Hi Folks!

To avoid the heat I chose to drive the Off Road Vehicle  Zone (ORV) at 
Assateague. I started down the road at about noon, stopping  briefly along 
the way 
to get an idea of what was on the beach and off-shore.  Whenever I do a count 
here, it is on the return trip which is more  methodical and slower.

A quick stop at Fox Hill Levels was not very  productive, except for the 
mosquitoes. Four Short-billed Dowitchers in 1st  Summer plumage were the 
highlight. 

I started my drive back up the  beach at 2 PM, stopping to count groups of 
gulls and shorebirds or scan the  ocean for a while. In April a group of us 
set 
a new Maryland High Count for  Lesser Black-backed Gull with 90. Today I 
topped that mark with 101! In  April, 47 of our birds were adults; today, 
none 
were adults. There were very  few birds foraging off-shore. I suspect the 
terns are close to their  colonies right now. The one Royal Tern was a 
subadult 
loafing on the beach.  

Here's the list:

Location: Assateague I. NS--ORV  Zone
Observation date: 6/7/08 2 PM-8 PM Wind S: 10, no clouds, max.  74F
Notes: LBBG: 85 1st Summer; 8 2nd Summer; 7 3rd Summer. Nighthawks in  
display flight. 
Number of species: 28

Black Scoter 1
Northern  Gannet 5
Brown Pelican 5
Double-crested Cormorant 3
Glossy Ibis  2
Osprey 1
Black-bellied Plover 3
Piping Plover 2
American  Oystercatcher 9
Willet (Eastern) 16
Whimbrel 3
Ruddy Turnstone  43
Red Knot 38
Sanderling 123
Semipalmated Sandpiper 40
Laughing  Gull 51
Ring-billed Gull 1
Herring Gull (American) 157
Lesser  Black-backed Gull 101 <----------
Great Black-backed Gull 41
Least Tern  6
Black Tern 1
Forster's Tern 1
Royal Tern 1
Common Nighthawk  3
Fish Crow 4
Barn Swallow 2
Boat-tailed Grackle 19

This report  was generated automatically by eBird v2(__http://ebird.http_ 
(http://ebird.org_/)  
(_http://ebird.htt_ (http://ebird.org/) )  )

Good Birding!

Jim

Jim Stasz
North Beach MD
 (mailto:[log in to unmask]) 




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