Hi Everyone,

I spent a highly enjoyable morning at Point Lookout State Park on Saturday (10/2). The fading hope of another sighting of the mind-blowing Cassin's Sparrow found by Mikey Lutmerding was bolstered by the promise of a strong flight. It was me, Jim Stasz, Jim Brighton, John Hubbell, Frode Jacobsen, Mikey Lutmerding, Ed Boyd, and Ed (last name?), visiting from Salt Lake City. We also ran into Patty Craig for part of the morning.

Before leaving home, we were aware that radar was lit up across the Mid-Atlantic. As we drove south down Route 4, the skies over Maryland were filled with Myrtle Warblers, creepers, and kinglets. We met up with many of them at dawn at the point. The winter resident species have officially made landfall in Maryland. 

Bird of the day goes to an AMERICAN BITTERN flushed from the scrubby island of habitat near the point. Other favorites included a migrant GRASSHOPPER SPARROW near the point and BAY-BREASTED WARBLER and PHILADELPHIA VIREO in Calvert Co. The butterflies were outstanding, with Monarch fallout at the point and Little Yellows in Charles, Calvert, and St. Mary's Co. See below for the full bird lists for all sites.

Photos: http://www.billhubick.com/photos/updates/20101003.php
(the previous page on the site has recent photos from San Francisco, including some cool Parasitc Jaeger/Elegant Tern interaction shots)

Point Lookout State Park

Canada Goose--64. Several flocks flying high.
Mute Swan--3. One on the river side, two close to shore on the bay side, near the point.
Wood Duck--3. Flyby pair, then a single.
dabbling duck sp.--3
Common Loon--1. Fresh plumage; if assumed to be a migrant, this is my early arrival date.
Brown Pelican--114. Highest in sight simultaneously was 85 on the river side.
Double-crested Cormorant--176, flyby flocks, which were roughly 10 to 35 birds each.
AMERICAN BITTERN--1. * Rarely detected in the county. Flushed from the scrubby island of habitat near the point. Jim Stasz flushed it and it flew right at those of us on the east side of the island. Photos in flight. Flew to the Phragmites marsh north of the point. County bird for all present.
Great Blue Heron--2
Black Vulture--1
Turkey Vulture--2
Bald Eagle--3
Northern Harrier--2
Sharp-shinned Hawk--2
American Kestrel--1
Peregrine Falcon--2 (Mikey only)
Killdeer--1
Laughing Gull--380. Heavy flight at dawn
Herring Gull (American)--90
Great Black-backed Gull--25
Common Tern--1. Picked out by Frode among the Forster's Tern flocks
Forster's Tern--68. Good flight this morning.
Royal Tern--12
Mourning Dove--1
Chimney Swift--5
Belted Kingfisher--1
Red-bellied Woodpecker--5
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker--2. First of season for most of us.
Downy Woodpecker--1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)--11
Eastern Wood-Pewee--1
Empidonax sp.--Jim/Ed/others(?) only
Eastern Phoebe--23. Migration!
White-eyed Vireo--2. One adult and one juvenile.
Red-eyed Vireo--4
Blue Jay--3
American Crow--5
Northern Rough-winged Swallow--2
Tree Swallow--2
Carolina Chickadee--10
Tufted Titmouse--1
Red-breasted Nuthatch--3
Brown-headed Nuthatch--5
Brown Creeper--3. One of our favorite sights of the morning was watching one fly in off the Bay and fly by, just a foot of the ground, over the tip of the point. Another landed literally just two feet away from me on a tree.
Carolina Wren--15
House Wren--9
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher--2. Only my second October record. My two later records: 10/11/2009 at Vaughn North; 11/15/2008 at Hoopers, Worcester (Rarity Roundup).
Golden-crowned Kinglet--6. First of season for many of us.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet--2. First of season for many of us.
Eastern Bluebird--20
Gray-cheeked Thrush--2
Swainson's Thrush--1
Catharus sp.--1
American Robin--3
Gray Catbird--17
Northern Mockingbird--12
Brown Thrasher--3
European Starling--70
American Pipit--1. Flew over, calling at the point.
Cedar Waxwing--2
Nashville Warbler--1
Northern Parula--6
Chestnut-sided Warbler--1 juvenile.
Magnolia Warbler--2
Black-throated Blue Warbler--1. Female
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)--58. They have arrived.
Pine Warbler--6
Palm Warbler--14
Blackpoll Warbler--2. One identified in flight and confirmed via Mikey's photo; another in the woods.
American Redstart--2
Yellow-breasted Chat--1
warbler sp.--8
Chipping Sparrow--10
Savannah Sparrow (Eastern)--4
GRASSHOPPER SPARROW--1. * Great find at the Point. Flushed by Jim Stasz in one of the grassy patches, then refound a couple times, it several times perching up on posts and rocks for wonderful out-of-habitat photos with the water of the Potomac as the backdrop.
Song Sparrow--1
White-throated Sparrow--2. First of season for many.
White-crowned Sparrow--1 juvenile. First of season for all. My earliest fall bird by 5 days.
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)--3. First of season for many of us
Northern Cardinal--11
Indigo Bunting--2
Red-winged Blackbird--1
Baltimore Oriole--1 male. In the lighthouse enclosure, several times landing on the fence
House Finch--8
American Goldfinch--1
Non-avian: Major MONARCH presence, certainly my best Monarch migration day in Maryland, including several trees and shrubs covered (300-500+; one wing-tagged NBC 786), Common Buckeye (200), Variegated Fritillary (2), Red Admiral (2; county insect of me), Painted Lady (1), Pearl Crescent (5), LITTLE YELLOW (1; photos), Cloudless Sulfur (3), Common Wood-Nymph (1), Common Green Darner (5), Rambur's Forktail (2), saddlebags sp. (2).

