Folks
With the recent post of a Little Gull in Charles County as the first county record, I thought it might be useful to post some historical records for Charles County. The post was based on the 1996 Yellowbook, a great resource, but in much need of updating. I will also as time permits post this historical data on eBird so that eBird should be the place to check for county records.
My Charles County historical records not included in the 1996 Yellowbook are:
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel September 19, 2003. I initially considered this bird to be a Leach’s Storm Petrel, but after I saw a few Band-rumps fly now believe the bird to be a Band-rumped. The MDDC records committee rightfully accepted this record as an unknown Oceanodroma Storm-Petrel if I remember correctly. Gwen Brewer was with me at Marshall Hall during the tropical storm (Isabel) that came up the Potomac River. No pictures were possible w/ the conditions at the time.
American White Pelican, June 26, 2007. A single bird was reported by Bob Eppley while Gwen and I were in Michigan. Bob live at Morgantown where the bird stayed for two days. Gwen and I drove shortly from Michigan to Morgantown, Charles County, MD and found the bird. The bird was in breeding plumage and I got reasonable pictures. I called Jim Stasz in MD when I got the call from Bob, but I don’t know if Jim chased the bird.
Brown Pelican, June 12, 2002. Based on a tip from Mike Callahan, Gwen and I found three birds flying south on the Potomac past Billy’s Crab House at Pope’s Creek. Mike had seen birds there earlier in the week.
Anhinga, May 8, 1996. I got a call from Lee Duer who at the time owned the Wild bird Center in Waldorf. A customer reported that two Anhinga's were hanging out behind her house in one of the local developments in a storm pond. I chased the bird and got identifiable images at dusk w/ Lee. There is another reliable Anhinga report from about the same time in another storm pond locally, but I did not see the bird.
White Ibis, July 13, 1996. This is the first record. There have been at least two more records for Charles, but the first was during a storm event in a mitigation pond on Berry Road (Rt. 228) west of Waldorf. This immature bird was photographed by me, and also seen by Jean Artes.
Ross’s Goose, March 24, 2011. This bird was initially identified as a Snow Goose, but later identified by Jim Green and Ron Gutberlet as a Ross’s Goose. The location was the turf farm at Morgantown. A number of county listers got to see this bird, and I got photographs.
Mississippi Kite, May 31, 2005. This is the first record I have, but I believe there were two before this MDDC Breeding Bird Atlas record from Port Tobacco CE. My bird was photographed near Pomfret. There have been at least two more sightings since the 2005 record, and most of the records seem to be around the Port Tobacco marina.
Golden Eagle, November 23, 1996. The six cycle bird was observed at the Charles County landfill off Billingsley Road while I was studying gulls. No pictures were taken but a nice birthday bird.
American Avocet, December 17, 2000. This bird was seen briefly over the marshes at the Nanjemoy Environmental Educational Center (NEEC) during the Port Tobacco Christmas Count.
Sanderling, September 19, 2003. Two birds were found by Gwen Brewer and myself at Aqualand south of Newburg after Isobel (I think that was her name) passed. Other records have been documented in recent history from Morgantown in 2011 (four birds photographed) is the latest.
Parasitic Jaeger, September 17, 1999. Eric Gofreed and I went looking for storm driven birds at Cobb Island, and had this juvenile flyby the point heading up river. No pictures even though the camera was at my feet as I was stunned to see a jaeger in Charles.
Buff-breasted Sandpiper, September 3, 2007. Two birds were found by John Hubbell on the turf farm along Berry Road (Rt. 228) west of Waldorf. Kyle Rambo had found at least one a year earlier at a turf farm along Rt. 231 near Benedict. Subsequent to the 2007 record three birds were found by me at the Morgantown turf farm on maybe two occasions.
Little Gull, April 14, 2004. A single sub adult bird was found in a large wet field along Mount Victoria Road on Cobb Neck. Oddly the same date as the recent report by Jim Moore.
California Gull, December 23, 2008. I found this second cycle bird at the Waldorf shopping center ponds behind the movie theater. Photographed and called around, but the 4 PM finding was not located the next morning.
Black Skimmer, September 13, 2003. During yet another tropical depression (Isobel) found this Skimmer at Aqualand south of Newburg. Oddly I found three new county records on that storm driven outing. See above. There was another Skimmer record during 2004 on the same date along the Potomac River near Morgantown.
Rufous Hummingbird, December 11, 2002. Based on my efforts to locate out-of-season, out-of-range hummingbirds, Lee Duer gave me a lead of a bird coming to a feeder near Welcome. With the help of Mary Gustafson and Bruce Peterjohn, we caught the bird and identified it to species. A second Rufous was subsequently identified in Charles near Bennsville a few years later. This bird was also caught and identified to species after measurements.
Dickcissel, May 27, 2005. Found by Mike Callahan a few days earlier near the NEEC center in an agricultural field. Gwen and I saw the bird after chasing it, and I got photos.
Snow Bunting, October 30, 1999. A single bird was sighted at the Bowling Farm in Allen’s Fresh by Greg Miller and myself. No photos were taken as the bird up and fly as I found the bird.
If there are any mistakes in this listing they are mine. I will also think to see if I have any other records not printed in the Yellowbook. If I do I will post a note and add those to the eBird data base as well.
I understand that Paul Nistico found a Willet long time ago, Jim Stasz has a Western King bird record, Kyle Rambo has a Sandhill Crane record, Fred Fallon has Willet and Marbled Gotwit records, Jean Artes has a Swallow-tailed Kite, and John Hubbell found a Baird’s Sandpiper in Charles County. I will let them provide dates, locations, and any other details they think might be useful. They may be in the eBird data base. If there are other first county records not published in the Yellowbook I encourage those that found the records post them on eBird and on the listserves.
I hope these records help some. Now back to the herp atlas.
Good birding.
George Jett
www.georgejett.net
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