Winter 2003 CBC Meeting at Washington, NC

["Sandy Cash" <scash@mindspring.com>]

Hi all,

Many thanks to everyone who attended the recent 2003 Winter 
CBC meeting in Washington, NC.  The event was a lot of fun for all 
(I hope), and we saw some good birds despite the bone-chilling 
cold.  Thanks especially to all of our leaders and to Bill and Mary 
Paulson, who helped immensely with the logistics, and to Kelly 
Davis, who made several of the field trips possible.

Good birds included the WESTERN KINGBIRD on the 
Mattamuskeet causeway; LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL at the 
Bayview ferry landing; a raft described as being around 10,000 
strong of SURF SCOTERS, which Harry LeGrand said was 
probably close to the largest ever seen in NC; ANHINGA, which 
was nice this far North and inland, especially in midwinter; and the 
WESTERN TANAGER seen at John Fussell's house.  Also of note 
were numerous warbler species (the Mattamuskeet is always 
excellent for wintering passerines), although, strangely enough, 
PRAIRIE WARBLER was *not* seen.

The total species count was 153, and there were 119 registered 
attendees, although a few folks did not actually appear due to 
weather.

I will be posting a full species list to the CBC website this week, 
and if anyone has any questions about the meeting at all, please 
do not hesitate to contact me.

Again, thanks to everyone who attended and helped out!

-Sandy

--
Sandy Cash
Durham, NC
scash@mindspring.com