Geraldine and I spent most of the day birding in the rain to see what Irene might stir up.  We started and stopped at Triadelphia Reservoir.  The highlight was a Black-bellied Plover seen at Greenridge near the end of the day.  After watching the bird in the driving rain for about a half an hour to make sure we had the ID right (it was facing away, and did I mention it was raining?) it obliged us by flying around and showing its white rump and dark axillaries.  It circled around for a while and may have returned.  Other birds seen included Lesser Yellowlegs (at Cattail Creek), Semipalmated Plovers, Least, Semi, Spotted, and Solitary Sandpipers, and Caspian and Forster's Terns.  

We also birded the turf farm on Jennings Chapel Road.  No unusual species, but large numbers of birds including at least 450 Mourning Doves and a flock of about 30 Horned Larks.  Quite impressive!  There was also a Cooper's Hawk there, and several times we watched him run on the grass to get closer to some of the many birds present.  Very fun to watch.  He must have had some success because we saw him plucking feathers out of one that apparently didn't get away.

During the middle of the day we birded from the car out onto the bay at Highland Beach but didn't have anything other than gulls, cormorants and Forster's Terns.  I'm sure there was more there, but that's all we could see in the driving rain.

A couple of the e-bird lists are below.

Tom

Tom Feild
Laurel, Maryland
Howard County

> Greenbridge, Montgomery, US-MD
> Aug 27, 2011 6:45 PM - 7:45 PM
> Protocol: Traveling
> 0.5 mile(s)
> Comments:     Heavy rain and windy due to Hurricane Irene.
> 15 species
>
> Canada Goose  400     These were 3 large flocks - one at back of lake , 
> one on sandbar, and one towards the dam.
> Mallard  14
> Double-crested Cormorant  4
> Great Blue Heron  2
> Green Heron  1
> Osprey  1
> Black-bellied Plover  1     Still mostly in breeding plumage.  Watched 
> bird in driving rain for about 30 minutes and then it flew, showing black 
> axillaries and white rump.  Bird then circled and may have returned.
> Semipalmated Plover  2
> Killdeer  1
> Spotted Sandpiper  1
> Lesser Yellowlegs  2
> Least Sandpiper  3
> Caspian Tern  4
> Forster's Tern  1
> Belted Kingfisher  1
>
> This report was generated automatically by eBird v2 (http://ebird.org) 


> jennings chapel turf farm, Howard, US-MD
> Aug 27, 2011 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM
> Protocol: Stationary
> 8 species (+1 other taxa)
>
> Turkey Vulture  2
> Osprey  1
> Cooper's Hawk  1     Was hunting the large flocks in the field.  Several 
> times I saw the bird run through the grass in an apparent attempt to sneak 
> up on a group of birds.  Saw it feeding on one bird.
> Mourning Dove  450     Many birds spread out over the grass, drive, and 
> bare dirt.  Impressive number of birds!  Possibly related to oncoming 
> Hurricane Irene?
> Fish Crow  2
> crow sp.  15
> Horned Lark  30     Fairly large flock would fly up and then disappear in 
> to the grass.  Also a few other birds scattered in the areas with some 
> bare soil.  Possibly related to oncoming Hurricane Irene?
> Barn Swallow  15
> European Starling  300
>
> This report was generated automatically by eBird v2 (http://ebird.org) 

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