FERRY NECK & FORT SMALLWOOD, APRIL 9-12, 2013.
APRIL 9, TUESDAY. Stop off at Fort Smallwood Park, Anne Arundel County, MD, 12:30-5:30 P.M. to join the hawkwatchers there. Sue Ricciradi – it’s her show – has already posted a complete list for the day, incl. 410 raptors. We see some of these, incl. Turkey & Black vultures, Sharp-shinned, Red-tailed, Red-shouldered, Broad-winged, and Cooper’s hawks, Northern Harriers, Ospreys, Bald Eagles, Peregrine Falcons, American Kestrels, and Merlins = 13 raptor species.
Hal Wierenga and Liz hear a sora. Bill Hubick spots a Savannah Sparrow even as he wheels around his infant daughter, Adelaide Wenona Hubick. I spot a presumed Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Lynn Davidson sees a Chimney Swift. Also we see a mute Swan, 9 Buffleheads, 2 Common Goldeneyes, a coot, a Pied-billed Grebe, 19 Gadwalls, 2 Bonaparte’s Gulls, 2 Blue-winged Teal, a Snowy Egret, 3 Green-winged Teal, and a nice flight of rough-winged, Tree, and Barn swallows.
Spring Peepers call. 2 Gray Squirrels. A Mourning Cloak, a Cabbage White. Lynn sees a Green Darner. Just as we leave a Bald Eagle pursues an Osprey with a fish.
Crossing the bridge from Annapolis there’s a great gannet show. Hard to count from the moving car bumping up and down, but at least 120, probably many more. A lot of plunge-diving. No gannets seen N of the bridge.
Dinner at Ruby Tuesdays in Easton – not bad.
On arrival at Rigby’s Folly at 8:45 P.M. big choruses of Spring Peepers and Fowler’s Toads. Clear, 70°F., SW5. Still a lot of surface water, esp. in the woodlands and ditches, less so the fields.
APRIL 10, WEDNESDAY. 64-87°F., clear becoming fair, SW 5-10 becoming S 5. 76°F. at 9 P.M. 0.90” in the rain gauge since last time. Complete list: 52 species.
Canada Goose 2. Mallard 1♂. Surf Scoter 410. Bufflehead 45. Common Goldeneye 1♀. Hooded Merganser 1♀ (consorting for a while with the Buffleheads, then flew off to the S; apparently the 1st spring record). Ruddy Duck 22. Common Loon 3. Horned Grebe 1 (compare with 185 on April 13, 1980). Northern Gannet 19. Double-crested Cormorant 3. Great Blue Heron 2. Black Vulture 1. Turkey Vulture 14. Bald Eagle 3. Red-tailed Hawk 1 ad. Osprey 6. Killdeer 1. Bonaparte’s Gull 1 ad. Laughing Gull 2. Ring-billed Gull 4. Herring Gull 1. Forster’s Tern 2.
Mourning Dove 2. Red-bellied Woodpecker 1. Northern Flicker 1. Blue Jay 4. American Crow 5. Fish Crow 2. Barn Swallow 4. Tree Swallow 4. Carolina Chickadee 2. Tufted Titmouse 2. White-breasted Nuthatch 1. Carolina Wren 3. Eastern Bluebird 2. Hermit Thrush 1 (Olszewski Trails). American Robin 1. Northern Mockingbird 3. Brown Thrasher 1. European Starling 8. Cedar Waxwing 3 (feeding on English Ivy berries). Pine Warbler 1. Myrtle Warbler 1. Eastern Towhee 2. Chipping Sparrow2. White-throated Sparrow 8. Northern Cardinal 8. Red-winged Blackbird 16. Common Grackle 22. Brown-headed Cowbird 6. American Goldfinch 2.
2 Green Frogs in the goose pit in Field 2. Tomorrow I’ll lay a wide, long, board in at a slant so they may be able to escape. One Southern Leopard Frog – Olszewski Trails. 3 Gray Squirrels. 2 Eastern Cottontails (after a near total absence of several years we’re starting to see them again). In Field 4 I put up a fresh bluebird nesting box on the old phone pole. 3 Diamondback Terrapin. Has dried enough so it’s easy to drive across Field 1 to Lucy Point.
The blooming Hawthorns are as good as we’ve ever seen them. Liz takes a dozen shots of the 100s of white blossoms that are starting to fall, making a scene like scatterings of snow on the ground. Lusty Spring Peeper and Fowler’s Toad chorus in the evening. The toads are definitely open for business. The Olszewski Trails are about half submerged, esp. the W side, including segments of 100 yards or more. Hundreds of Sea Roaches on the intertidal sections of the rip rap by the dock. I sit with my feet in the cove water for half an hour, a treat. One Painted Turtle in Frog Hollow.
BUTTERFLIES: 3 Mourning Cloaks, 4 Spring Azures, 7 Cabbage White, and 6 unID’d sulphers.
APRIL 11, THURSDAY. 64-84°F., falling fast to 56°F. by 8:30 P.M.), calm or light and variable, or SW <5, but becoming east and overcast 15-20 in the evening, clear but a little hazy most of the day earlier.
Lucy Point, 10:30-12:30 P.M., finally, the first good showing out there this year. Where, oh, where, were all these gannets, ruddies, and skunkheads yesterday? Visibility excellent, tide falling, 70s. Complete list:
Northern Gannet 189, a new high for here, exact count since they were sitting on the glassy, millpond surface, only 4 or 5 flying. Surf Scoter 1080. Ruddy Duck 615. Bufflehead 60. Horned Grebe 2. Common Loon 9 (3 of them with Hogchokers). Double-crested Cormorant 19 (migrating). Pine Warbler 1♂, well seen. Great Horned Owl 1. Turkey Vulture 6. Lesser Scaup 3♂. Brown-headed Cowbird 2. Osprey 2. Great Blue Heron 1. Downy Woodpecker 1. Great Black-backed Gull 3. Also: 29 Diamondback Terrapin, an unID’d anglewing, an unID’d sulphur, and a Cabbage White.
Elsewhere on the property: 4 Slate-colored Juncos, 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk, 1 Cooper’s Hawk, 110 Red-winged Blackbirds, 2 Brown Thrashers, a Killdeer, a 3’ Black Ratsnake by the bend in the driveway, 4 Spring Azures, and 2 Gray Squirrels. Out in the cove: 19 Diamondback Terrapin = the day’s total of 48.
On the way back from dinner with friends on Deep Neck: 7 deer, a Raccoon, and 3 bats plus one bat on Ferry Neck.
APRIL 12, FRIDAY. Overcast, rain, SE 10 m.p.h. but still warmish, 56°F., but a grim, gray day making our leave taking easier than usual. At the feed on the ground under the big Willow Oak: 95 Red-winged Blackbirds and 3 Common Grackles – easy to walk away from that, too. Leave by 9:15 A.M.
Heavy rain on the way home. 2 Wild Turkeys at Bellevue X Ferry Neck roads. 6 deer in one of John Swaine’s fields. At the routes 481 X 309 wetland – 4 Green-winged Teal, 6 Laughing Gulls, 3 Ring-billed Gulls, and a Wilson’s Snipe. Just S of Ruthsburg: 12 deer.
Best to all. – Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.
--
-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Group 'Maryland & DC Birding'.
To view group guidelines or change email preferences, visit this group on the web at http://www.mdbirding.com
Posts can be sent to the group by sending an email to <mdbirding...>
|