Hi Everyone,
While fighting off a cold a couple weeks ago (which we all blame on Jim Green), I found myself on the verge of calling in sick. I urged myself to reconsider such squandering of precious vacation so close to peak spring migration. I was pretty miserable, though, and I was on the verge of making the call. As a last resort, I offered myself a vacation day of birding in May as motivation. It worked, and yesterday I collected. I was hoping to emphasize photography and some sound recording, and it turned out to be a beautiful day for it.
Jim Green was already on the Eastern Shore, so we met up in Easton and spent most of the morning slowly birding the Nassawango area in Wicomico and Worcester Counties. We also visited eastern Somerset for a while later in the morning. As others found last weekend, all of the breeders are in. KENTUCKY WARBLERs and AMERICAN REDSTARTs seemed to be present in especially good numbers. We also had Ruby-throated Hummingbird at nearly every woodland stop, which seemed unusually good. This was my first day out since the pewees arrived in numbers, and they were quite widespread. Our only migrants were a Myrtle Warbler at Twilley's Bridge and a male BLACK-THROATED BLUE on Sturges/Colbourne Mill Road in Wicomico Co. Best insect for me was Eastern Pine Elfin in the Nassawango (Wicomico), my overdue first on the Eastern Shore.
With no puddles, Cattle Egrets and Glossy Ibis were concentrated at ponds like those at Rum Pointe, West Ocean City, and so on. Lingering ducks included a pair of BLUE-WINGED TEAL at West Ocean City Pond and a drake GREEN-WINGED TEAL at Berlin. With the very high tide, the Assateague Causeway was unusually productive for shorebirds, holding BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERs, EASTERN WILLET, SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERs and SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERs among Least Sandpipers, both yellowlegs, and Dunlin. SOLITARY SANDPIPERs were at Mystic Harbor and Berlin. SEMIPALMATED PLOVERs were at Goody Hill Road, Berlin, and Bayside Development Pond. A PIED-BILLED GREBE was tucked away on a pond on Goody Hill Road. Single BANK SWALLOWs were at Bayside Development Pond and Berlin STP.
Skimmer Island hosted some new arrivals, including a promising 39 BLACK SKIMMERs. Here's hoping they're all planning to stick around. The COMMON TERN count was at least 26, but others might have been hidden behind a dune. Also present here were 59 ROYAL TERNs, seven ATLANTIC BRANT, and two CATTLE EGRETs.
I hope to post a set of photos this evening. Almost to the weekend...
Good birding,
Bill
Bill Hubick
Pasadena, Maryland
http://www.billhubick.com
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