Howard County Bird Club

A Chapter of the Maryland Ornithological Society (MOS)


Field Trip: Saturday, May 22, 2010

Trip Leader: 5/22/2010

Date of Trip: Saturday, May 22, 2010

Location: Hot Spots for Red Knots

Details: The Howard County contingent of seven arrived at Prime Hook NWR visitor center at 8:30, where we met the Conservation Chair of the DelMarVa Ornithological Society Bill Stewart. We were soon joined by the Montgomery group led by Cyndie Loeper.

Number on trip: 7


(Numbers of individuals are shown if they were recorded.)

  • Canada Goose:
  • Wood Duck:
  • Gadwall:
  • Mallard:
  • Bufflehead:
  • Common Merganser: (seen by three)
  • Double-crested Cormorant:
  • Least Bittern:
  • Great Blue Heron:
  • Great Egret:
  • Snowy Egret:
  • Black-crowned Night-Heron:
  • Glossy Ibis:
  • Black Vulture:
  • Turkey Vulture:
  • Osprey:
  • Bald Eagle:
  • Red-tailed Hawk:
  • American Kestrel:
  • Clapper Rail
  • Black-bellied Plover:
  • Semipalmated Plover:
  • Killdeer:
  • American OysterCatcher
  • Black-necked Stilt:
  • American Avocet:
  • Greater Yellowlegs:
  • Willet
  • Spotted Sandpiper:
  • Ruddy Turnstone:
  • Red Knot:
  • Sanderling:
  • Semipalmated Sandpiper:
  • Least Sandpiper:
  • Dunlin:
  • Short-billed Dowitcher:
  • Laughing Gull:
  • Bonaparte's Gull:
  • Ring-billed Gull:
  • Great Black-backed Gull:
  • Royal Tern
  • Forster's Tern:
  • Least Tern:
  • Rock Pigeon:
  • Mourning Dove:
  • Yellow-billed Cuckoo:
  • Chimney Swift:
  • Northern Flicker:
  • Eastern Wood-Pewee:
  • Acadian Flycatcher:
  • Willow Flycatcher:
  • Great Crested Flycatcher:
  • Eastern Kingbird:
  • White-eyed Vireo:
  • Blue Jay:
  • American Crow:
  • Fish Crow:
  • Purple Martin:
  • Tree Swallow:
  • N. Rough-winged Swallow:
  • Bank Swallow:
  • Barn Swallow:
  • Carolina Wren:
  • House Wren:
  • Marsh Wren:
  • Eastern Bluebird:
  • Wood Thrush:
  • American Robin:
  • Gray Catbird:
  • Northern Mockingbird:
  • Brown Thrasher:
  • European Starling:
  • Cedar Waxwing:
  • Yellow Warbler:
  • Blackpoll Warbler:
  • Ovenbird:
  • Common Yellowthroat:
  • Yellow-breasted Chat:
  • Eastern Towhee:
  • Chipping Sparrow:
  • Seaside Sparrow
  • Song Sparrow:
  • Swamp Sparrow:
  • Northern Cardinal:
  • Blue Grosbeak:
  • Indigo Bunting:
  • Red-winged Blackbird:
  • Common Grackle:
  • Brown-headed Cowbird:
  • Orchard Oriole:
  • House Finch:
  • American Goldfinch:
  • House Sparrow

Comments:
Our first stop was Broadkill Marsh, which was pretty empty, except for some very distant shorebirds. From there we went to Fowler Beach, which had numerous shorebirds, including Red Knots. It also offered spectacular looks a Least Terns, and perhaps best of all, some stunning looks, and photos, of Clapper Rails. Plus the only American Oystercatcher of the trip. Alas, we learned to our dismay that Mispillion Harbor/DuPont Nature Center was hosting a festival, and we'd have to park far away and catch a shuttle. We opted to avoid that, and learned later that the Baltimore Bird Club saw a mere three Red Knots there. We then visited Ted Harvey Wildlife Management Area. The north impoundment proved to virtually devoid of interest. We, however, found many shorebirds on the beach, to include several thousand Red Knots up the beach at quite some distance. They eventually flushed, and then were obscured by blowing mist off the river. On the way back, a Least Bittern was glimpsed by a few. The last stop was Bombay Hook, where we enjoyed some good looks at Black-necked Stilts and American Avocets in breeding plumage at Raymond Pool. Shearness hosted a large number of Glossy Ibis, and two lucky folks glimpsed yet another Least Bittern. Bear Swamp held the usual Black-crowned Night Herons, including one juvenile that posed very nicely.