  They were distant but we had a scope and light was exellent.  But it was simply standing there and I was unable to know for sure.  We watched it a while but tired of focusing on it, as there was much other activity going on.  We marveled at three Harriers in a row come by low over the marsh, plus an eagle overhead, and sure enough, it got everyone up.  Unfortunately the gulls got up while we were not looking at them, and we looked but could not find the target gull to look for the black in its underwing primaries.  We missed the chance, and when they re-settled we could not relocate it.  I looked carefully through the flock unssuceesfully twice, and assumed it had left unoticed.  But about ten minutes later Sarah re-found it.  I glued onto it this time to see if it flew again, and in a short while was rewarded with a nice confirmation view of it in flight.

Cheers!
Jeff Shenot
Croom MD