Hey everyone,

I have been able to get out and do a little birding the past couple of
evenings.  On Monday evening I decided to check the Choptank River for
any waterfowl that might have been put down because of the rain.  I
didn't find anything other than a pair of Common Mergansers on the
Caroline County side of Kingston Landing.  On Kingston Landing Rd, in
the newly sprouted fields, were over 750 Tundra Swans and a very large
gull flock of over 1000 birds.  The flock was basically two to one
Ring-bills to Herring with one immature Great Black-backed and a
single Iceland Gull.  The highlight of the flock was 62 Laughing
Gulls.  I have only seen Laughing Gulls one other time in February and
that was last year in almost the same place.  I continued to Covey's
Landing where Mallards were the only waterfowl observed.

Yesterday evening I made an attempt at the geese that John Hubbell had
found on Sunday near Chesapeake College.  I didn't find any Greater
White-fronted Geese but I did find a single Ross's Goose in a large
flock of Snow Geese on Rt 309 just west of Starr.

Everyday I try to bird the Spring Rd ponds either at lunch or on my
way home from work.  Resident Mallards and Canada Geese are the norm
but sometimes Gadwall and Northern Shovelers spend a week or two and
then disappear.  Green-winged Teal showed up a few weeks ago and there
has been between 50 and 75 birds on the ponds for the past week.
Today I counted 91 Green-winged Teal, 2 American Wigeon (M/F), 1 Ruddy
Duck, and 23 Northern Shovelers.  With the good waterfowl numbers at
Spring Rd, I decided to go to Pickering Creek and see what the
waterfowl numbers were there.  I was not disappointed.  I was
surprised at the number of Aythya present.  I find Ring-necked Ducks
notoriously difficult in Talbot County and there were fifteen present
along with 25 Lesser Scaup and 2 Greater Scaup.  Here are the complete
numbers:

Canada Goose -- 850
American Wigeon -- 3
American Black Duck -- 22
Mallard -- 96
Gadwall -- 38
Northern Pintail -- 14
Northern Shoveler -- 2
Green-winged Teal -- 73 (probably undercounted)
Greater Scaup -- 2
Lesser Scaup -- 25
Ring-necked Duck -- 15
Bufflehead -- 5

Also present at Pickering Creek were both White-breasted and
Red-breasted Nuthatches.  When I was leaving a pair of Great Horned
Owls started calling.  Spring Peepers, Wood Frogs, and Chorus Frogs
were also calling.

Jim Brighton
Easton, MD


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