I took a drive to the lower shore this morning and spent a couple hours along Rumbly Point Rd. in Somerset County. I was hoping to see a Nelson's Sparrow, which would have been a life bird for me. After about a dozen Swamp/Song/Savannah false alarms, I finally saw a bird pop up that I could tell right away was either a Saltmarsh or Nelson's, but I no sooner lifted my binoculars than a low-flying Harrier buzzed directly over the bird and spooked it back into the grass, never to be seen again. I did get a pretty nice shot of the Harrier...dammit. A little later I had a nice consolation prize when I saw a lone bird pecking around the edge of the grass about halfway up the road towards the boat ramp. I got close enough to get some great looks and some not bad photos of a pretty Lapland Longspur. The pictures can be viewed here http://www.flickr.com/photos/27381338@N03/5152742544/in/photostream/ 

Mark Johnson
Aberdeen, MD