Date: 7/22/12 6:20 pm
From: Les Roslund <lesroslund...>
Subject: [MDBirding] Fwd: FW: Ferry Neck, MD & South Point Marsh, VA, July 13-19, 2012.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Les Roslund <lroslund...>
Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2012 20:43:54 -0400
Subject: FW: Ferry Neck, MD & South Point Marsh, VA, July 13-19, 2012.
To: Les Roslund <lroslund...>



From: Harry Armistead [mailto:<harryarmistead...>]
Sent: Friday, July 20, 2012 2:58 PM
To: Les Roslund
Subject: Ferry Neck, MD & South Point Marsh, VA, July 13-19, 2012.



FERRY NECK, MD & SOUTH POINT MARSH, VA, JULY 13-19, 2012. Liz & Harry
Armistead. Few sightings this year of hummingbirds and Black Ratsnakes.
Increasingly, these observations include those made by Liz.



JULY 12, THURSDAY. John Weske tells me that on this date in a transit from
Smith Point to Shanks Island, VA, he sees 2 Wilson’s Storm Petrels out
towards the center of Chesapeake Bay in Virginia waters.



JULY 13, FRIDAY. Arrive 3:15 P.M. Extremely dry, and the heat continues.
Cattle Egret 8, Snowy Egret 2, Bald Eagle 1, Forster’s Tern 5, Green Heron
2, Great Blue Heron 2. Both Osprey nesting platforms in Poplar Cove are
abandoned. A Tiger Swallowtail, one deer in Field 4, still a few Fireflies
at dusk, and 2 Fowler’s Toads on the front steps. Fair, NW5 - SW5, 86-87°
F. There has been no rain recently.



JULY 14, SATURDAY. A horde of ~ 195 Common Grackles is present during this
entire visit. What are they eating? A 5-heron day: Cattle Egret 17 and 1
each of great blue & green plus 1 ea. of Great & Snowy egrets. A Great
Horned Owl flushes from a yard tree down near the boat ramp at 8:34 P.M.,
the source of the demise of the young Ospreys? The crippled ♂ Surf Scoter
continues to maintain station here, mostly in the cove. He is tame. A doe
with 2 fawns in Field 2. Pearlcrescent 2.



I suffer from fatigue today. Mostly overcast then fair, 72-89°F., E or SE
5 becoming calm, 2 brief rains in the P.M. with some thunder, enough rain to
help the grass and perhaps the sprouting Soy Beans. A mediocre blooming
year for the Magnolia grandiflora, which, even though it lost c. 1/3 of its
branches in an ice storm c. 10 years ago, now rises 15 or more feet above
the highest roof. In the shade under its branches we install a hummingbird
feeder obtained from Karen & Bill Harris and 2 ground-level bird baths
(upside down trash can lids).



JULY 15, SUNDAY. Complete list of a rather energetic day, 48 species,
although the record July list for here is 62 species on July 28, 1996:



Canada goose 34, mallard 1♀, surf scoter 1♂, double-crested cormorant, 2,
great blue heron 3, snowy egret 2, cattle egret 11, green heron 2, black
vulture 4, turkey vulture 16, osprey 16 (11 in sight simultaneously), bald
eagle 1 adult, red-tailed hawk 1 adult, spotted sandpiper 1, laughing gull
50, ring-billed gull 5, herring gull 2, royal tern 1, Forster’s tern 4,
least tern 1.



mourning dove 6, yellow-billed cuckoo 2, chimney swift 5, red-bellied
woodpecker 1, northern flicker 1, pileated woodpecker 1, great crested
flycatcher 1, eastern kingbird 2, blue jay 7, American crow 4, fish crow 1,
purple martin 5, tree swallow 2, barn swallow 10, Carolina chickadee 3,
tufted titmouse 7, Carolina wren 4, eastern bluebird 3 (incl. a ♂ carrying
food in Field 4 = confirmation of breeding), American robin 3, northern
mockingbird 2, European starling 2, chipping sparrow 1, northern cardinal
12, blue grosbeak 7 (ties the record property high count), indigo bunting 1
♂, red-winged blackbird 2, common grackle 75+, brown-headed cowbird 1♀.



