Photos: Surf Scoter on the Cambridge waterfront, Herring Gull at the Wicomico Landfill, Wenona Harbor, Somerset County, Maryland.
On February 17 Hans Holbrook and I did some deep winter birding on the Eastern Shore. We started the morning on the Cambridge waterfront along the Choptank River. Due to the freezing temperatures over the previous week the Choptank was almost completely frozen. We were hoping that around the marinas we might find some open water which would hold waterfowl. Our first stop was at Long Warf where around the skipjack Nathen of Dorchester there was some water which held an adult male Surf Scoter that allowed us to take some great photos. Unfortunately we could not find any other open water so we headed towards Salisbury, Md. Earlier in the week a Glaucous Gull was observed at the Wicomico landfill so we once again braved the stinking mountain of trash and earth movers to try to locate this rare northern gull. After 20 minutes of diligent searching through 1000's of gulls we came up empty. I did manage a photo of one of the many Fish Crows that were scavenging through the refuse. From the dump we decided to head towards White Haven Ferry to look for Common Mergansers. Unfortunately, we came up empty on the mergansers at White Haven but I managed to score pics of Belted Kingfisher and Red-shouldered Hawk. Red-shouldered Hawks are uncommon on Delmarva but this day it was the most common bird of prey. We saw over eight Red-shouldereds throughout the day -- a really good number. While driving down Clara Road towards the Wicomico River, Hans shouted to stop and back up. He said he might have seen a rat chewing on a phragmite stalk. We backed up and sure enough a Marsh Rice Rat was half way up a phragmite stalk chewing on the reed. We each got great photos of the rodent which did not seem to mind two humans five feet away excitingly snapping pictures. The Marsh Rice Rat is a major photo score. It is only the second one that I have ever seen and to have one model so well is beyond belief. Along the same road we came upon a nice feeding flock of sparrows and Bluebirds. I managed a nice Bluebird photo and Carolina Chickadee shot. We then went down to Somerset County. On Reading Ferry Road along a wet ditch three Wilson's Snipe allowed a few minutes of mad shutter snapping. We ended the day on Rumbley Point Road looking for Short-eared Owls. We were fortunate enough to have an owl sitting on a small stick right off the road in the marsh. Short-eared Owls are one of the few diurnal owls. They can sometimes be easily seen working marshes on Delmarva hawking for small rodents like Marsh Rice Rats.
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