Wow, when Ken Drier told me there were thousands of robins and cedar
waxwings at the Point, I wasn�t sure whether he was exaggerating (sorry,
Ken)�but he wasn�t! It was the same today, with wave after wave of robins
pouring down from the north. At one point, a huge flock�500 or so�descended
on the hawk meadow to forage in the grass. I was sitting at the picnic
table in awe of being among so many of them. It was very cool until a
Sharpie flew overhead. I love the whirring noise made by 500 pairs of
wings! I think the mockingbird was intimidated by them, because he never
moved from the shrubs on the north side of the meadow, which also means I
was unable to get the scope on his leg band. He was much feistier a couple
of weeks ago. ****
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This robin/waxwing extravaganza went on until 10:00. After that their
numbers dropped way down, but both species were in abundance all morning.
Other neat birds included a towhee, several juncos, an echelon formation of
three great blue herons heading south, and a very handsome chipping
sparrow. At the Point I also had yellow-rumped warbler in the tree next to
the cedar, the one that always has good birds in it.****
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Damage was not as bad as from Isabel, but it�s still significant at the
Point itself. There are a couple of uprooted trees at the entrance to the
lighthouse trail, then only light damage until just before the hawk watch
meadow. Quite a few of the old vines were felled, and trees are down
alongside the path. It gets worse in the last stretch of woods leading to
the lighthouse. The trail is basically lined with fallen trees and vines
all the way through the woods. At the point itself, the skinny trees you
see just to the east of the lighthouse are almost all broken. I was told
that it is also bad in trail along the stretch of woods that loops back to
the meadow. Happily, the big cedar and persimmons are fine. The only other
thing of note is the amount of purple poo on the sidewalk by the
lighthouse. I guess all the birds have been eating those wild grapes.****
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Today was a fun day. The hawk show started slowly, but the robins and
waxwings made up for that. At 11:00 the overcast sky opened up a bit,
enough for the sun to shine for maybe 20 minutes, and that apparently was
the signal for the buteos to start flying. I had 58 birds from 11-12 and a
total of 86 for the morning. Red shouldered hawks are coming through in
decent numbers. They seem more reluctant to cross the water than red tails,
so they circle a lot, low enough to offer spectacular views of their
gorgeous plumage.
**
Pat Valdata
Elkton****
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p.s. Assateague is opening up, but the OSV zone is closed. Also,
Chincoteague NWR is closed because almost all the parking area was
destroyed. Bombay Hook NWR is open.****
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