Other goodies: 24 Green Frogs (new property high count) & 2 Southern Leopard
Frogs in The Pond, a Green Tree Frog in the yard calling half-heartedly.
Butterflies: 1 each of American Lady, Common Wood Nymph & Red Admiral, 3
Cabbage Whites, 2 Delaware Skippers, 2 Pearlcrescents, and 9 Orange
Sulphurs. Two Gray Squirrels and 7 deer (a buck, 4 does & 2 fawns). After
an absence of several weeks, Sea Nettles, unfortunately, are back. Three
Diamondback Terrapin.



Fair then overcast 5 P.M. until dark with some thunder, lightning, and a
little rain, SW5 then S 25-30-15, 83° F. at 10:30 P.M., 77-93°F., very
humid. The Varmint Pool has been dry for several weeks.



JULY 16, MONDAY. Fair, NW5 - SW5+, temperature up to 93°F. (84°F.at 9:50
P.M.). Cattle Egret 3, Yellow-billed Cuckoo (breeding suspected in Woods
8), Downy Woodpecker 1. One ea. of Common Wood Nymph and Red-spotted
Purple. A really fat and large Fowler’s Toad in the yard, perhaps the
biggest I’ve ever seen, and a surprisingly rapid hopper.



JULY 17, TUESDAY. Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1. An occasional Osprey is
back on both of the abandoned platform nests in the cove. One Osprey chases
an adult Bald Eagle, the latter carrying a small fish. The eagle alights in
Woods 7 and proceeds to devour its prey. Broadhead Skink 1. Common Wood
Nymph 1. Fair, SW5, 79-96°F. (88°F. at 9:15 P.M.).



Out in the middle of the Choptank River at noon is the ‘Sultana’, a
Chestertown-based replica of a 1768 British topsail schooner that was in the
Royal Navy, its smallest ship. What a terrific sight. The ‘Sultana’ is
97 feet long with a beam of 16’ 8” and draws 8’. Today it has 3 sails
up. One mast extends 70’ above the deck. Jared Sparks kayaked out to see
it at close range, within hailing distance.



JULY 18, WEDNESDAY. I’m off to Virginia. Fair becoming mostly overcast,
up to 100°F. (84°F. at 4:15 A.M.), winds SW 15-5. Liz sees a Cedar
Waxwing (the only one during our visit this time), a Spicebush Swallowtail,
and a Mourning Cloak. This is the day the Waterthrush Pond dries up
completely.



On my return at 4:45 P.M. there are deer on parade, in the space of a < 5
minute drive: 8 bucks in a group in John Swaine’s field to the W of
Bellevue Road, 3 does lying on their sides in the damp vernal pool in Woods
2, a doe and her fawn on the E side of Field 4, a doe and her 2 fawns in the
W side of Field 4, a fawn by itself in the E side of Field 2, and, finally,
a doe and her 2 fawns on the W side of Field 2. All the fawns are
appealing, small, and spotted. John Weske is our dinner guest.



A Pileated Woodpecker over Route 413 3 miles N of Crisfield.



SOUTH POINT MARSH-SHANKS ISLAND AREA, ACCOMACK COUNTY, VIRGINIA, a pelican
banding foray, 9 of us including Steve Kendrot, John Weske
(bander-in-charge), and others who are variously based with the U. S. Dept.
of Agriculture at Blackwater N.W.R., summer interns from Blackwater,
graduate or undergraduate students.



The banders are late in getting to this huge Brown Pelican colony this year.
As a result we miss tagging perhaps 400, or more, pelican chicks this
season. Today we only band 84. Many others are so big they fly off or swim
out of reach of our clutches. Nevertheless 717 get banded here this year.



