All: Lisa and I had a spectacular day of Dorchester County birding on Sunday, 
June 12, made all the more exciting by scary thunderstorms skirting around us, a 
pine tree falling not far from our car on Blackwater's wildlife drive, and 
various snakes and other critters crossing the roads.

After stopping at a baking, humid Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center (nothing 
of note), we headed to Blackwater NWR, where we quickly relocated the lone 
American White Pelican on Key Wallace Drive beyond the causeway. Along the 
wildlife drive, there seemed to be a Great Egret convention going on (minimum 
count, 35), and we were delighted to find the two previously posted Red-Headed 
Woodpeckers near Stop #3 on the driving tour. Had not seen them in the vicinity 
for several years - this is where Lisa got her life bird some years ago.

As the storms began to pound the area, we headed down Bestpitch Ferry-Griffiths 
Neck Road. A small bird, headed tilted forward, ran into the bushes of a 
residence. Could it be an immature Northern Bobwhite? We wheeled the car around 
and heard an adult NOBO calling from the other side of the road. We found the 
baby hiding motionless under a bush. This is a bird Lisa saw many times growing 
up, and has heard as an adult, but refused to count as a lifer until she saw it 
again. So.. lifer, of sorts!

On Elliott Island Road near dusk, our great luck continued - a Black Rail, doing 
its "ik-ik-ik-ik" sound and soft growl from the high grasses along the road. A 
Saltmarsh Sparrow was present among the masses of Seaside Sparrows and Marsh 
Wrens. Five Black-Necked Stilts flew by near sunset.

We love birds and birding!

Warren and Lisa Strobel
Annapolis, MD 
www.birdcouple.com

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