Talbot County Birding 2/4/07

Sunday afternoon my girlfriend Colleen and I drove around Talbot County, Maryland. My main goal was to see if we could find any Cackling Geese to photograph in the many goose flocks foraging in the surrounding fields. Earlier in the morning Hans had called and said he might have seen a Pink-sided Junco (a western sub-species of the Dark-sided Junco) near Pickering Creek Audubon Sanctuary, but he wasn't sure so he wanted us to try to get a photograph if we could refind the bird. Colleen and I found the junco flock but we were not able to locate any birds that resembled what Hans saw. I did manage to get a photo of a Dark-sided Junco that was sitting up in a water bush. Driving back roads we saw plenty of goose flocks but couldn't find any cacklers that were close enough to the road to photograph. There seemed to be many Red-tailed Hawks sitting on telephone poles alongside the road and I was able to get a few photos. Blackwalnut Point on Tlghman Island came through once again with a female Black Scoter mixed in with the usual Surf Scoters. Although the Scoter flock was fairly far offshore I was able to get one identifiable shot of the female Black Scoter.