At the marshy, hard-to-reach N colony we band 58 today, the first visit this
year to this sub-colony. These nesters are back from the beach
necessitating an awkward walk to their nests in among clumps of Baccharis
halimifolia and Iva frustescens, sometimes wading up to our waist and
sinking in mud above the ankles, and coming close to falling down. At least
120 big young elude us, swim away. Steve, John & I are today’s banders.



At the much larger S sub-colony the footing at times is also really dicey.
Previously a thorough enough job was done here that we only tag 26 newbies,
but, as alluded to earlier, many young have fledged and left us in the dust
(or … mud). I am truly thankful for the several good souls who helped me
out of precarious situations my, let’s face it, weak legs got me into.



Complete bird list, but between the really awkward footing most of the time
and the concentration necessary to band the pelican chicks there is not much
time for random birding:



Unrecorded numbers of double-crested cormorant, brown pelican, herring &
great black-backed gulls, and recorded numbers of - sanderling 13 (flocks of
8 & 5), black-bellied plover 3, least sandpiper 1, ruddy turnstone 3,
American oystercatcher 7, great egret 4, little blue heron 1 adult,
black-crowned night heron 1 adult, yellow-crowned night heron 3 immatures,
glossy ibis 4, American black duck 3, MUTE SWAN ONE, osprey 2, royal tern 3,
Forster’s tern 4, laughing gull 7, fish crow 3, boat-tailed grackle 1♂,
barn swallow 4, purple martin 2, and seaside sparrow 3 plus 6 Diamondback
Terrapin and countless hundreds of Seaside Dragonlets. A lot of gull
chicks, most of them large, are shambling around, or else swimming offshore.




Also, perhaps 10 cormorant chicks get banded in this South Point Marsh
colony. There are still pelican nests with eggs: 9 nests with 3 eggs, 7
nests with 2 eggs & 2 nests with 1 egg for a total of 18 such nests, plus
perhaps the same number, or a few more, of nests with very young chicks.
Some of the eggs are in the process of pipping today. I’d guess there are
perhaps 3 times as many (or more) cormorant nests still with eggs. I only
see one gull nest, one with 2 eggs plus an adult Herring Gull incubating.



The considerable SW wind helps to keep us and the birds cool on this
otherwise stifling day. High tide c. 1 P.M. Fair, SW 15 m.p.h.+ on the way
out, splashy, rough, dropping to c. 10 m.p.h., temps in the 80s and low 90s.
We are on the go from 7 A.M. until 2 P.M. counting the (considerable) time
spent going and a more direct return to the mainland at Crisfield. We don’
t get to Smith Island (MD) at all.



JULY 19, THURSDAY. An apparently healthy adult Red Fox surprises us at
breakfast time lying on its side, occasionally scratching, right out in the
open on the lawn in the backyard near the house, taking it easy, possibly
asleep at times. Pileated Woodpecker, Ruby-throated Hummingbird,
Yellow-billed Cuckoo - one each. Leave at 10:15 A.M. On the way back to PA
right over Route 481 near Hope. MD, there’s a ♂ Cooper’s Hawk soaring
with a bird in his talons.



PREVIOUSLY, IN NORTH CAROLINA John Weske and several dozen helpers have
banded, I think it was c. 1,500+ Brown Pelican chicks in the colonies in the
Oregon Inlet area.



MELANESIA BIRD NEWS. Off topic, right? Right. Mostly I’m an armchair
traveler. Nice, excellent, new book from Princeton University Press,
Birds of Melanesia: Bismarcks, Solomons, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia (2011,
447p., by Guy Dutson; the well-done color plates are by 4 artists).
Unfortunately the maps lack scale. Some of the birds that attract my
attention are a couple of diminutive species: if I did the conversions
correctly - the Buff-faced Pygmy Parrot (8 cm or c.3.2 inches, shorter than
the length of a Golden-crowned Kinglet, !!) and the Little Kingfisher (11
cm. or c. 4.3 inches, slightly more length than a Winter Wren, !!), the
latter with a tail so stubby it’s difficult even to see that it has one.
I’d like to have some of both for pets.



Best to all. - Harry Armistead.

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