Hi Folks,

Franklin Point State Park at the end of Dent Rd. in southern Anne
Arundel County is known for hosting birds that are tough to find in
this county.  The question has often been asked, "do these birds nest
here?"  This morning Kevin Graff joined me for a kayak trip along the
shoreline of the park, specifically to see if we could find Seaside
Sparrow, Saltmarsh Sparrow or Willet.  Long story short:  no, we found
none of these birds today.  We did find four or five singing MARSH
WRENs, several of them perched in the open.  We also got great looks
at a LEAST BITTERN that Kevin spotted from a good distance, but which
allowed us to get tantalizingly close before it flushed. After a
two-hour float we packed up and visited a few other places in the
southern part of the county and northern Calvert Co., with no notable
findings.

As we headed back towards my house, we stopped at the Quarterfield
Crossing Mall where Kevin had sighted a male BUFFLEHEAD during the
early morning hours while we were southbound on I-97.  The bird was
still there when we returned around noon; at this time it was the only
duck in the retention pond at the SW corner of the intersection of
I-97 and Quarterfield Rd.  Since we were close, I showed Kevin the
pond behind Lowe's at the back of the mall ("discovered" by Saundra
Byrd in '08), and we were delighted to find eight CATTLE EGRETs in the
grass around the pond.

After returning to my house in Ferndale, we unloaded the vehicle and
took a walk around the yard.  Kevin was reluctant to leave because he
has seen some pretty good birds in our yard, so we just hung out in
the yard for a while.  I heard some waxwings, caught a glimpse of
them, and ran out into the open front yard for a better view.  They
were gone, but here came some raptor flying lazily toward the house.
A kestrel, I thought; a Peregrine opines Kevin, and then (binoculars
raised) holy smokes, a MISSISSIPPI KITE!  A county bird for Kevin, and
my third in the county and second in the yard this season.  Utterly,
utterly insane.  I've never had one in June in Maryland.  Will they be
nesting here shortly?  Or are they already???

So, not bad for a June day.  I was half hoping for some mega to show
up, as this is the one-year anniversary of my albatross sighting off
of Assateage.  Actually, the anniversary turned out pretty well.

Stan Arnold
Ferndale