From: Harry Armistead [mailto:<harryarmistead...>]
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 2:00 PM
To: Les Roslund
Subject: Ferry Neck, August 8-11, 2012.
FERRY NECK, AUGUST 8-11, 2012. Butterflies and deer especially. Liz &
Harry Armistead.
Even in the summer doldrums there is much to see. However, I am good and
tired of this hot, dry, nearly migrant-less August.
AUGUST 8, WEDNESDAY. Arrive at 3:15 P.M. Fair or mostly overcast, calm,
86°F. Extremely dry. An adult Bald Eagle chases an Osprey with a very
small fish right over head at treetop level at the base of the dock. The
Osprey gets away, keeps the fish. Later an Osprey chases a Great Blue
Heron, the 2 of them just above the water’s surface.
15 Cattle Egrets. A Great and 2 Snowy egrets on a dock in the cove. A
Great Blue and a Green heron round out today’s list of 5 heron types. 19
Canada Geese at rest in the cove. A half-grown Red Fox seen on a
neighbor’s lawn. Three Hackberry Emperors in front of the house flying
around and resting variously on an Eastern Redcedar and a Black Locust even
though there are small American Hackberry trees nearby. Four Diamondback
Terrapin.
Liz finds 5 beautiful caterpillars in a planter with a luxuriant growth of
Parsely.
AUGUST 9, THURSDAY. Fair, 78-94°F. winds SW 5-10+ m.p.h. An energetic
day in spite of the heat. Walk all the trails and entire driveway (except
the woods segments). Mourning Doves are much more prevalent than usual and
with much calling.
Cedar Waxwing 2, Cattle Egret 9, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1, Mourning Dove 24,
Chipping Sparrow 2 adults carrying food, Osprey 20, Eastern Bluebird 2
juveniles capable of flight, Purple Martin 8, Northern Mockingbird 5 incl.
one stubby-tailed juvenile, Barn Swallow 35, Black Vulture 2, Chimney Swift
18, Bald Eagle 1, Snowy Egret 1, Royal Tern 1, and Common Grackle 0. Two
Brown-headed Cowbirds hanging out right next to a ♂ Indigo Bunting, one of
their favorite host species.
Butterflies. Best ever for here, although they’re not my strong suit. 16
species: Pearl Crescent 11, Red-spotted Purple 9, Delaware Skipper 3,
Monarch 1, Tiger Swallowtail 1, Cloudless Sulphur 1, Orange Sulphur 1,
Eastern Tailed Blue 1, Cabbage White 2, Red Admiral 1, Variegated
Fritillary 1, Question Mark 1, unID’d lady 1, unID’d duskywing 1, Silver-
spotted Skipper 1, and (this is a bit of a curveball) Black Swallowtail 5
(if one can count caterpillars as butterflies).
These caterpillars are found, identified, and photographed by Liz; they are
eating Parsley, with gusto, in one of our planters. The caterpillars are
about 2” long, bright green with black barring that has dull yellowish
spotting. Very seldom do we see the finished, flying product of this
species here. Hackberry Emperors are missed but 3 are seen August 8 and 1
on August 10. Buckeye is also a surprising miss.
Other non-avian taxa: In Field 2: 8 deer - a 4-pt. buck, 5 does, and 2
little, baby fawns. 1 Eastern Cottontail. 2 Gray Squirrels. Five-lined
Skink 1. Diamondback Terrapin 5. Common Whitetail (a dragonfly) 5.
Southern Leopard Frog 1 loafing spread eagle in one of the birdbaths for
over an hour plus 4 more in The Pond with 9 Green Frogs. Considerable
blooming Jimson Weed in Field 2. A Yellow Garden (orb weaver) Spider with
a large darner caught in its web.
AUGUST 10, FRIDAY. Mourning Dove 29, Cattle Egret 6, Osprey 12 in sight
simultaneously. Black Vulture 7 attracted by a d.o.r. Virginia Opossum in
Royal Oak: De gustibus non est disputandum. In the cove four Laughing
Gulls chase a Herring Gull carrying a fish. Liz sees a Blue Grosbeak
scolding a Red Fox that lies down on the driveway in front of the house.
Take it easy today, not inclined to aspire to great nature boy exploits.
Rain, some heavy, c. 7-9 A.M. Liz and I sit on the front porch, gratified
to see and hear the rain soaking in. But we still need more. Thunder,
very low register (below bass drum) sound, off to the S, then tympani level
to the NE and then E, with some lightning, then abating.
After the rain I slowly drive the roads out to Bellevue, Anderby Hall Road,
and Ferry Neck Road to Benoni Point from 9-10:30 A.M., savoring the fresh
rain puddles, ditches that finally contain some water, and getting some
pleasure from knowingly motoring around w/o my wallet and driver’s
license.
The rains have brought the deer out: In Field 4 a doe and bucks with 2, 4,
6 and 6 points. In Field 5 a doe. In Field 2 a doe and 2 fawns. In Field
1 a doe and her fawn. Near Fox Harbor Road a 4-point buck. Near Benoni
Point 2 does and bucks with 10, 5 and 6 points respectively.
