I went out this eve to look for the SEOW seen last week at Jug Bay and had
no luck. I was out from 6:10-6:30, and 7:25-7:50. Mt Calvert was closed (at
6), but I was able to see a large part of Billingsley Marsh and the mouth of
Western Branch from where I was, and all of the AA Co side of the marsh
above the old railroad bridge. During the first watch, I enjoyed seeing 41
Bonaparte's Gulls resting with about 150 Laughing Gulls and 30 Ring-billed Gulls
on th emud flat just above Western Br (on PG side). The Bonies were often
getting up in singles or a couple at a time briefly to get a drink, and returning
to the mud flat to rest. The other gull species were just hunkered down. The
lighting was low and there was a minor drizzle, but I could still see well enough
to look for other gulls and did not notice any.
During the second watch, the gulls had left and I was able to listen to the
more subtle calls in the marsh. Lots of swamp sparrows, wood ducks,
Yellowlegs (both), many snipe were calling. Then at about 7:44 I heard a
snipe winnowing at a close range! About 4 minutes later, I either heard the
same one again, or a different one; hard to tell since it was dusk and nearly
dark. Sounds like you're getting buzz-bombed! I don't know if it is uncommon
for snipe to winnow during migration, but this is only the second time I've
heard it in MD. The first time was also here, during the recent MD Breeding
Bird Atlas project ... and it was early in June!
Cheers-
Jeff Shenot
Croom MD |