Hi All,

Nancy and I led a bird trip for my Washington College Academy of 
Lifelong Learning class yesterday morning (12 Feb, Happy Darwin's & 
Lincoln's birthdays). We spent lots of time showing folks birds so the 
list was not too diverse but there was quality in lieu of quantity.

We started on the Chestertown waterfront and were treated to a good bay 
duck flock at the High St. Dock including 2 drake Canvasback, and 2 
drake REDHEADS.  We also had the first Fish Crow we've had locally since 
December hanging out near Wilmer Park and the marina. There were 15 
Common Mergansers off Wilmer Park.

We went west on MD-20 to Rock Hall via Reese's Corner Road and 445 
south. We stopped to watch an obliging immature Red-shouldered Hawk 
perched on a roadside wire at Fairlee. The hawk seemed to be eying the 
sparrows feeding near a roadside hedgerow. Our best bird of the day was 
the sub-adult GOLDEN EAGLE we saw soaring over MD-445 from the sheep 
farm on Reese's Corner Rd. The eagle had little white at the base of the 
primaries but the distinctive bright white tail base and crisp black 
terminal tail band showed well. Other raptors seen on Reese's Corner 
Road were 32 Turkey and 17 Black vultures, 6 Bald Eagles, and a male 
American Kestrel.

Acting on Ross Geredein's tip (we saw him in Rock Hall) a few of us 
tried for the Golden-crowned Sparrow at Chesapeake Farms. No luck, too 
many dangerous raptors around while we were there including a 
Sharp-shinned Hawk, a Cooper's Hawk, and a Northern Harrier, We did see 
7 White-crowned Sparrows along the road, and had 10 pintail and 12 
shovelers in the HQ pond among the geese.

Good birding,

Walter Ellison & Nancy Martin

Chestertown, MD

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