Date: 11/19/12 4:46 pm
From: Harry Armistead <harryarmistead...>
Subject: [MDBirding] Ferry Neck, November 17-18, 2012.



FERRY NECK, TALBOT COUNTY, MD, NOVEMBER 17-18, 2012.

NOVEMBER 17, SATURDAY.

Route 301, mile 101.3, in what I call the Deer Field (almost always some there; it�s west of Route 301), 12 deer.

Route 301, mile 102, a Bald Eagle.

Just south of Ruthsburg and west of Route 481: 15 deer.

A big, flooded area just north of the intersection of routes 481 and 309, complements of Sandy: Black-bellied Plover 1, Tundra Swan 2, Killdeer 4, Canada Goose 40, Ring-billed Gull 301.

Rigby�s Folly, Armistead place. Only from 1:15 P.M. until dark. Clear becoming fair, NE 5-10 becoming near calm, 53-48�F. Has dried out so much that, even after 10.2� of rain during the Hurricane Sandy period, it is easy to drive over the fields w/o 4-WD, so I do that on fields 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7. The soy beans have been recently harvested but grew so low that there are plenty of unharvested pods lying about. Pick up some of the plastic and aluminum litter brought ashore by Sandy. Bruce Olszewski, 2 friends, and a dog are here, but they have no luck goose hunting.

Canada Goose 475, Surf Scoter 6, Bufflehead 180, Common Loon 9, Northern Gannet 7 (some plunge-diving), Double-crested Cormorant 1, Great Blue Heron 1, Black 4 & Turkey 26 vultures.

Osprey 1. Sure, go ahead and ask, nearly everyone does: �Isn�t it late for Ospreys?� Well, somewhat. Every year there are a few that straggle through in November. Down on the Little Creek, Virginia, Christmas Bird Count - the nearest spot where some overwinter regularly - from 1-8 [yes, EIGHT!!] have been found EVERY year since 1986, with 8 found on the most recent 3 counts. But only c. 20 mi. farther north on the Cape Charles C.B.C. one is seen perhaps no frequently than every 6 or 7 years. Once I found one on the St. Michaels C.B.C. hunting a small woodland pond off White Hall Road; retrieving daughters Mary and Anne, and wife Liz, I went back an hour or so later; it was still there for all of us to see! None of this is going to be on the final exam.

Bonaparte�s Gull 33 (a nice, compact flock moving up the Choptank River; that�s a lot for here), Forster�s Tern 1, American Robin 23, Slate-colored Junco 4. Other than doing chores around and in the house most of the time is spent scoping intensively out at Lucy Point. Most of the waterbirds are far offshore.

Non-avian taxa: Butterflies: Buckeye 4, Orange Suplur 1. With this much luck with the yard butterflies I drive the sunny edges of the fields expecting more, but find none. One grasshopper. Three does in Woods 6. A Gray Squirrel at Lucy Point. Nine sightings of bats, probably at least 5 individuals; unusual to see so many here. Low tide was at c. 11:39 A.M.

NOVEMBER 18, SUNDAY. The Talbot (County) Bird Club is on Ferry Neck, 21 strong, including leader Lester Coble, Dave Palmer, Cathy Cooper, Les Roslund, Ellicott McConnell, Terry Allen, Charles Hopkins, Steve Ford, Priscilla & Paul Thut, Jane McConnell et al. plus an appealing dachshund.

The list below is not the official list, I don�t see all of these, some of the stuff I see others don�t, and some of the birds I do see others do not agree with. Call me a stringer, or a heretic, if you like. I can take it.

A sort of hazy, mostly overcast sky, easterly winds 10+ m.p.h., making it chilly, temps in the high 40s to low 50s. Temperature at 11:30 A.M.: 52.5�F. No Common Goldeneyes seen this weekend.

Benoni Point: Bufflehead 95, American Goldfinch a flock of 30, Lesser Scaup 40, Cooper�s Hawk 1, an immature & an adult Bald Eagle, a perky little Winter Wren, Long-tailed Duck 18, Common Grackle 100+, some flyover House Finches, and a Swamp Sparrow.

Rigby�s Folly. Not much here, sorry to say: Northern Gannet 2 gleaming white adults at great distance, Sharp-shinned Hawk 2, Horned Lark 1, Common Loon 1, Long-tailed Duck 10, Greater Yellowlegs 1 (heard only), Red-tailed Hawk 1, Cedar Waxwing 35 or so, Northern Flicker 4, and Brown Creeper 3. MAMMALS: Gray Squirrel 2, an 8-point buck and a 4-point buck.

Bellevue waterfront. CACKLING GOOSE 4 (with a flock of c. 30 Canada Geese). No one else agrees with me on these, but they are easily seen to be duck-sized geese with proportionately shorter, somewhat stubbier necks. Song Sparrow 1 (singing repeatedly), Common Loon 1, Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 (a definite small flight going on today), Forster�s Tern 1 (seen at the intersection of Ferry Neck & Bellevue roads), and Great Blue Heron 2. A waterman here talks to one of our participants, referring to some of the ducks as �tar pies,� possibly Surf Scoter, as if �skunkhead� isn�t demeaning enough.

Leave Rigby�s Folly at noon.

The flooded area referred to above, N of routes 481 X 309. I�ve never seen anything approaching this much water here before. 12:45 P.M. Give it a closer look this time: Wilson�s Snipe 1, Greater Yellowlegs 2, Killdeer 12, Gadwall 4, Green-winged Teal 2, Mallard 16 Canada Goose 695, and Ring-billed Gull 16. Nearby 2 adult Bald Eagles sit in a deciduous hammock, thoughts of a goose lunch in their heads, one assumes. Also nearby: a Northern Harrier and a Cooper�s Hawk.

Ruthsburg: 35 American Pipits flitting around in a typical, loosely-packed flock plus one d.o.r.

Route 301, mile 100.2, an immature Bald Eagle feeding on a deer carcass.

Route 301, mile 101.3, that �deer field� again, this time with 54 deer, including 3 bucks, plus 3 Black Vultures, and a Bald Eagle.

In Delaware JUST across the line from Maryland, many thousands of blackbirds and a Bald Eagle.

Many Red-tailed Hawks all along the route home today, a couple perched on wires (incl. one at Hope), which they seem to be doing increasingly. I don�t remember them doing this when I wore a younger man�s clothes.

Something of a relief to just be away 30 hours as opposed to 5 earlier sojourns varying from 4 to 17 days this fall, with their resulting, attendant, and verbose requisite reportage.

Best to all. � Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.

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