Date: Sun, 20 Oct 2002 17:34:51 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Walter Ellison Subject: Ross's Geese still in Kent Co and post bird club-trip highlights MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Everybody, We kept our eyes open and did some exploring in Cecil and Kent counties on our way home from the splendid joint Cecil and Kent Bird Club's trip (for details of which see Peter Mann's post). First Nancy and I report that at least two Ross's Geese continue to be seen at Great Oak Pond when the Snows deign to bathe there. Yesterday we found very few geese when we visited so it's not guaranteed to find geese just any time (we did count 74 Ruddy Ducks and had an early hen Bufflehead). Today was a different matter as we found 2500 Snows (60 Blues) and the Ross's. We also collected the numbers on 12 Snow Goose neck collars and spotted two possible Snow X Ross's hybrids. Other birds at the pond included Lesser Yellowlegs, pintail, ruddies, and Green-winged Teal. When we departed Turkey Point around 1:00 PM we spotted a dark soaring raptor over the subdivision surrounded by the State Park. It resolved itself into a gorgeous adult *Golden Eagle* which departed to the southeast. In Elkton we explored the marshes along Oldfield Point Rd adjacent to the bridge over Little Elk Creek where we added Swamp Sparrow, Yellow Palm Warbler, and another Peregrine and harrier to our day's tally. On Route 213 north of the jct with Route 310 in Cayots we counted 130 Killdeer, 1 Pectoral Sandpiper, and 30 pipits in a field on the west side of the road. Back in Kent County we checked the wet fields opposite Coopers Lane along Route 298 in Worton and found 13 more Killdeer and 150 more pipits. Then we finally got around to looking at Great Oak Pond. It was a fine day in spite of the pewter skies, brisk winds, and cool temperatures. Good Birding, Walter Ellison MD/DC Atlas Coordinator - MOS 23460 Clarissa Rd Chestertown, MD 21620-3645 410-778-9568 rossgull@crosslink.net "A person who is looking for something doesn't travel very fast." - E. B. White ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================