As many others have reported, the high winds and cooling temps on May 8 produced very poor birding conditions, which resulted in both low diversity and individual numbers.  It was the poorest May Count I can remember.  With 9 hours of effort, we only had 89 species observed in the Jug Bay area, plus I had a few (7) additional species observed from another nearby area in P.G. (Brown Station Landfill) that was not covered, and I briefly counted in mid-afternoon.  Even if the wind had been absent, the advanced state of foliage this year has made it challenging and more difficult to see passerines - I think most folks I talked to agree this was a very early leaf-out this spring, and as a result it's been tough finding birds that aren't vocalizing due to thicker than usual cover.

Highlights?  I suppose it was good to get 8 species of shorebirds, although none were big surprises (the "best" were probably Pectoral and Western).  Perhaps the day's "best" find was a glossy ibis, which is not rare here but uncommon enough that it always makes the day when you see one.  I had fantastic scope views of it feeding, a beauty of a bird.  I also had a Snowy Egret fly-by, which are also uncommon here.  We only had 13 warbler and 3 sparrow species, which is very low here for the May count.  Another group of birders went out only 3 days earlier in southern PG and had 120 species, including 20 spp of warblers (Ostrowski et. al., May 5 Big Day).

I think the best part of the day was the joy expressed from several birders in our group, who had numerous "lifer" species that we were able to get great views of, and I hope it made a couple of enthusiastic converts to add to the great community of bird watchers here in Maryland.

Best regards!
Jeff Shenot
Croom MD