---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Les Roslund <lroslund...>
Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2012 06:59:02 -0400
Subject: FW: Smith & Deal islands, Rumbly Point & South Point Marsh,
July 8 & 9, 2012: pelican banding.
MD Birders - This report is provided on behalf of Talbot Bird Club
Member Harry Armistead.
- Les R.
From: Harry Armistead [mailto:<harryarmistead...>]
Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2012 5:12 PM
To: Les Roslund
Subject: Smith & Deal islands, Rumbly Point & South Point Marsh, July 8 & 9,
2012: pelican banding.
SMITH & DEAL ISLANDS, RUMBLY POINT, MD & SOUTH POINT MARSH, VA, JULY 8 & 9,
2012. Pelican banding. All locations are in Maryland unless otherwise
indicated.
JULY 8, SUNDAY.
D.O.R. half-grown Red Foxes near Harrington and Laurel, Delaware.
“Death seemed my servant on the road, till we were near/ and saw you
waiting;/ When you smiled, and in sorrowful envy he outran me/ and took you
apart:/ Into his quietness.”
From ‘To S.A.’ the epigraph for T. E. Lawrence’s The Seven Pillars of
Wisdom.
DEAL ISLAND W.M.A. Dumpster Road, which is 1.35 mi. one way: 95°F., W
5-10, fair, hazy, so hot today I only leave the car AC a few times.
Black-necked Stilt, 4 adults, one chick. Lesser Yellowlegs 8, Glossy Ibis
16, Great Egret 19, Willet 4, Snowy Egret 2, Green Heron 1, Great Blue Heron
1, Seaside Sparrow 2, Marsh Wren 1, Laughing Gull 2, Turkey Vulture 10
(soaring over Dames Quarter), Bald Eagle 1 adult (a nest is visible in the
distance near the mainland to the NE in a grove of Loblolly Pines), numerous
Red-winged Blackbirds, and Osprey 2 plus a Red Admiral.
Deal I. W.M.A., Route 363 (the 2.1 mi. in between Dumpster & Riley Roberts
roads): Black-necked Stilt 4 adults, Glossy Ibis 6, Canada Goose 22,
American Black Duck 2, Great Egret 1, Barn Swallow 13.
Deal I. W.M.A., Riley Roberts Road, which is 3.2 mi. one way. Here it’s
100°F. in the shade at 4:45 P.M. as measured by my own thermometer; 24
hours later it will be 20°F. cooler in this general area. High tide. I
hesitate to use such colorful language and hope the moderators will forgive
the use of two 4-letter words, but … here goes: MUTE SWAN, if you’ll
pardon the expression, 2.
Also: Pied-billed Grebe 1, Gadwall a pair, an imm. ♂ Orchard Oriole,
Boat-tailed Grackle 2♂, Canada Goose 9, Snowy Egret 22, Great Egret 11,
Great Blue Heron 6, Glossy Ibis 3, Laughing Gull 6, Herring Gull 2, Eastern
Kingbird 1, Northern Harrier 1 ad. ♀, Marsh Wren 1, Seaside Sparrow 5,
Black Vulture 1, Red-winged Blackbird 10, Osprey 2, Turkey Vulture 1. Also:
a half-grown, unbearably cute Eastern Cottontailed Bunny Wabbit and a
Red-spotted Purple.
I look the glossies over, those that are near enough, for White-faced Ibis,
but … no luck.
PINES MOTEL, Crisfield. 40 American Robins are assembled on the lawn on the
way in. I’d have thought they’d all be spaced out and on their breeding
territories. Maybe taking a breather between their 1st & 2nd broods?
RUMBLY POINT. 7:30-8:15 P.M. 90°F. After dinner I really want to spend a
little time here but the regular programming on 89.5 is interrupted to
announce a severe thunderstorm warning with winds of up to 70 m.p.h.
forecast to hit Westover c. 7:50 P.M. I go down to Rumbly Point anyway -
one has to cultivate a death wish somehow - but the storm passes to the N &
NE and winds only get to c. 20 m.p.h.. As consolation there are many
spectacular cloud-to-ground lightning bolts.
