Ouch! I was home last eve, and working at home today, but missed it - a state bird - only a few minutes from my house! What an amazing find Rob! I checked and there are only 3 eBird reports for this species west of the Atlantic Ocean within the last ten years for the entire state. My lifer (and only) only Red Phalarope was in Washington State.
I have been checking this flat regularly, now that water levels are finally resuming to normal (we have not had a low tide here with any exposed flat for weeks), the flat is looking good again. Too bad we missed the peak of Sep shorebierd season due to the high water here. I have been there 4 times in th elast six days, and Sat was teh first day it really looked good, but I have yet to see any shorebirds here since the flooding ravaged everything here in southern MD. There is a lot of debris along the edge of the flat adjacent to the river, but I don't think it will deter any shorebirds if any are still around. At a minimum we should at least get a few Dunlin between now and the end of season.
I did not see Rob's post until I checked the Osprey listserve at lunch today. I rushed out the door and down to Jackson Landing. At first I was excited to hear a distant group of people at the platform, but when I got close I realized rather than a group of birders who sounded merry, it was just 4 adults who were talking loudly - so they could hear each other over their young and loud children, one of which was talking non-stop trying to get anyones attention, but was being ignored! I arrived and they looked at me with a puzzled brow, wondering what I was doing with a scope, binoculars and video camera, prompting one of the adults to proclaim loudly to the kids - "be careful there may be animals coming".
Of course that resulted in much human chatter, and as I politely ignored them I looked around the hydrilla flat in front of the overlook deck, but it was clear there was no wildlife in sight, except for a few gulls getting a drink on the river!
The party stayed only briefly then left. I heard them all the way back to their cars, and after they left it got very quiet. Unfortunately it stayed quiet, and the only bird of note I saw were a lone hatch year Sharp-shinned hawk, and a pair of Rock Pigeons heading south way up high. This was odd, they are rarely seen here.
I will try for the Phalarope again this evening after work.
I did see some FOS sparrows before I began work today, and should mention a couple while I'm here. Unfortunately I only had my bins, as I left the house as soon as I woke up, a bit groggy, and forgot my video camera and scope. I birded my yard and Mt Calvert. There were obviously new arrivals. It has been pretty dead around here for the last several days, but this morning there were a couple new flocks of warblers and some sparrows (except for Chippies aliong the road margins, sparrows were widely scattered around and along field edges.) Plus an obvious batch of falcons.
Highlights:
Merlin 1
Am Kestrel 4
SS Hawk 4
BW Hawk 1 (im.; seen low at first circling over field, then rose up high and drifted south)
Killdeer 1
RC Kinglet 1
OC Warbler 1 "Possible" only; saw it briefly before it dove into cover when it was buzzed by a Kestrel. Not seen again, despite use of taped call notes; obviously it was very spooked. I will not enter this in eBird since id was unconfirmed.
N Parula 1
Cape May Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 17 (two flocks)
Yellow Palm Warbler 4
C Yellowthroat 4
E Towhee 3
Chipping Sparrow ~ 20
AMMODRAMUS sp. 1 (non-Grasshopper; Sadly, seen well but not well enough to id; probably either Nelson's or LeConte's, possibly but unlikely Saltmarsh due to location and habitat; seen near edge but in middle of large patch of unmowed grass; with a single song sparrow. I had an unobstructed quartering/frontal view for a few seconds; clearly showed buffy orange chest with fine dark streaking, white belly, orange eyestripe with grayish cheek patch. That was as much as I could do before it flew (due to me; it flew LONE to a hiding spot in thick hedge row and was not seen again. I did not see the color of central crown stripe (too distant), and the only look at its back was not good enough for me to id (distant and moving too fast). This is the third time I have had this happen (in about ten years) here in PG -Ammodramus sp. - a great find here but I was unable to id it. Ugh.
Song Sparrow 3
Lincoln's Sparrow 1 nice views, pretty bird
Swamp Sparrow 4
White-Crowned Sparrow 1 (im.)
P.S. Our two RT Hummers that have been here daily the last couple weeks have not shown yet today.
Cheers-
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 |