BLACKWATER N.W.R. & FERRY NECK, MARCH 18-21, 2013. Liz & Harry Armistead. A few herps. No gannets yet.
MARCH 18, MONDAY. Mile 117.5 Route 301, 400 Ring-billed Gulls. Near routes 481 X 301 a single Tundra Swan in a wheat field. One hundred Ring-billed Gulls near Ruthsburg. In the little wetland just N of routes 481 & 309: 2 Hooded Mergansers, 2 Canada Geese, and 4 Mallards. Route 309 W of Route 404 - 100 Ring-billed Gulls, 55 Tundra Swans, and 14 Hooded Mergansers in a nearby farm pond.
Arrive at Rigby’s Folly 4 P.M., 41°F., overcast, very light rain becoming steady but not heavy, winds E 10, raw, visibility poor = 0.25 mi.. In the cove: 14 Buffleheads, a Forster’s Tern, a Horned Grebe, a Belted Kingfisher. One Gray Squirrel at the corn minutes after I put it out. Five deer in Field 1, one with a disabled front left leg, flaps in the breeze when the poor thing runs.
MARCH 19, TUESDAY. At Rigby’s Folly, a pretty good birding workout, 47 species (but my March record is 65 on March 21, 1956). Variable, overcast, then fair, then clear, then partly cloudy, 41-56°F., wind SW 10-5, then calm, then SW 5. As it clears there is an almost perfect straight line of clouds being blown to the SE, a dramatic clearing off. Another gem of a day.
Complete list: Canada Goose 20 (incl several pairs). Mallard 14. Canvasback 9. Lesser Scaup 14. Surf Scoter 305. Long-tailed Duck 4. Bufflehead 65. Common Goldeneye 3. Red-breasted Merganser 3. Ruddy Duck 105. Common Loon 8 (most at least in partial breeding plumage; one catches and swallows a full-sized White Perch). Horned Grebe 7. Great Blue Heron 3. Black Vulture 8. Turkey Vulture 16. Bald Eagle 5. Northern Harrier 2. Sharp-shinned Hawk 2. Red-tailed Hawk 4. Osprey 5. Bonaparte’s Gull 5. Ring-billed Gull 6. Herring Gull 5. Forster’s Tern 2.
Mourning Dove 1. Red-bellied Woodpecker 2. Downy Woodpecker 2. Northern Flicker 2. Blue Jay 2. American Crow 5. Fish Crow 11. Horned Lark 2 (in Field 1; an entire year can go by w/o us seeing this species here). Carolina Chickadee 1. Tufted Titmouse 4. White-breasted Nuthatch 1. Carolina Wren 3. Eastern Bluebird 2. Northern Mockingbird 1. European Starling 1. Cedar Waxwing 16. Myrtle Warbler 2. Eastern Towhee 1♂. Song Sparrow 2. White-throated Sparrow 9. Northern Cardinal 6. Red-winged Blackbird 12. Common Grackle 25.
Also: Gray Squirrel 4, 3 of them on the driveway incl. one with a clouded left eye and short tail. Only 0.2” in the rain gauge accumulated since last time, but still a lot of standing water in the fields and woods. Sit out on the dock and at Lucy Point 2 times each. Three Painted Turtles basking on logs in Woods 4. Liz hears New Jersey Chorus Frogs from our chairs on the E side of Field 4.
Bellevue: slim pickin’s - Fish Crow 9, Bufflehead 1, Osprey 1, Common Goldeneye 1♂, Common Loon 1, Lesser Scaup 2.
Orion Wildlife & Land Management area, E side of Ferry Neck Road: 7 Green-winged Teal, a big chorus of Southern Leopard Frogs.
Frog Hollow: Mallard 2 and a Painted Turtle.
MARCH 20, WEDNESDAY.
Blackwater N.W.R. 7 A.M. – 11:45 A.M. 62 species. A gem of a morning: 37-44°F., clear, dead calm to start, then NW5-10+, then SW10, a little ice in some of the ditches, impounded waters very high, tidal waters high.
20 waterfowl species in 0.5 hours in < 0.5 mile. I’m not trying to pull a stunt today, but this just happened to happen. Looking only at Pool 1 and from the dandy new Observation Site platform, from 7:45-8:15 A.M. there are these waterfowl:
Snow Goose 410, Canada Goose 4. Wood Duck 5, Gadwall 12, American Wigeon 9, American Black Duck 14, Mallard 45, Blue-winged Teal 12, Northern Shoveler 135, Northern Pintail 2, Green-winged Teal 190, Redhead 2 (a pair in Pool 1), Ring-necked Duck 30, Lesser Scaup 2, Bufflehead 3, Common Goldeneye 1♀ (in Pool 1, where I’ve never seen one before), Hooded Merganser 8, Common Merganser 5, Red-breasted Merganser 1♂, and Ruddy Duck 16.
