On Sunday I went looking for some ducks in Kent County. Since it was a  
nice, calm morning I started pre-dawn listening for owls. In the Reeses Corner  
area I heard 2 dueting pairs of GREAT HORNED OWLS and one screaming BARN 
OWL.  After daybreak on Reeses Corner Road there were several HORNED LARKS and 
 AMERICAN PIPITS in the area, plus one EASTERN MEADOWLARK and one WILSON'S 
SNIPE  in a wet field near the road. I also saw the ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK that's 
been  around since December, perched on the top of a vine-covered structure 
that  towers over the farm buildings.
 
At the entrance to Eastern Neck Island there were approximately 450 TUNDRA  
SWANS spread out on either side of the bridge and one female LONG-TAILED 
DUCK.  Calfpasture Cove had a huge flock of several hundred CANVASBACK with a 
few  GREATER SCAUP and RUDDY DUCKS mixed in. Another flock of about 120 
Canvasback  was on the far side of the Bogles Wharf area, where I also saw a 
single HORNED  GREBE. There were no huge rafts of ducks on the Bay or Chester 
River side,  but the Chester River had scattered groups of COMMON GOLDENEYE, 
BUFFLEHEAD  and RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. The Bay was nearly empty except for 
3 more  Long-tailed Ducks and a distant raft of scoters.
 
After Eastern Neck I went up to Great Oak Pond where I picked up  
RING-NECKED DUCK and AMERICAN WIGEON. I did not take the time to sort through  the 
many thousands of CANADA and SNOW GEESE. Along the Chestertown waterfront I  
finally found some LESSER SCAUP.
 
I decided to try northern Caroline County for a few more waterfowl. At the  
pond off Legion Road in Denton there were 12 BUFFLEHEAD, 8 LESSER SCAUP and 
 one SNOW GOOSE among a couple hundred Canadas. From Covey's Landing on the 
 Talbot side I counted 44 COMMON MERGANSERS on the Caroline side. While I 
was  there the owner of one of the homes up the hill came down to chat. He 
seemed to  know birds pretty well and described how he and his son had watched 
a Bald  Eagle, on two occasions, fly into the woods to pluck a squirrel 
from a  tree.
 
Joel Martin
Catonsville, MD

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