If the severe storm had materialized I thought the wide-open Rumbly Point
Road saltmarshes would be safe … and the saw I keep in back of the car
might enable me to get past any blowovers. It’s so dark and breezy here
that few birds are seen. The smaller heron types have left for their
colonies on the islands:
Northern Harrier 2, Great Blue Heron 3, Seaside Sparrow 9, American Black
Duck 2, Laughing Gull 25, Forster’s Tern 9, Red-winged Blackbird 12.
JULY 9, MONDAY. Mostly overcast, winds NE 10 becoming near calm and hot in
the afternoon, switching to NW c. 10 m.p.h., then NE late in the day. Low
tide c. 12:30 P.M. At the Crisfield, Somers Cove public launching ramp 33
of us assemble at 7 A.M. to go in 5 boats out to the South Point Marsh,
Accomack County, Virginia area to wrangle Brown Pelican chicks. We’ll be
on the go until 4:15 P.M.
We are from several agencies and organizations in addition to various
freelancers such as myself: U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Maryland Dept. of
Natural Resources, Maryland Coastal Bays Program, National Park Service,
etc., including staff, summer interns, volunteers et al. This many boats
and people constitute a veritable flotilla for this sort of operation, which
is often much less well endowed. Four Glossy Ibis and 2 Green Herons.
There will be mud, a little (human) blood, but, with apologies to Johnny
Cash, no beer. Yes, blood, sweat, and, with apologies to Winston Churchill,
no tears. In the lead up to today’s operation we are warned that we’ll
get dirty, and, my favorite, that sometimes afterwards some participants
just throw their clothes away. One has to bend over somewhat to band.
Consequently there is a slow but steady drip of perspiration from my
forehead.
Today I don’t take names but present are Paul Kazyak, Elwood Martin, John
Weske (bander-in-charge), Kim Check, Peter McGowan et al. There would have
been 6 or more others in addition to our 33 but one group (and their boat)
bailed due to the jumpy weather forecast, another person because of a
toothache. This cost us at least 2 banders. All told we band 633 pelican
chicks today plus at least 10 Double-crested Cormorant youngsters.
PEACH ORCHARD POINT, South Point Marsh, Accomack County, Virginia, < 2
statute mi. S of the MD/VA line. A small colony we are set to polish off
pretty quickly. Five banders tag 113 pelican chicks. Today I am a bander
so have little time to scan and otherwise look for birds, especially since
getting the big bands to close correctly requires some strength, skill, and
concentration, all as the big birds often struggle, flail their legs, and
flap their primaries in your face in spite of the best efforts of the bird
holders. 2 Seaside Sparrows, 1 monarch. About 50 large pelican chicks swim
out into the cove to the W and escape our ministrations. My day’s total is
100 bandings, about my limit. After that tendonitis sets in.
Now, in order to get to the big South Point Marsh-Shanks Island area colony
on the Chesapeake Bay side, < 1 mile to the W across the awkward marsh, we
have to boat N, W and then S > 10 miles because of the low tide.
SOUTH POINT MARSH (Shanks Island area), Accomack County, Virginia. What
little is left of Shanks and Cheeseman islands (if anything) has shifted E
and merged with South Point Marsh, the only remnants of these two islands, I
think, being the sandy strip on the W side of the marsh.
This is a monster colony. After I finish banding I scan and estimate 1,120
pelicans capable of flight in sight simultaneously, close to my estimate
here of 1,130 on June 21. But most are at rest. Once one gets 150 or so
feet way from their nests the adults, gratifyingly, return, but the
cormorants don’t. Three Foster’s Terns. Time runs out and we do no
banding at the much smaller N colony of this site.
There are still considerable nests with eggs. Incomplete totals, perhaps
80% of what may be there: Brown Pelican nests with eggs: 9 nests with 2
eggs; 7 nests with 3 eggs; for a total of 16 such nests. Double-crested
Cormorants: 15 nests with 1 egg; 36 nests with 2 eggs; 35 nests with 3
eggs; 2 nests with 4 eggs; 2 nests with 1 egg & 1 young; for a total of 90
such nests.
Strangely, in the case of almost all the other DCCO nests the young have
already left. On June 21 I estimated 720 big cormorant chicks in sight
simultaneously. Almost none this time. The gull nests are vacated, too,
but there are lots of big gull chicks shambling about and more on the water
offshore in the Bay. Out there the adult Great Black-backed Gulls keep up a
constant clamor. Three Seaside Sparrows. We band 520 pelican chicks.