It’s a day spent mostly under changeable, heroic skies with cloudscapes
worthy of Albert Bierstadt. Butterflies: Hackberry Emperor, Monarch, Red-
spotted Purple, Pearl Crescent. A very small Five-lined Skink is on the
front porch. A 2’ Northern Watersnake swims by the dock, about the only
way we see them here. Some are surprised to learn that these snakes are
quite at home in this salty water.
Overcast, then partial clearing, mid-70s to 87°F., winds variably SW 5-
15+, erratic enough to create random cat’spaws on the cove’s surface,
even though it is largely protected from southerly winds. Another 5-heron
day with the same species as yesterday.
Not having done it for several years, I dissemble, clean, and oil Liz’s
reel and catch, with a rusty old Tony Aceta lure, after the 5th cast from
the dock, a nice White Perch, which I release, at 7 P.M. The water is
murky, the tide still rising. Get some new, shiny lures from the Shore
Sportsman.
AUGUST 11, SATURDAY. Leave By 10:15 A.M. but first a quick look from the
dock turns up 2 Snowy Egrets, a Green Heron, and a Great Blue Heron. A
brief but impressive downpour near Ruthsburg, to use a Floyd Parks term, a
“toad-strangler and a frog choker,” so strong I almost pull over to wait
it out.
HONKERS. With some regularity when one is parked carefully off of the
road, well onto the shoulder, legally, someone will drive past, see that
you are a birder, and honk. Irritating. This has happened to me a number
of times in Maryland, and, to my surprise, in Arabia and Cuba, too. Are we
really that universally mocked? What is the best reaction? (Probably
none)
I am usually inclined to give them “the figo for they friendship,” in the
words of the Bard (yes, it’s “they” rather than “thy”), as in Henry V
(which we called “Hank Cinq” in high school). But to whip the figo on
them, deserving of it though they may be, is to court disaster, risk a
catastrophe. I have courted it. I have risked it. But am committed to
not doing that anymore. What is the answer?
OFF TOPIC, way off. UNICORN BOOK SHOP, Stone, Cadwalader, Hemingway: An
excellent used book store in Trappe on the east side of Route 50, north
side of town. Always has a few 100 bird books. Their motto is “Any book
you haven’t read is a new book.” Years ago I bought 80 or 90 old issues
of Maryland birdlife here for $20.
This time there’s a set of Witmer Stone’s Bird studies at old Cape May
(Delaware Valley Ornithological Club, 1937), an example of the sort of find
one might discover here. I already have a set I bought 30 years ago for
$86 inscribed by the author to Charles M. B. Cadwalader (CMBC), who was
President of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (ANSP) 1937-
1950 and on ANSP’s Board of Directors 1926-1959. I didn’t know CMBC but
he lived very close to my boyhood home in Fort Washington, PA.
There’s an amusing description of CMBC by an Ernest Hemingway hanger-on,
Arnold Samuelson (who Hemingway later disparaged), in A glorious
enterprise: the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and the making
of American science by Robert McCracken Peck & Patricia Stroud Tyson (U. of
Pennsylvania, 2012, 437p.):
“Cadwalader, short-legged, slightly pot-bellied, always wore the same
clubroom conversationalist expression on his freckled face, and when he
talked to one person he spoke as if he were making a speech to a crowd or
speaking to the benefit of those trying to overhear, like a lecturer
answering questions of people in his audience … I had not yet been told
that this bachelor philanthropist was the last of a distinguished line of
money-making, money-hoarding Cadwaladers. It was not until later that I
was told he kept twenty-seven servants [surely an exaggeration - HTA] in
his house and was very much upset because an old woman intended to retire
and it would be like losing one of the parts in a smooth-running machine.
This was the first man I had run into who had so many ancestors and so much
money, and I had difficulty understanding him. He would not drink vermouth
with us before dinner or wine with his meals or whiskey in the evenings,
but would only drink bottled mineral water.” pp. 311-312.
Be that as it may, Cadwalader and Hemingway made important contributions to
ichthyology by measuring the big game fish H caught (esp. marlin), doing
stomach contents analysis, keeping information of where and when the fish
were caught, and much more. Hemingway later described Samuelson as being
useless on his boat, the ‘Pilar.’
BASEBALL LIST. August 12, Sunday. We are guests of Bob Ake and Joyce Neff
at the Phillies vs. the St. Louis Cardinals in Philadelphia. Excellent hot
dogs, just plain terrible French fries. The Phils win 8-7 thanks to an
11th inning walk-off infield single by Juan Pierre. Earlier: homers by
Ryan Howard and Erik Kratz (with 2 on base). Wonderful views of the city
skyline from the 400 level behind 1st base.
14 species: Canada Goose 6, Red-tailed Hawk 1 adult (lands on the lights
during the National Anthem), Turkey Vulture 2, Laughing Gull 14, Herring
Gull 2, Ring-billed Gull 4, Chimney Swift 4, Barn Swallow 14 (hunting
invisible insects right over the crowd of 42,877), Purple Martin 1ø, Rock
Pigeon 6, Mourning Dove 6, European Starling 5, House Sparrow 2, Common
Grackle 2.
Best to all. - Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.
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