I was lucky enough to spend Sunday birding Harford and Cecil Counties (that's the Northeast corner of Maryland folks) with Warren & Lisa Strobel (AKA THE BIRD COUPLE) and Ross Geredien (AKA Good Migrations Photography). That's the crew scanning the horizon at the busy, but very quiet (bird-wise) Turkey Point.
We saw quite a good number of birds. Rarities? Well, we didn't see the reported SANDHILL CRANES at the mouth of the Big Gunpowder River. But we did have some great highlights such as the RED NECKED GREBE on the Susquehanna River, the many BALD EAGLES and GREAT BLUE HERONS (they have a rookery there) at the base of the Conowingo Dam. By the way, 'rookery' is one of my new favorite words for absolutely no good reason, other than the fact that it's fun to say.
Go ahead, say it. No no no... try it with a 'Sean Connery' Scottish accent. See? Fun stuff.
There was one fun moment I should mention. For several minutes, we enjoyed watching a GREAT BLUE HERON attempt to eat a carp that was far too big. The bird struggled hard and long trying to successfully move this fish down into his gullet. Fish=1 Heron=0. This fish got away. Bloodied, scared and with a stories it can brag about to all of his other fish friends, this carp now can now tell all of his underwater buddies about the time he saw inside a heron's belly.
Finally, as sunset approached, we viewed two enormous rafts of TUNDRA SWANS and AMERICAN COOT at the top of the Chesapeake Bay. No doubt they were at the headwaters of the Bay staging for their long migration North. It was like the line at the airport, but only miles long across the horizon! Well, almost exactly the same as those airport lines really.
I wish I could show you some amazing photos from yesterday, but there were very few that actually came out in focus. True... I did offer up that one of the BROWN CREEPER. But instead of my amateur bird photography, how about a blurry image of my amazingly handsome, now smiling often, cute-as-can-be son Declan? 
He is my favorite thing these days... all smiling and what not. That is of course, my favorite thing aside from his Mom! She's a cutie too. If I may borrow a phrase from a commercial, Emery is 'a hottie from hottingham'.
Lucky, I truly am.
Enjoy your week,
Dan
Bonies are some very cool gulls. They feed like a phalarope, spinning constantly in tight circles. They've got a very swift flight style, bright pink (sometime red legs) and have a striking wing color pattern.
Then we found a banded TUNDRA SWAN showing off his neck 'bling' to all of his 'peeps'. Actually, I think when it comes to swans, they are known as 'honks'. All bad jokes aside, it was so cool to finally get some snow to go with all this cold.
Here are a few photos from Monday's snow day that made me happy. Stay warm and enjoy your week.
Oh yes, and PABU say hello too. A Painted Bunting in the snow... what?
I speak for the Bunting, Declan, Chris and myself when I say... ON TO SPRING please!
