Greetings,

The Kentish Plovers held their annual Big Sit at the observation 
platform at Tubby Cove, Eastern Neck NWR, from 6:35 AM to 3:35 PM on 
Sunday, 10 October. It was a day marked by lovely weather conditions 
(sun, little wind, 50-70 degree temperatures) and some good birds. The 
morning was productive but new additions to the list stopped shortly 
after noon and we ended the sit with 66 species (3rd best in 9 years). 
We started with two ominously hooting Great Horned Owls and our last new 
species was our first of 2 Red-shouldered Hawks. It was a fine day for 
raptor and Blue Jay movement as we had 300 of the latter and over 200 of 
the former representing 13 species. This included a surprising 44 
Broad-winged Hawks, 40 in one kettle at 2:30 PM. The full list is 
appended below.

Three new species (Surf Scoter, Red-throated Loon, and Chimney Swift) 
brought the cumulative total to 111 species for the nine-year history of 
the count. Thanks to Dan Haas for joining us from Annapolis and lending 
his sharp eyes to the effort.

Good birding,

Walter Ellison & Nancy Martin
Chestertown, MD

Observing Nature is like unwrapping a big pile of presents every time 
you take a walk.


Our complete list, with best estimate of numbers seen:

Cackling Goose (Richardson's)     1
Canada Goose     1800
American Wigeon     2
American Black Duck     54
Mallard     3
Greater Scaup     3
Lesser Scaup     1
Surf Scoter     1
Red-throated Loon     1
Common Loon     3
Double-crested Cormorant     120
Great Blue Heron     10
Great Egret     1
Black Vulture     14
Turkey Vulture     53
Osprey     7
Bald Eagle     12
Northern Harrier     11
Sharp-shinned Hawk     49
Cooper's Hawk     6
Red-shouldered Hawk     2
Broad-winged Hawk     44
Red-tailed Hawk (Eastern)     4
American Kestrel     3
Merlin     2
Peregrine Falcon     1
Killdeer     3
Laughing Gull     130
Ring-billed Gull     40
Herring Gull (American)     10
Great Black-backed Gull     5
Caspian Tern     3
Common Tern     1
Forster's Tern     60
Royal Tern     3
Great Horned Owl     2
Chimney Swift     2
Belted Kingfisher     1
Red-bellied Woodpecker     3
Downy Woodpecker     1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)     6
Eastern Phoebe     1
Blue Jay     300
American Crow     12
Northern Rough-winged Swallow     1
Tree Swallow     36
Brown-headed Nuthatch     3
Carolina Wren     1
Golden-crowned Kinglet     3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet     1
Eastern Bluebird     7
American Robin     4
Northern Mockingbird     3
European Starling     50
American Pipit     1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)     27
Palm Warbler     1
Eastern Towhee     1
Savannah Sparrow     1
Song Sparrow     6
Swamp Sparrow     6
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)     1
Northern Cardinal     1
Red-winged Blackbird     160
Common Grackle     1
American Goldfinch     7