Hi Everybody: 

First of all, thanks to Bob Ringler for clarifying and posting the directions to the wet field off Rt. 66. It saves me from doing the same.

I arrived at the driveway and parked immediately to the left as soon as I Turned off of Rt. 66. I was there from 7 Am to 7:20 AM this morning. I did a quick scan with binoculars and did not see any signs of the Pectoral Sandpipers. I then walked down the driveway and used a tree to block the morning sun so I could scope effectively. I saw the following shorebirds: 8 Solitary Sandpipers, 2 Spotted Sandpipers & 2 Killdeer. Other birds were 1 Wood Duck, 1 Blue-winged Teal and 2 Rusty Blackbirds. The Barn Swallows were behaving just as Bob had described.

I drove up to Warner Hollow Rd. since it was nearby; I did not see any shorebirds on the edges of the reservoir. I continued up the road and immediately decided that today was not going to produce much in the way of warblers; it was way too windy and cold. Nothing was singing at all.

I spent the rest of the morning checking other shorebird spots in Washington County. I checked various places behind the Hagerstown Shopping Center (Exit 7 off of Rt. 81). Just about every bit of water I checked had at least one Spotted Sandpiper and a few had Solitary Sandpipers. These were the only shorebirds I saw. In one of the sediment ponds I checked at the dry end I counted 31 Chipping Sparrows tightly packed in and feeding on the ground. The only other bird mixed in with them was a Junco.

I did have 5 species of shorebirds in the wet area behind the Hagerstown Airport: 2 Killdeer, 1 Spotted Sandpiper, 1 Least Sandpiper, 2 Wilson's Snipe, and 1 Lesser Yellowlegs.

I then headed up to Blairs Valley Lake in Indian Springs WMA. The wind was blowing hard enough over the lake to create waves on the shoreline. I immediately found the seemingly everywhere Spotted Sandpiper - there were 3 of them. I saw two other shorebirds briefly and went to the car and retrieved my scope. There were 2 GREATER YELLOWLEGS in the SW corner of the lake. I had been looking for one of these in Washington County for quite a while. I would later find a 3rd one at the northern end of the lake. This was a county bird for me as well as my 95th closeout. There were 2 D-C Cormorants on the lake, several Green Herons and an Osprey gliding lazily overhead if that was possible in the gusty wind. I then moved down to the ranger's office, scanned the lake from that angle and found an actively diving COMMON LOON (another County bird). The Loon was not quite yet in full breeding plumage.

I spent an hour driving around in the WMA area and then went down to Williamsport to see if there was anything on the Potomac River. There were many Swallows flying around. I spent 45 minutes there before I finally saw first one, then a second BANK SWALLOW (a county bird). It was very difficult to count them but percentage wise I would estimate 65% Tree & 30% Barn with a handful of Rough-winged as well as the 2 Bank. I also counted 4 Purple Martins.

On the way home I decided to stop by the "ex-Pec" location and see if there was anything different there. This time I counted 13 Solitaries and 2 Spotted. There was 1 Greater Yellowlegs in the mix. The Rusties were gone but they were replaced with 10 American Pipits, some of which were showing a pale orangish unstreaked breast as they moved into breeding plumage. 

I drove across Oland and Lily Pons Roads in Frederick County and had a few Horned Larks on each road in almost bare fields. One field on Lily Pons Road had a combination of high grass and mustard grass. I scanned the field and saw a few dark heads sticking up and then all at once the field erupted with the song of BOBOLINKS. One popped up for a couple of seconds. They seemed to be tucked in due to the wind. At one point 6 flew up and landed in another part of the field. I am guessing there were alot more there than 6. Bobolinks were FOY for me. Feeling 120% windblown I headed for home.

Jim Green
Gaithersburg, MD
Work in moderation, BIRD IN EXCESS!!!