Point Lookout SP--Jacob's Farm area

Black Vulture--14
Turkey Vulture--11
Bald Eagle--2
Sharp-shinned Hawk--1
Cooper's Hawk--3
Accipiter sp.--1
Red-shouldered Hawk--1
Mourning Dove--1
Red-bellied Woodpecker--2
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)--1
Eastern Wood-Pewee--1
Eastern Phoebe--2
Blue Jay--3
American Crow--3
Carolina Chickadee--3
Tufted Titmouse--1
Carolina Wren--3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet--1
Brown Thrasher--2
Magnolia Warbler--1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)--3
Black-throated Green Warbler--1
Pine Warbler--2
Common Yellowthroat--2
Savannah Sparrow (Eastern)--6
Song Sparrow--1
Northern Cardinal--3
American Goldfinch--1
Non-avian: Eastern Box Turtle (young, with large growth on head), Monarchs, Pearl Crescent (20), Common Buckeye (100s), Cloudless Sulfur (10), Orange Sulfur (100+), Clouded Sulfur (seemed to be several), Common Checkered Skipper (50), Gray Hairstreak (20), Eastern Tailed Blue (5), Least Skipper (1), Sachem (1), small orange skipper (5), Common Green Darner (10), unid. saddlebags (1; Mikey took flight shots of one as possible vagrant Striped).

Indian Creek WMA, Charles Co.

Turkey Vulture--3
Eastern Phoebe--1
Blue Jay--5
Carolina Chickadee--2
Tufted Titmouse--2
Brown Thrasher--1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)--2
Black-throated Green Warbler--1
Palm Warbler--1--Jim B's county bird
Field Sparrow--1
Savannah Sparrow (Eastern)--2
GRASSHOPPER SPARROW--1
Song Sparrow--2
Swamp Sparrow--1--First of season for some of us
Northern Cardinal--3
Indigo Bunting--1
American Goldfinch--1
Non-avian: Southern Leopard Frogs (20), Pickerel Frog (1), Northern Cricket Frog (3), N. Red-bellied Turtle (1), Monarchs, Pearl Crescent (20), Common Buckeye (50), Cloudless Sulfur (5), LITTLE YELLOW (1; photographed by Frode), Orange Sulfur (50), Clouded Sulfur (10), Variegated Fritillary (1), Great Spangled Fritillary (Jim and Jim), Common Green Darner, Blue Dasher, Blue-faced Meadowhawks (20), Autumn Meadowhawk, Common Whitetail (1), spreadwing sp. (Common/Southern), Citrine Forktail (3), Familiar Bluet (10).

Patuxent River--Smoky Road

Canada Goose--72. Several high-flying flocks.
Mallard--5
Black Vulture--2
Turkey Vulture--2
Mourning Dove--3. Including a very unexpected barely fledged juvenile. 
Barred Owl--2
Chimney Swift--5
Ruby-throated Hummingbird--3. October bird for some of us. Each individual checked carefully to consider other species. Really not that uncommon at the beginning of the month, but attention to each individual should continue to increase with each passing day of the year.
Red-bellied Woodpecker--7
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker--1
Downy Woodpecker--1
Hairy Woodpecker--1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)--9
Pileated Woodpecker--1
Eastern Phoebe--2
PHILADELPHIA VIREO--1
Red-eyed Vireo--1
Blue Jay--4
American Crow--3
Carolina Chickadee--10
Tufted Titmouse--6
Red-breasted Nuthatch--6
White-breasted Nuthatch--3--Are locals supplemented by migrants now? My migrant at Point Lookout was 10/7/2007.
Brown Creeper--1
Carolina Wren--4
Golden-crowned Kinglet--3
Eastern Bluebird--1
Wood Thrush--1. One bird doing its dusk call while we were walking back
Brown Thrasher--4. At the main parking lot, two birds were doing typical dusk calls (chup, questioning whistle - tyeer?, exhaling/deer snort call)
Cedar Waxwing--1
Northern Parula--2
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)--31--They're back
Black-throated Green Warbler--3
BAY-BREASTED WARBLER--1. First fall male seen very well and photographed adequately. Yellow/beige overall including undertail coverts, nice wash of bay on the sides. New October bird for me.
Black-and-white Warbler--1
American Redstart--1
White-throated Sparrow--2
Northern Cardinal--8
Rose-breasted Grosbeak--2
Blue Grosbeak--1
Indigo Bunting--8
Red-winged Blackbird--350
Brown-headed Cowbird--3
Non-avian: LITTLE YELLOW (1), Green Tree Frogs (~10), American Toads trilling while we were walking out, Northern Cricket Frogs (5), Wandering Glider, Common Whitetail, Fawn Darner (Mikey only), Common Green Darner, White-lined Sphinx Moth. A katydid called once, probably the last we'll hear this year.

Good birding,

Bill


Bill Hubick
Pasadena, Maryland

http://www.billhubick.com