Hi Folks,

Like so many Maryland birders, I was out yesterday enjoying the peak
of spring migration, but limiting my area to Anne Arundel Co.  I met
Dan Haas at Dent Rd. shortly after 5:30 a.m. and we had our kayak in
the water by 6 a.m., exploring the shoreline of Franklin Point Park.
Here we were able to tally six SEASIDE SPARROWs, several of them
singing on territory, and hear several MARSH WRENs.  The unmitigated
highlight of the trip, however, was finding two SALTMARSH SPARROWs.
When Dan found the first one, I maneuvered the kayak towards it while
Dan got out his camera and began clicking away.  He was able to get
some excellent shots of this cooperative bird in good light.

After more than two hours on the water we packed up and were on our
way to the Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary when Dan got a text message from
Hans Holbrook, announcing multiple Alder Flycatchers at Davidsonville
Park.  Jug Bay would have to wait; we altered our itinerary to head to
D'ville.  Not more than five minutes after locking our cars at the
park we heard and saw two ALDER FLYCATCHERs near the baseball fields.
We then pushed back into the wilds of the park towards the river,
missing a sought-after Tennessee Warbler, but instead finding WILSON'S
WARBLER and CANADA WARBLER.  We eventually hooked up with Hans and Jim
Stasz who had just found a Bicknell's Thrush.  Though Dan and I were
very interested in seeing this bird, we would have to wade through
knee-deep water or hike way out of our way to get to the location, so
decided to try another time.

It was noon when we all went our separate ways, and I continued back
south to Wooten's Landing, which was fairly slow during the middle of
the afternoon.  My next stop at the Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary was, by
contrast, quite birdy, though there were no show-stoppers with
SWAINSON'S THRUSH being my best find.  A short stop at Parris
Glendening Preserve produced little, but the next stop at Sands Road
Park was surprising.  I had come here looking for meadowlark, which I
did not find, but instead I was rewarded with SAVANNAH SPARROW,
GRASSHOPPER SPARROW and several BOBOLINKs.  The biggest shock, though,
was having numerous swallows swarming over the huge grassy field,
including two BANK SWALLOWs and a CLIFF SWALLOW.  I'm accustomed to
seeing swallows mass over sewage ponds and wetlands, but other than
the Barn Swallows they seemed out of place here.

I was having a good day, and now decided to see how many species I
could finish the day with.  I decided to drop into Sandy Point State
Park to pad my numbers with the common gulls, and was surprised to
find a LEAST TERN diving in the lagoon where the police boats are
docked.  This was a park first for me.

My next stop was at home, where Elaine had already tallied nine
species of warbler during the morning.  I walked around the yard
refinding several of the birds she had already seen:  Pewee, Redstart,
Ovenbird, Common Yellowthroat.  Then a thrush popped into view, and I
figured it was one of the Swainson's Thrushes that had been seen
during the past couple of days.  Nope, it was a BICKNELL'S THRUSH, the
fourth we've had in the yard in the past five years (we missed one in
2009).  Before leaving home for my final searches, a COMMON NIGHTHAWK
flew over the yard, bringing our yard count for the day to a season
high of 41 species.

When I left the house I had 101 species for the day, and I knew I
could add several more.  I visited Pond #10 along the Patapsco River
and here added Wood Duck and WARBLING VIREO to the daily tally.  From
there it was to Fort Armistead to look for waders, as Dan and I had
only found Great Blues and Snowys during the morning.  This was a
productive stop as I added Great Egret, Cattle Egret and Little Blue
Heron to my list, along with a surprise COMMON TERN.

My last stop for the day was Weinberg Park near Fort Smallwood.  I was
pleased to find a flyby BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON going to roost at
dusk, then hear CHUCK-WILL'S WIDOW, and my last bird of the day,
species #110, a calling GREAT HORNED OWL.  What a blast!

Oh, I did not post about my survey at Swan Creek Wetland this past
Thursday, but there I found a female LEAST BITTERN, which flushed from
the marsh near the road to a point further away.

Great time to be outside!

Stan Arnold
Ferndale (AA Co.)