With power out at our house (it's back on now) and Lisa off to the salon to make herself look prettier (as if that were possible!!), I decided to do a half-day of birding from 10am - 2pm Saturday on the upper Eastern Shore.

A 45-minute stake-out at the GC Sparrow site at Chesapeake Farms yielded no GC Sparrow. The area under the pokeberry bush where it has been seen was covered in snow, and a survey of snow-clear areas where birds were congregating yielded only White-Crowned, White-Throated and a single Savannah.

On a lark and with no prospect of success in mind, I headed to the area near Kibler Road in QA County where the Northern Shrike hangs out. Found and photographed it almost immediately. Location is thus: if you make a left onto Round Top Road from Kibler Road, the bird was about a quarter-mile down Round Top on the right, perching on a sapling (?) in a field not far from the road. It's past the sign that says "Grassland Plantations" but before Round Top curves sharply to the left.

Earlier, Tuckahoe State Park held 4 FoY Wood Ducks, a Bald Eagle flyover, numerous Flickers and three American Pipits that, oddly, landed briefly on the edge of the iced-over portion of Tuckahoe Lake before moving on.

Nice Horned Lark flocks in both QA and Kent counties, no Lapland Longspurs noted. Lots of goose hunters everywhere, subspecies unknown.

Good Birding!
Warren and Lisa Strobel
Annapolis, MD
www.birdcouple.com