I had an hour today to do a watch over Jug Bay during low tide and saw many Black Terns. I think they may be from the same group that was here on Sunday, and found the big raft of hydrilla here to their liking. The hydrilla mat is on the PG side, below Jackson Landing and can be viewed from the observation deck that is off a trail below Black Walnut Creek Loop. To view this, park at the boat ramp at Jackson Landing and walk downstream along the river and you will come to it. It is about a 5 minute walk. Although there is a good amount of habitat directly in front of the observation deck and it is viewable with binoculars, the shorebirds today seemed to be favoring the flat that is farther downstream, which requires a scope for a good view. It is best at low tide here, and tomorrow the peak viewing should be around 2:30-4:30.
I also watched here for Storm birds on Sunday, and it was fantastic but I was unable to post sooner.
Highlights Sunday ("storm birds"):
White Ibis (1 juv)- rare here; my second county record
Ruddy Turnstone (1)- very rare here; my first county record
Western Sandpiper (2)- uncommon but more or less annual in county; seen well in scope
Baird's Sandpiper (1)- rare here; my second county record; seen well in scope
Plus GR Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Least and Pectoral Sandpipers (any PG shorebirds are nice!)
Least Tern (4)- rare here; my first county record, but seen nearly annually by others
Black Tern (6)- uncommon but may be annual in county
Common Tern (2)- rare here; my second county record
Royal Tern (1)- uncommon but may be annual in county
Forster's Tern (56)- most seen at one time
Possible Tropical Tern(1)- I think I saw a tropical tern and I think it was a Sooty, but I have no picture. It was a dark tern first seen in flight, and I had a very distant but long look at it in a scope. It was flying north directly up the channel of the river at about 10:15 am, about 1 mile away and relatively low (est. ~40-60 feet above the water). It was flying alone and more or less directly north (straight up Jug Bay) and then swerved over to the western shore toward the assembled mass of resting terns. They were on a flat on the western river shore, on a massive patch of hydrilla. I think the storm blew the hydrilla here from somewhere upstream, it was attracting many birds. The tern was obviously big, roughly the size of a Laughing Gull - which I quickly ruled out based on wing structure and stroke/flight pattern. It was clearly larger than other Forster's flying around when it passed by one. I could see it was light below and very dark above. Due to distance, wind, and poor light I could not tell if it had any white in the collar or not, and could not see its tail well either. It seemed like it wanted to land; as it flew toward the roost site it stooped over the birds resting on the flat and nearly landed on several stoops but pulled up each time, and then circled around and quickly returned. After a few stoops it landed, and on the ground appeared to be very dark and again was larger than the Forster's. At that point I ran to my house to get a camcorder! I was hoping it might continue up the river (flying North) and if I was lucky could catch some video, but when I came back out I could not relocate it.
Today's highlights-
Baird's Sandpiper (1)- possible, not positive; it was distant but looked right relative to the Semis and Leasts present. Long primary projection, slightly larger bill than other peeps, dark brown above and white below. Could potentially be same bird that was here Sunday.
White-rumped Sandpiper (3) -flew in and landed with the peeps, present only briefly, and then took off headed downstream. Prominent white rump in all 3 was well seen in scope while in flight before and after landing.
GR Yellowlegs (8), Lesser Yellowlegs (3), Least (4), Semi-palmated (2) and Pectoral Sandpipers (2)
Black Tern (8)- high count seen at one time
Regards-
Jeff Shenot
Croom Md
############################
To unsubscribe from the MDOSPREY list:
write to: mailto:[log in to unmask]
or click the following link:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=MDOSPREY&A=1 |