Hi all,
  This morning I birded Assateague with Ron Gutberlet. We were joined
for part of the time by Mark Hoffman. Expectations were high after all
the talk about a possible great migration day. The big highlight was
good looks a Lark Sparrow at Bayside, but our hopes for a big fallout
were not realized. We started at Bayside before dawn where there was a
small warbler flight. We had about 100 individual warblers, but 80 or
so went down as warbler sp. Of the remainder, most were American
Redstart (14). We also had several Black-throated Blues, a
Black-throated Green, a Parula, a Black-and-white, and a Blackpoll.
Mark had a Tennessee. Most likely there were several other species
represented but in-flight IDs are tough and the high winds made
finding birds on the ground difficult. Several non-warbler species had
nice flights including Tree Swallows, Cedar Waxwings, and herons.

After Bayside, Ron and I headed for the Life of the Forest hoping to
find migrants sheltering from the wind. It was quiet there and we were
only able to add a few Pine Warblers and a flyover Merlin.

Next it was off to the ORV zone. We mostly had Sanderlings on the
beach, and Fox Hill Levels was a little quiet. The highlights were
several Lesser Black-backed Gulls, a Marbled Godwit (Fox Hill Levels),
a Willet with a markedly drooping bill, and 17 Sandwich Terns just
north of the Virginia line.

After that Ron was off to work and I headed back to the Life of the
Forest where I found one Blackburnian Warbler and not much else. From
there I headed inland, but generally found things quiet. The only
other highlight was a Buff-breasted Sandpiper at Murray Sod Farm.

Mike Ostrowski
N. Bethesda, MD