I took the day to "catch up" on birds I'd missed before this year and 

            stopped first to see if any Dickcissels might be hanging around on

            Egypt Road, south of Cambridge, especially where they'd 

            been seen in previous years - - i.e., on the wires opposite that 

            ominous sign announcing plans for a planned gigantic 

            development ("Duke's Landing").

 
            Nothing on the way south toward BW-NWR.   On the way back,

            with windows open, I heard the distinctive call, got out and

            was able to see one perched atop some second-growth brush

            singing away (and being answered from at least 2 different 

            directions.)

 
            This was ca. 1.1 miles north of the sign, just where the grain 

            field on the West side end abuts this untilled patch of scrub growth

.           Time was about 7:20 AM.

 
            The rest of my day was beleaguered and bedeviled by winds

            that seemed higher than the 20 - 25 knots announced on the radio.

 
            There were a few highlights, though:

 
            Piping Plovers north of Assateague State Park Beach

            and a few Least Terns (apparently nesting on the Bay Side this year.)

 
            3+ Red Knots on the flats by Skimmer Island and 

            a single sandpiper at the end of the Truit's Ldg road which

            flew in low under the wind and settled down very near, showing

            his white rump as he landed.   Luck helps at times.

 
            Not a bad day to spend in the sunshine.

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