[wisb] lasrt weeks quick trip to the E Coast

From: "Seegert, Greg" <gseegert@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2011 21:36:02 -0500
All
Last Wednesday morning, I had a meeting in DC with EPA.  After the meeting, I 
picked up a rental car at the airport and drove to the Eastern Shore of MD/VA.  
It was nearly dark by the time I got to Indian R Inlet about 10 mi N of Ocean 
City, MD.  Typically several purple sandpipers overwinter on the jetty but all 
I could find were sanderlings and dunlin.  The next morning, I birded  the 
large salt marsh along Rt 175 just W of Chincoteague, VA.  It was raining and 
moderately windy.  I found several A. oystercatchers and a flock of about 50 
brant.   After it got a little lighter, I went to Chincoteague NWR.  My target 
here was brown-headed nuthatch but I found nary a one. Birds of some interest 
in the refuge were hundreds of white ibis, a few L. blue herons, and quite a 
few boat-tailed grackles.  As I headed to my next stop (Saxis Marsh just E of 
Saxis, VA),  the weather got much worse.  The rain became heavy and the wind 
grew to gale force levels.  Saxis Marsh is a world class spot for saltmarsh 
sparrow and seaside sparrow but with the steady rain and fierce winds I found 
neither.  In one of the woody hammocks in the marsh I ran across hundreds of 
yellow-rumped warblers that had one Carolina chickadee mixed in, which was year 
bird.  I headed to Ocean City, MD but had nothing at the jettys there.  Back at 
Indian R Inlet, the waves were crashing over the jetty and there were no 
shorebirds.  Despite the wind and rain, I scoped offshore for a while and saw 
one N gannet, several  flocks of dark-winged scoters, and one 
pomarine/parasitic jaeger.  After about 20 min, both myself and my scope were 
thoroughly soaked, so I called it a day and headed back to catch my evening 
flight out of National.

So my advice is don't bird along the Eastern Shore during a gale.  Anyway, 
that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Greg Seegert
Deerfield, IL

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[wisb] lasrt weeks quick trip to the E Coast

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