Hi Everyone,
On Sunday, 4/2, a group of us again assembled for all-day coverage of a county selected semi-randomly. The county selected on Thursday night was Caroline, and three groups had about 24 hours to scheme about routes. Two teams would officially compete for highest species total from midnight until 8:30 p.m., and a third group did not compete but spent nearly all day participating in the search.
The competing teams were Mikey Lutmerding, Ron Gutberlet, and Ed Boyd versus Bill Hubick, Tom Feild, and Jared Fisher. Sleeping in and coming way too close to our totals were Jim Stasz, Bob Ringler, and Hans Holbrook. Our process for this second all-day foray was to have participants cast two votes on counties of interest, and then for Stasz to select the winner from the Top 5. The pseudo-randomness of these events will vary. We continued our state-level support for Plaza Tapatia, this week bringing our business to the Easton establishment. The lively discussion of finds, misses, routes, and good stories was again a highlight. It was a treat to have both Hans Holbrook and Zach Baer in town for the festivities.
The concept behind these all-day surveys is to have a lot of fun while systematically covering an area, generating detailed distribution data and hopefully turning up noteworthy records. In this case, there was almost no data in eBird for the first week of April in Caroline Co. Everything from American Kestrel to Northern Flicker to White-throated Sparrow would be new on the Caroline Co. bar chart for that week. There was also a lot of potential for county early and late dates (thanks to Bob Ringler for sharing these). Some candidates for early dates were Green Heron, Least Sandpiper, Whip-poor-will, Northern Parula, Black-and-white Warbler, and Common Yellowthroat. Candidates for new late dates included Cackling Goose, Horned Grebe, Red-breasted Merganser, Short-eared Owl, Lapland Longspur, and Snow Bunting. We did manage to find one new late date - RED-BREASTED MERGANSER (formerly 3/31).
The final tallies were 97 species for Lutmerding, Gutberlet, and Boyd, narrowly defeating the 95 species found by me, Feild, and Fisher. I think these are good totals for the county and date. Congratulations, guys! Stasz, Ringler, and Holbrook had about 87 species for the day--way too close for comfort for a team that indulged in a full night of sleep. It was at dinner that I realized that someday Stasz's group will sleep in and still beat one or all of the competing teams. God, I hope I will not be on one of those teams! :) Just imagine the trash-talking!
Together we tallied 109 species, including many uncommon species for the county. Unexpected misses were relatively few in the combined total, but as always, each team had a few we'd rather not mention! Both competing teams missed Savannah Sparrow, which I think was our worst miss. I blame the poorly timed bursts of rain. Next worst for my team was Brown Thrasher, and I'd say Barred Owl was next worst for Mikey's team. Many other misses are typical Big Day misses.
Here is the cumulative list with in-line notes. All species found by both competing teams except where noted:
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
GADWALL - Mikey's team only; heard at Tanyard at night. (I thought I heard it as well, but didn't spend enough time working with it.)
American Wigeon - Mikey's team only
American Black Duck - Took until mid- to late afternoon for both teams!
Mallard
BLUE-WINGED TEAL - Tanyard, Denton WWTP
NORTHERN SHOVELER - Uncommon in the county. Pair continues at Denton since found by Jim Brighton.
Green-winged Teal
GREEN-WINGED TEAL x COMMON TEAL INTERGRADE - Continues at Tanyard since found by Hubick/Brighton on 3/26 (photos). Seen 4/2 by Stasz/Ringler/Holbrook.
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup - Pair at Denton WWTP
Bufflehead - At least 12 at Denton. Now very reliable here.
HOODED MERGANSER - Two sites, both possible nesting locations.
Common Merganser
RED-BREASTED MERGANSER - ** Rare in the county. New Caroline Co. late date
(previously 3/31). Found by our team at Martinak SP, an adult male, and
successfully relocated by Stasz, Ringler, Holbrook. Bob's county closeout.
Ruddy Duck
Wild Turkey - Best sighting was one flying all the way across a wide section of the Tuckahoe River from Talbot to Caroline.
COMMON LOON - Missed by both teams, but found at two locations by others (2 at Frazier Neck by Stasz, Ringler, Holbrook; 1 at Tuckahoe Lake by Brighton. All flyovers.)
Pied-billed Grebe - Two locations. At least one site a breeding area.
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret - Mikey's team only; Tuckahoe Lake in early a.m.
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk - Team Stasz only
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon - Mikey's team only; Choptank
Virginia Rail - two locations
American Coot
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs - Especially widespread and numerous today.
Lesser Yellowlegs - Same as above.
PECTORAL SANDPIPER - Mikey's team only; Tanyard at dusk.
Dunlin - Bill's team only; Daniel Crouse Park, flew in and spotted by Tom.
Wilson's Snipe
American Woodcock - Bill's team only; two locations around Tuckahoe.
Bonaparte's Gull - 5 at Tanyard (one visible only from Hog Island Road)
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull - Mikey's team only; Ridgely
Great Black-backed Gull
Forster's Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
BARN OWL - Great find by Lutmerding/Gutberlet/Boyd. This and Common Loon were the two possible county birds I would have loved to get. Next time!
Eastern Screech-Owl
Great Horned Owl
Barred Owl - Hubick/Feild/Fisher only
Belted Kingfisher - Martinak SP, probable nesters at quarry on Route 313, Little Creek along Frazier Neck Road, etc.
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker - Hubick/Feild/Fisher only
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Horned Lark
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
PURPLE MARTIN - On time, but first of the year for most of us.
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH - Missed by Mikey's team. One at Tuckahoe (Hubick/Feild/Fisher), 3 on Skeleton Creek Road (Stasz/Ringler/Holbrook)
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Carolina Wren
Winter Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
Hermit Thrush - Singing at several locations in the morning
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher - Second worst miss by my team
European Starling
American Pipit - Flyover, calling at Tuckahoe. Hubick/Feild/Fisher only.
YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER - Mikey's team only; Idylwild
Myrtle Warbler
Pine Warbler
LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH - Hubick/Feild/Fisher only; Tuckahoe and Smithville Road, Idylwild
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
VESPER SPARROW - Actually expected, though only detected by Stasz et al.,
Plummer Lane.
Savannah Sparrow - Bad miss by both teams, though thankfully found by Stasz et al. I blame bad timing of the rainy spells.
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow - Ridgely area
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark - Missed by Hubick/Feild/Fisher
Rusty Blackbird - Several locations by Lutmerding et al., Talbot side of Covey's Landing by our team.
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird - In pairs and small groups now, lots of singing.
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Selected misses:
Snow Goose - one bird present on the QA side of Tuckahoe
Mute Swan - no eBird records since 2009
Northern Pintail - uncommon
Greater Scaup - not too unexpected
Common Goldeneye - not that common here, but have been at Choptank recently
Northern Bobwhite
Merlin
Caspian Tern
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - Couple days too early; few seem to have wintered.
Gray Catbird
Cedar Waxwing
... plenty of others were possible, especially early arrivals, but not really surprise misses.
Selected non-avian: American Beaver, Common Muskrat, Woodchuck, abundant Spring Peepers, New Jersey Chorus Frogs (locations submitted for the herp atlas), Cabbage White.
Good birding!
Bill
Bill Hubick
Pasadena, Maryland
http://www.billhubick.com
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