More on White-faced Ibis in MD 5/2/99 and other birds of weekend
Miliff@aol.com
Mon, 3 May 1999 13:22:01 EDT
Hello all,
As you all probably saw from Phil Davis's MDOsprey post, Jim Stasz and I
found a White-faced Ibis in coastal Worcester County, MD, yesterday 5/2/99.
We first located it in the intermittent rain at about 1:00 p.m.. It was
initially feeding in a gut off Truitt's Landing Rd. with about 15 Glossy
Ibis. Almost as soon as I first spotted it, the flock took off and flew in a
quick circle, but fortunately sat back down quite close to the road (on the
north side near some muskrat lodges). After some effort, we were able to
relocate it and get scope views of the red eye, red facial skin, and the band
of white feathering that completely encircled the eye and was of even
thickness throughout. In addition the White-faced was noticeably smaller, a
field mark Texans use to pick out Glossy Ibis and which I noticed on my most
recent trip there April 7-25 (Glossies are noticeably larger, on average,
than White-faced). By 1:30 we had lost track of it again and we left to find
a phone to notify others. We returned at 2:00 and did not find it again
until I walked out in the marsh northv of the road at 3:00. In so doing,
about 300 yards in and close to the pine hammock, I scared it up and it flew
back across a hammock of pines and to the Northwest side of the marsh. I
left at 3:50 or so, but Jim stayed on hoping to get photos and as I left Paul
Pisano arrived. Jim tells me that the ibis reappeared at about 4:30 p.m. in
a pond very close to the road (he got photos this time!) and was present
until about 5:00 at which point it flew back to a pond out of sight, quite
close to where I flushed it two hours before. Though ibis often seem
unpredictable as to their habits, this group did seem to stay in the same
general area and return to favored feeding areas near the road. For what
it's worth, I found two main groups of ibis (of about 15 each): the one with
the only immature Glossy is the one with which I did NOT see the White-faced.
This area provides great birding in any event. While we were there we had:
13 Whimbrel (flybys), 1 Least Bittern, 4 Soras (great count), 4 Virginia
Rails, 5 Sedge Wrens (one singing), 5 Marsh Wrens (singing), 5 Seaside
Sparrows (some singing), and numbers of Snowy Egrets and Great Egrets, and
several Little Blue and Tricolored herons.
At nearby E. A. Vaughn we flushed a Le Conte's Sparrow from the main (larger)
pond (turn south off Taylor's Landing Rd. about .5 mi from the end). We
found it by awalking the grassy edge of the pond on the south side and
checking each Savannah Sparrow we flushed. We flushed the Le Conte's, with
effort, about 8 times before it flew out over the pond and landed on an
island in the middle. A number of times we walked right through the area
where it had landed without scaring it up! Also at Vaughn today was one male
"Common" or Eurasian Green-winged Teal with about 30 regular Green-wings,
seen this morning only by Jim Stasz.
Also of interest were 2-4 Broad-winged Hawks which had apparently set down
during the poor weather along the upper stretches of Nassawango Creek. I
closed the day at Elliot Island where I found 8 (!) Black-necked Stilts (all
along the marsh road in puddles). In the first puddle with the first stilt
pair was a group of 2 Long-billed and 1 Short-billed dowitchers, my first
spring record for the former.
A great day of birding overall - the Common Teal is Maryland's latest by two
weeks, the Le Conte's Maryland's 7th and latest ever, and the White-faced
Ibis should provide Maryland's first documented report, after two previous
sightings.
The previous day Jim and I found nothing unusual but did have some nice
counts, including: 70 American Redstarts, 41 Great Crested Flycatchers, 18
Louisiana Waterthrushes, 13 Yellow-throated Vireos, 28 Yellow-throated
Warblers, 35 Wood Ducks, 2 Wild Turkeys, 2 Barred Owls, 1 Bald Eagle, and 194
Prothonotary Warblers. Anyone want to guess the location?
Best,
Marshall Iliff
miliff@aol.com
Annapolis, MD