Howard County Bird Club
A Chapter of the Maryland Ornithological Society
Blackwater NWR
| Trip leader: Kurt Schwarz | Date of trip: January 8, 2022 | Location: Blackwater NWR | Number attending: 3 |
| The 2022 HCBC Blackwater Trip began bright and early at Sailwinds Park in Cambridge. The three participants faced temperatures of 28 degrees and a westerly breeze of 5-10 mph making it quite chilly. Since there were few birds, we quickly moved to Long Wharf Park and found close looks at a few Surf Scoters and Greater Scaup, and a small flock of Ruddy Ducks. Among the hundreds of Ring-billed and Herring gulls, we tricked out one adult Lesser Black-backed Gull. Oakley Street produced the usual close-up views of American Wigeon, Mallard, Lesser Scaup, and Canvasback, though the usual huge numbers of Canvasback were not present. One each male and female Redhead added spice to the mix. A long-standing American Wigeon X Mallard hybrid was also present. Further along the Cambridge waterfront we found a large raft of Canvasback and Ruddy Duck. Searching the rooftops failed to locate the Snowy Owl that was present two days previously, though it was found in town after we had left for Blackwater. The drive down Egypt Road did not produce much in the way of open field birds, aside from one Eastern Meadowlark. The Wildlife Loop at Blackwater was a highlight of the day. One of the first stops was the overlook, and at least 51 American White Pelicans were present, but very distant and nothing more than white blobs in the scopes. To our surprise, the Marsh Edge Trail was open. It is typically closed in January for breeding Bald Eagles. We were greeted there by two Brown Creepers. The Brown-headed Nuthatches were heard. Among the sparrows working a trail, were two aberrant Fox Sparrows, both showing extensive gray on the head, with little to no rufous coloring, suggesting a western subspecies. But other plumage characters ruled that out, these birds apparently had a touch of melanism. We took some time to look for two reported Eastern Screech-Owls. We had directions to two roost holes, but had trouble figuring them out. Fortunately, once we got the right direction, we were able to find the one described to us by some folks from the Frederick Bird Club, a nice happily snoozing red morph. The waterfowl numbers were tremendous, several thousand Canada Goose, 150+ Tundra Swans, 2000 Mallards, 900 Northern Pintail, with Northern Shoveler, Ring-necked Ducks, Bufflehead, and Hooded and Common Mergansers. Bald Eagles were not as numerous as they can be at Blackwater. A nice surprise was flyover to two American Pipits at the first waterfowl viewing spot. At the visitor center we regrouped and considered further plans. The last report of Short-eared Owls was December 27 at dusk at Shorter’s Wharf Pier. We decided to drive there and see if any Northern Harriers were around, which would indicate abundant rodents. In fact, there were none, and it being about 3:00 pm we saw little reason to linger in hopes of SEOW. We decided to drive back to Cambridge, and cruise the waterfront for the Snowy Owl. We then got a report of the Snowy on a roof a few blocks in from the waterfront which was at roughly 10:30 am. So we drove there, only to find it long gone. Cruising the waterfront also came up dry, and we apparently just missed it, having been on a roof top facing Hambrooks Bay prior to our arrival there. Since it was sort of on our way home, we decided to try for the Northern Lapwing at the north Rt. 309 Pond in Queen Anne’s County. We arrived there a bit after 4:00 pm to fading light, and 300+ Tundra Swans. A few other waterfowl were present, and a large flock of 1000 Snow Geese landed in the field behind the pond. Repeated scans finally produced the Lapwing, loosely associating with a Killdeer. The light was poor and a decent picture was pretty hopeless.We finished the day with 60 taxa, 59 species and one hybrid. We departed for home shortly after the sun set. From the morning, the weather had warmed somewhat into the mid-30s, and breeze had abated. |
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Checklists included in this summary and referenced for each species: (1): Cambridge—Long Wharf Park Date: Jan 8, 2022 at 8:17 AM. (2): Cambridge–Oakley Street Date: Jan 8, 2022 at 8:53 AM. (3): Auto selected 38.58404, -76.08470 Date: Jan 8, 2022 at 9:28 AM. (4): Cambridge–Hambrooks Bay Date: Jan 8, 2022 at 9:30 AM. (5): US-MD-Cambridge-24 Bellevue Ave Date: Jan 8, 2022 at 9:49 AM. (6): Egypt Road Date: Jan 8, 2022 at 10:12 AM. (7): Blackwater NWR–Wildlife Drive Date: Jan 8, 2022 at 10:42 AM. (8): Rt. 309 Pond (N) (private – view only from road)Date: Jan 8, 2022 at 4:38 PM.(9): Choptank Talbot Side Date: Jan 8, 2022 at 3:50 PM.
4000 Snow Goose — (8),(9)
2350 Canada Goose — (1),(2),(4),(7)
477 Tundra Swan — (7),(8)
13 Northern Shoveler — (7)
92 American Wigeon — (2),(8)
1 American Wigeon X Mallard — (2)
2027 Mallard — (2),(7),(8)
2 American Black Duck — (8)
900 Northern Pintail — (7)
635 Canvasback — (2),(4)
2 Redhead — (2)
60 Ring-necked Duck — (7)
2 Greater Scaup — (1)
80 Lesser Scaup — (2)
20 Surf Scoter — (1),(4)
2 Long-tailed Duck — (1)
8 Bufflehead — (1),(7)
56 Hooded Merganser — (7)
126 Common Merganser — (7)
716 Ruddy Duck — (1),(4)
22 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) — (1),(6)
1 Northern Lapwing — (8)
1 Killdeer — (8)
144 Ring-billed Gull — (1),(2),(7)
120 Herring Gull — (1)
1 Lesser Black-backed Gull — (1)
1 Great Black-backed Gull — (1)
51 American White Pelican — (7)
5 Great Blue Heron (Great Blue) — (7)
2 Black Vulture — (6)
4 Turkey Vulture — (1),(5),(6),(7)
2 Northern Harrier — (7)
7 Bald Eagle — (5),(6),(7),(8)
1 Red-shouldered Hawk — (6)
1 Red-tailed Hawk — (7)
1 Eastern Screech-Owl — (7)
2 Downy Woodpecker — (7)
1 Hairy Woodpecker — (7)
2 Pileated Woodpecker — (7)
2 Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) — (6),(7)
1 Fish Crow — (1)
4 Carolina Chickadee — (7)
1 Golden-crowned Kinglet — (7)
8 Brown-headed Nuthatch — (7)
2 Brown Creeper — (7)
4 Carolina Wren — (7)
20 European Starling — (7)
1 Northern Mockingbird — (7)
6 Eastern Bluebird — (7)
2 American Pipit — (7)
2 Fox Sparrow (Red) — (7)
2 Savannah Sparrow (Savannah) — (7)
9 Song Sparrow — (6),(7)
14 Song Sparrow (melodia/atlantica) — (7)
6 Swamp Sparrow — (7)
1 Eastern Towhee — (7)
1 Eastern Meadowlark — (6)
80 Red-winged Blackbird — (6)
500 blackbird sp. — (6)
4 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) — (7)
4 Northern Cardinal — (6)