Normy-I've been done since early afternoon yesterday atlasing.  Only new arrivals in the forest Common Yellowthroat (1) and Black-and-white Warbler (5) today.  Also about 55 Royal Terns on Skimmer this pm.

Mark Hoffman
Sykesville, MD

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Norm Saunders [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:	Fri Apr 07 17:32:19 2006
To:	
Subject:	[MDOSPREY] Worcester today

We came down to Ocean City last night and wanted to get out early to hit some behind the dunes areas on Assateague.  We curtailed those  plans since the wind has been blowing hard all day and we've had showers on and off most of the day.  Right now, for the first time today, the sun is out!
 
For the yard and neighborhood today we've seen (more or less in the order recorded): Northern Cardinal (6, maybe more)         House Finch (5)
Pine Warbler (1)             White-throated Sparrow (~10)
Mallard (18)                 Swamp Sparrow (3)
Cooper's Hawk (1)            Eastern Phoebe (1)
Downy Woodpecker (1)         Hairy Woodpecker (1)
Great Blue Heron (2)         Tufted Titmouse (3)
Carolina Wren (2)            Northern Flicker (2)
Fish Crow (at least 15)      Herring Gull (10)
Great Egret (1)              Brown Thrasher (2)
Common Grackle (150)         Clapper Rail (3)
American Robin (50+)         American Goldfinch (4)
Canada Goose (18)            Ring-necked Duck  (3)
Northern Mockingbird (1)          Tree Swallow (4)
Turkey Vulture (6)           Ring-billed Gull (17)
Laughing Gull (150 +/-)      House Sparrow (8)
Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher (1-same date as last year!)
Osprey (3)
 
We rode around Assateague Island for an hour or so (Fran had an assignment to work on for her Wildlife Photography course and she wanted BIG, relatively tame wildlife-like deer or ponies).  We didn't go out on the OSV Zone-on very windy days it's like having your car sand-papered out there.  Anyway, we still saw a good number of interesting birds:
Canada Goose (7)             Brant (~150)
White-throated Sparrow (5)   Carolina Wren (8)
Chipping Sparrow (5)         Red-winged Blackbird (37)
Common  Grackle (25)         Osprey (2)
Herring Gull  (13)           Common Loon (7)
Boat-tailed Grackle (8)      Brown-headed Cowbird (6)
Mourning Dove (3)            Great Egret (4)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (3)    Northern Flicker (2)
Northern Harrier (2)         Killdeer (4)
Eastern Towhee (8)           Great Black-backed Gull (3)
Bufflehead (40-50)           Red-breasted Merganser (3)
Common Tern (1)              Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (1)
Pine Warbler (3)             Dark-eyed Junco (2)
Northern Cardinal (5)        Fish Crow (12)
House Finch (2)              Yellow-throated Warbler (1)
Indigo Bunting (1)           Tufted Titmouse (3)
Purple Martin (7)            Song Sparrow (5)
 
Best,
Norm & Fran 
West Ocean City, MD