Today was the first day I had the chance to head down toward Easton since
the Virginia's Warbler showed up. I had only an hour this morning to try to
find it before going to the Bay-to-Ocean Writers Conference. On the way down
I had to swerve to avoid hitting a big Red-tailed Hawk that lifted off from
the median on Rt. 301. Just south of the first intersection with MD 290 I
saw a field full of Snow Geese- thousands of them. When I was just north of
where MD 213 meets Rt.50 by the community college, the sky was full of Snows
funneling in to land.

 

I got to Pickering Creek at 7:45. No other birders were there. As soon as I
got out of the car I had a great view of a male Harrier soaring low over the
field. But the wind was blowing so hard that I doubted I would see much
else, and I was right. A singing Bluebird, some sparrows, no warbler. When I
left at 8:40 there were three other birders but they had not seen it by then
either. Their cars were parked next to mine-one with DC plates, the other
Pennsylvania. 

 

After the conference I still had an hour of daylight and toyed with the idea
of going back, but I was too tired so I just took a small detour past the
Wye Oaklet, which looks healthy and very optimistic in the middle of the
ruins of the old tree.

 

Pat Valdata

Elkton

 


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