Complete bird list for the morning: Snow Goose 410. Blue Goose 1. Canada Goose 189. Wood Duck 5. Gadwall 12. American Wigeon 9. American Black Duck 14. Mallard 75. Blue-winged Teal 12. Northern Shoveler 445. Northern Pintail 6. Green-winged Teal 340. Redhead 2. Ring-necked Duck 36. Lesser Scaup 2. Bufflehead 3. Common Goldeneye 1. Hooded Merganser 12. Common Merganser 5. Red-breasted Merganser 1. Ruddy Duck 16.
Double-crested Cormorant 2. American White Pelican 4. Great Blue Heron 13. Black Vulture 4. Turkey Vulture 22. Bald Eagle 24. Northern Harrier 4. Red-tailed Hawk 4. Osprey 6. Virginia Rail 1. American Coot 69. Greater Yellowlegs 23. Lesser Yellowlegs 27. Dunlin 460. Wilson’s Snipe 2. Laughing Gull 1. Ring-billed Gull 24. Forster’s Tern 20.
Mourning Dove 2. Belted Kingfisher 1. Red-bellied Woodpecker 2. Downy Woodpecker 2. Hairy Woodpecker 1. Northern Flicker 2. Pileated Woodpecker 1. Blue Jay 4. American Crow 6. Tree Swallow 20. Carolina Wren 3. Eastern Bluebird 6. American Robin 30. Northern Mockingbird 2.
European Starling 30. Pine Warbler 4 (singers). Myrtle Warbler 2. Song Sparrow 18 (many feeding on grass seeds on the newly planted road shoulders). White-throated Sparrow 4. Slate-colored Junco 1. Northern Cardinal 3. Red-winged Blackbird 130. Common Grackle 20. Brown-headed Cowbird 6.
The shovelers are all tipping up, the impoundment waters being so high, instead of straining tiny plants and inverts through their lamellae from the primordial ooze the way I usually see them feeding.
NON-AVIAN TAXA. Lots of New Jersey Chorus Frogs calling along the S side of Key Wallace Drive. An Eastern Cottontail sitting with its back to a small Eastern Redcedar on the left of the entrance of the road to Pool 2. Half an hour later it is still in the same spot, chilling, probably thinking it is invisible. A seedy-looking Woodchuck walking behind the temporary Visitor Center. Time to fatten up, bro’. One Muskrat and about 110 Muskrat lodges in the marsh to the N of Key Wallace Drive-Sewards, which has, as usual, been burned off this winter.
EGYPT ROAD. Red-tailed Hawk 2, Bald Eagle 1, Red-winged Blackbird 200, Great Blue Heron 1, Canada Goose 40. 3 Painted Turtles at the Prothonotary Spot. OAKLEY STREET (mostly) and Cambridge from there to Route 50, 12:30 – 1:30 P.M. Ten waterfowl species: Canvasback 130, Lesser Scaup 215, Redhead 1♂, American Wigeon 4, Mallard 4, Common Goldeneye 1♀, Bufflehead 10, Surf Scoter 60, Long-tailed Duck 3, Ruddy Duck 95.
Also: Bonaparte’s Gull 1, Ring-billed Gull 235, Great Black-backed Gull 2 adults, Bald Eagle 2, Osprey 1, Double-crested Cormorant 6, Fish Crow 6. The scaup are the ones that come in to the corn, with gusto, the cans mostly keeping their distance. Try real hard for Greater Scaup to no avail, would have been waterfowl species 25 for the day.
Rigby’s Folly. In the afternoon: partly cloudy, wind SW 10, temps in the low 50s. A mouse racing across the driveway on the S. side of Field 2, 5:57 A.M. An Eastern Cottontail on the drive at on the S side of Field 4, 5:59 A.M. Nearby, a medium-sized Raccoon at the juncture of Ulmer aad Ferry Neck roads. 65 Surf Scoters. Three Painted Turtles in the Woods 4 vernal pool. Missed yesterday: a Brown Thrasher. Seven deer seen in the distance on Holland Point. A Forster’s Tern. Liz sees the White-breasted Nuthatch.
MARCH 21, THURSDAY. Leave by 10:30 A.M. Gray, grim, mid-high 30s, overcast, winds NW 20, occasional, diffuse snow flurries, raw, penetratsio. Wetland just N of routes 481 X 309: 8 Hooded Mergansers, a ♂ American Wigeon, 6 Green-winged Teal, and 4 Mallards, while nearby: a Red-tailed and a Cooper’s hawk. Mile 111 Route 301 Liz sees an Osprey. Sassafras turnoff from Route 301 a d.o.r. adult Red-tailed Hawk.
Best to all. – Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.
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