If You See Any of These Birds in Maryland...

Would you mind letting me know?

Feel free to email me any sightings for any of these birds (partial list below) at: nervousbirdsATgmail.com. I am currently at 276 bird species for Maryland (as of August 26th, 2008).

My life list is pretty weak, with only 318 species for the United States. Yes, I have only been birding for a few years. In addition, I have yet to eBird (add in to my life list) all of the species seen on a recent trip to Costa Rica. I'll do that in the near future and see what that does to my life list. In the meantime, here are just a few of the birds that I'd like to see between now and 2009:

Ruffed Grouse
Ring-necked Pheasant
Black Skimmer
Piping Plover
Common Moorhen*
Long-Billed Dowitcher
Black Rail
King Rail
Purple Gallinule
American Golden Plover*
Long-Billed Curlew
Marbled Godwit*
Hudsonian Godwit
American Avocet*
Western Sandpiper*
White-rumped Sandpiper*
Baird's Sandpiper
Curlew Sandpiper
Buff-Breasted Sandpiper
Wilson's Phalarope*
Red-necked Phalarope*
Red Phalarope
Great Skua
Pomarine Jaeger
Parasitic Jaeger
Long-tailed Jaeger
Stilt Sandpiper*
Franklin's Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Black-headed Gull*
Iceland Gull
Glaucous Gull
Little Gull
Black-legged Kittiwake
Great Cormorant
Black Tern*
Roseate Tern
Gull-Billed Tern
Arctic Tern
Sandwich Tern*
Atlantic Puffin
Bridled Tern
Sooty Tern
Dovekie
Razorbill
Anhinga
White Ibis*
Northern Goshawk
Mississippi Kite*
Snowy Owl
Eurasian Collared Dove
Calliope Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird
Greater White-Fronted Goose
Eurasian Wigeon
King Eider
Common Eider
Northern Fulmar
Cory's Shearwater
Greater Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater
Manx Shearwater
Audubon's Shearwater
Wilson's Storm Petrel
Leach's Storm Petrel
Olive-sided Flycatcher*
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher*
Western Kingbird
Northern Shrike
Loggerhead Shrike
Cave Swallow
Sedge Wren
Orange Crowned Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Blue-winged Warbler*
Connecticut Warbler
Clay-colored Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow*
Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow
Lapland Longspur
Snow Bunting
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Pine Grosbeak
Red Crossbill

I know, some of these birds are down-right impossible in Maryland to find. I'll be heading out to Hart-Miller Island, Poplar Island and on a Pelagic Trip this fall. With a lot of luck, those trips will help me get to my goal of 300 bird species in Maryland in 2008.

For example: Let's say a Mississippi Kite soars overhead in your backyard every morning around 9:47. Well, you really should tell me these types of things. I promise to keep it between us.

As for my quest, I will happily be reporting all of my latest sightings as the December 31st, 2008 deadline draws near.

Have a good week,

-Dan

P.S. If you see italics and a *, well, that means I checked it off my list!