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Results from Ocean City CBC

From:

Marcy Stutzman

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Marcy Stutzman

Date:

Wed, 5 Jan 2011 16:56:22 -0500

Here is some information from Jay Sheppard, the OC CBC Compiler:

A brief summary of the Ocean City CBC.
 
The count was postponed from Dec. 28 to Jan. 4 because of the adverse weather and road conditions remaining after the major snow storm on Dec. 26.  The coastal areas of MD had 14-18" of snow followed by heavy winds that piled drifts up to 4 feet in many places.  Somehow, we managed to have almost the normal number of field observers on the rescheduled day.
 
At the tally Tuesday evening in Ocean City a preliminary total of 148 species was made.  A full tabulation is a couple of weeks away.  Some of the highlights were as follows:
 
An immature Northern Goshawk was seen a number of miles south of Berlin for the first count record of this species.  A Clay-colored Sparrow was also found in the same general area.
 
A Ross' Goose was found among the myriad numbers of Snow Geese just outside Berlin itself.  A Black-capped Chickadee was found in the woods of West Ocean City and was the only one found on this count.  More had been somewhat expected following the invasion this fall of good numbers of this chickadee along the Mid-Atlantic coastal states.
 
At the Ocean City Inlet were the usual numbers of Purple Sandpipers and Ruddy Turnstones, pus the one lingering Red Knot.  A pair of Harlequins continue to frequent the south jetty and are not always visible, along with the flock of some 34 Common Eiders that loaf mostly on the south side of the south jetty.  A King Eider reported a few days before the count could not be located.  Two Great Cormorants were present at the Inlet on the count, along with all three species of scoters and both species of loons.  The two Dovekies seen in the days leading up to the count could not be found at the Inlet on count day.  Fortunately, one was seen off the beach at Assateague State Park but was moving and hard to see most of the time.  
 
Also seen on the count from Assateague was a fly-by Black-legged Kittiwake (one had also been seen the day before at the Inlet).  A lingering Piping Plover was spotted on the exposed flats near the north end of Assateague.  In a large flock of feeding American Goldfinches on Assateague was found a single Common Redpoll.  A Red-necked Grebe was seen from the south end of South Point out in the middle of Sinepuxent Bay.  A half dozen had been spotted the day before the count feeding off the Ocean City beach just a mile or so north of the Inlet.
 
The impression most observers had was that actual numbers of most species seemed to be down.  We will need to crunch the numbers reported from the more than 40 observers to see if this impression holds up for this winter's count.
 
Jay Sheppard, compiler
Maryland City, MD