Hi All,
Nancy and I decided to check out Ingleside Picnic Area at Eastern Neck
NWR yesterday after its 1 April opening. The location is always good for
scanning Chesapeake Bay from the refuge and features an annual
RED-THROATED LOON aggregation in early April. We were not disappointed
as we were able to count 27 of the loons (all still in winter plumage)
albeit at quite some distance from shore. The loons feed near the drop
to greater depth at the edge of the shallows of Eastern Neck Narrows. We
also had a very nice flock of 50 SURF SCOTERS. There were also 10 other
waterfowl species still around the refuge dominated by 90 Bufflehead and
110 Greater Scaup. Oddly, there were no Common Loons at Ingleside, but
there were 10 visible in the Chester River from Bogles Wharf. All but 2
of these were in full summer plumage (Commons molt earlier in the spring
than do Red-throateds). We also had 2 summer-plumage Horned Grebes, a
hen Ring-necked Duck, and 4 Common Goldeneye at Bogles. Our best
landbirds on the island were 6 Brown-headed Nuthatches, 2 along the road
just south of the Tubby Cove parking lot and 4 at the head of the Duck
Inn Trail. Among six gulls and tern species highlights were 13
Bonaparte's Gulls (featuring a few summer plumage adults) and 21
Forster's Terns (back in some numbers now).
Just north of the refuge, on Eastern Neck proper, on the ponds at Alton
Farms (were the road bends sharply) there were 74 Green-winged Teal, 10
shovelers, 7 pintail, and 4 Gadwall. At the farm ponds on Flatland Rd
(MD-514) just north of Mary Morris Rd there were 75 more Green-winged
Teal, 7 American Wigeon, 7 shovelers, and 2 Gadwall plus our first local
Greater Yellowlegs of the year.
Good birding,
Walter Ellison & Nancy Martin
Chestertown, MD
410-778-9568
Observing Nature is like unwrapping a big pile of presents every time
you take a walk.
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