Aside from a thousand or so ducks at Thomas Point, it's been rather quiet
out on the Bay in Central Anne Arundel this winter.  Sure, the Goldeneye
and Long-tailed Duck numbers have been decent, but all three Scoters have
been, for the most part, absent.

Thankfully today when I stopped by Downs Park around lunch, I think I found
where all of the ducks have been wintering.

There was an extensive raft stretching for a mile or more, consisting of
both Greater and Lesser Scaup and Canvasbacks. A few dozen Bufflehead, a
lone female Common Goldeneye and two MUTE SWANS (increasingly rare finds in
the county) were present as well.

There were 7 or 8 large cormorants on the Baltimore Lighthouse (South of
Gibson Island), a known hangout for Greaters in past years.  Today's heat
haze made it impossible to tell which variety they were, but I did try.  I
also made sure that there were no Tufted Ducks in that massive duck raft
(the ducks I could clearly ID anyway).

Two unrelated notes:

-I added an eBird gadget to the Anne Arundel Bird Club's website (
www.AABIRDCLUB.com or .org), that shows recent sightings in our county.
Feel free to visit anytime.

-I you are on Facebook, feel free to join the Anne Arundel Birding page.
 It is open to all sorts if discussion, photos, sightings, etc.  I started
it as a tool to generate enthusiasm for birds and birding here in Anne
Arundel, and thus far it has been rather successful in getting a few poor
souls addicted to this obsession. The page can be found here:
www.facebook.com/groups/116431233217/

Good Birding,

Dan Haas
St. Margaret's, MD
Nervousbirdsatgmail.com

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