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Subject:

A Few Worcester and Somerset Birds, 7/20

From:

Joel Martin

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Date:

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 20:12:11 -0400

This week I'm marooned with the family in some birdless place called Chincoteague, but while I'm here I do get to leave the ranch occaisionally for some real birding in Maryland. Wednesday was not the best day to pick, because like Dan Haas I was hopeful of seeing the great birds at Truitt's Landing, only to be stymied by a tree across the road. (All the roads in this area were littered with branches and debris after Tuesday night's storms.) Anyway, after a few unsuccessful minutes trying to summon my superhero powers, I reluctantly moved on down to EA Vaughn North. There were some consolations here. The male DICKCISSEL found by Mikey Lutmerding was singing away in the sunflower strip -- thanks Mikey for a great county bird! And although there were only 3 ibises in the pond when I arrived, one of them was the 1st summer WHITE-FACED IBIS, also previously found by Mikey, I believe. This bird instantly stood out due to the light bronzy-green highlights on the tertials and secondaries. A few more ibis flocks were flying around the area but none held the White Ibis I'd hoped to see. The only shorebirds were one each KILLDEER and SOLITARY SANDPIPER.

After leaving Truitt's I went to look for some county birds in Somerset, mainly the oddly difficult Grasshopper Sparrow. First I stopped at Rumbly Point Road, where I did not see the previously reported BLACK-NECKED STILTS. Best bird here was a female NORTHERN HARRIER. After cruising some of the back roads for awhile I finally found 3 GRASSHOPPER SPAROWS in a field of young soybeans on Fontaine Road. Earlier in the morning I had found lots of them along the Rt. 354 corridor in Worcester.

BTW, I was only kidding about Chincoteague. Not a lot of shorebirds here right now, but there is a Black-bellied Whistling-Duck if anyone is interested, and today I saw a Gull-billed Tern. Seems strange there have been no GBTE reports from Worcester lately.

Joel Martin
Catonsville, MD

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