Hi everyone,

Well, we started this year's field work out on Poplar Island on
Wed., 5/25.  As in previous years, there's little time "to bird" 
because of the field work we're conducting, but, we do still get 
to see a few things.  All "~" numbers are estimates, whole numbers 
are actual counts.

The Double-crested Cormorant colony is growing in leaps and bounds.  
Two years ago we counted and marked over 1,300 nests; last year we had 1,600+ nests, and, Wed. we had 1,800+ nests!  

Snowy Egrets are about the same as in previous years with 50+ nests.  We did not see any Tricolored Herons (as in last year), but, we did have 4 flyover Glossy Ibis, but, did not see any GLIB nests.

Ospreys seem to be off to a good start and some nests already have young in them!  Below are the numbers we had:

Double-crested Cormorant 1,800+
Great Blue Heron 2
Great Egret 5
Snowy Egret ~60
Cattle Egret ~8
Black-crowned Night Heron 4
Glossy Ibis 4
Mallard ~700
Ruddy Duck 4
Osprey ~12
Semipalmated Plover 5
Killdeer 3
American Oystercatcher 2
Willet ~12
Spotted Sandpiper 6
Ruddy Turnstone 1
Semipalmated Sandpiper ~1,200
Least Sandpiper ~40
White-rumped Sandpiper 2
Dunlin ~200
Short-billed Dowitcher ~200
Black-necked Stilt 2
Laughing Gull 1
Herring Gull ~250
Great black-backed Gull ~35
Caspian Tern ~65!
Common Tern ~120
Least Tern ~85
Fish Crow 4
Purple Martin 5
Tree Swallow ~25
Barn Swallow ~40
European Starling 3
Red-winged Blackbird ~30

Peter Osenton
Jessup, Md.   

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