SWAN ISLAND at Smith I., part of the Glenn L. Martin N.W.R. When I first
came out here in the 1970s there were no trees on Swan I. Now there is a
nicely-forested hammock and burgeoning heronry. We do not stop but I can
see Yellow-crowned Night, Black-crowned Night, Tricolored & Little Blue
herons, Snowy & Great egrets, and Glossy Ibis plus Fish Crows in the area,
Osprey and Double-crested Cormorant in addition to big numbers of Herring
and Great Black-backed gulls on the N jetty. NE of here around the refuge
tower, which used to be wide open, there has also developed a small coppice
with an accompanying heronry.
EWELL, Smith I. We run late. Several of us have appointments late in the
day on the mainland, so, alas, we forego the traditional celebratory lunch
at Ruke’s. Plus there are dark clouds to the NW indicating a possible
storm approaching. Somewhat unusual here is a Turkey Vulture. Also seen: a
Willet, loads of Purple Martins, a few House Sparrows, 4 European Starlings,
a Rock Pigeon, Fish Crows, a Yellow-crowned Night Heron, and a Northern
Harrier, the latter down towards Tylerton, plus numerous Barn Swallows.
CLUMP ISLAND, ACCOMACK COUNTY, VA. When we finally return to Crisfield,
after such an energetic day, John Weske still has the endurance to then
return out there with one other person to Clump Island to check on a colony
that earlier had 60 or so Royal Tern pairs. Unfortunately the colony is now
abandoned, but there are still nesting Common Terns, Laughing Gulls, and
Black Skimmers.
On the way home: yet another d.o.r. young Red Fox near Odessa, Delaware.
There’s been substantial rain judging from the puddles along Route 13 all
the way from Salisbury up to just S of Dover. Good. I drive through one
several times to get some of the Riley Roberts Road dust off, and to give
the tired (258,000 miles), hot car some relief.
Reedy Island, Ocean City. On July 5 John Weske, Dave Brinker et al. banded
41 Royal Tern chicks in this greatly diminished colony, with minimal
suitable habitat for this species. The hope was/is that royals would return
to their old stamping ground at nearby Skimmer Island, where a major effort
has been made at habitat enhancement.
[OFF TOPIC, OFF-THE-WALL:
[MUSIC ON THE ROAD. On the 180-mile drive to & from Crisfield music helps
to melt the miles. On the way down there’s 6 or 7 knockout orchestral
arrangements by Leopold Stokowski, including Bach’s ‘Tocata and fugue in
D-minor’ and ‘Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.’
[The announcer is great, too, straight and to the point, no endless prattle,
and none of the namby-pamby, infuriatingly mincing manner, I’
ll-phrase-this-in-the-most-innocuous-way-so-I-think-no-one-will-be-offended
blandness of so many classical announcers, many of whom whip through the
identification of a piece in such a breezy, subdued way you’d think it was
a secret they didn’t want you to know.
[Then we hear the Naval Academy choir and band, who do such a great job with
‘Shenandoah,’ ‘Oh beautiful for spacious skies,’ ‘the Star-spangled
banner,’ and others. This was preceded by an analysis of the different
parts of Sousa’s ‘Stars and stripes forever,’ and afterwards the singing
of the unauthorized version: “Be kind to your web-footed friends/Cause a
duck may be somebody’s mother./Be kind to the denizens of the swamp/They
are dillies through and through …” Ugh.
[On the way home there’s a series of works that are variations on a theme,
including the great 4th movement of Brahms’ 4th symphony, which would be my
first choice if I could only take 5 pieces of music to a desert island.
Some of the other variations on a theme played seem contrived, dull
exercises, stunts even. But then, like the meters for marches and waltzes,
they are restricted and circumscribed by form.
[Other desert island listening: Herbie Mann’s take on ‘St. Thomas’ on his
“African Suite” LP (with Johnny Rae on vibes), Nina Simone singing ‘In
the evening by the moonlight.’ Well, maybe 20 pieces for the island, not
just 5, Brubeck’s ‘Two part contention,’, Leadbelly’s ‘In the evening
when the sun goes down,’ Richard Strauss, Mozart, Handel, Ewan MacColl, the
Organ Symphony, the Symphonie fantastique, ‘Hey Jude’, Ray Charles’
‘What I say’ .... But, I digress, even more than usual.]
Best to all. - Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.
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