92nd DORCHESTER COUNTY MAY BIRD COUNT (in full), MAY 11 2013.
[a report on the 91st count, conducted on May 4, will follow in about a week]
EFFORT: Midnight – 8:30 P.M. 532 miles by car, 15 miles on foot. 35 hours by car, 45 hours on foot. 82 miles owling, 14 hours owling. 12 observers in 8 parties. 149 species (poor). Taylor’s Island was not covered.
In many respects a very satisfying day with interesting weather and a lot of birds, bird song, and some great sights, but hardly any flight of neotrops and non-breeding passerines.
PARTY AREAS:
1. Dave Palmer: central Blackwater area, to include Old Field Road, Egypt Road up to the start of Cambridge city limits, Maple Dam-Shorter’s roads from Key Wallace Drive S to Andrews X Lakesville (Route 336) roads.
2. Terry Allen: birdwalk along Wildlife Drive, Blackwater N.W.R., c. 8 A.M. – 1 P.M. I tried to reconcile this list and the above one by including highest counts, species seen only by 1 party, etc.
3. Steve Ford, Don Merritt. Hooper’s Island but including Swan Harbor & Meekins Neck roads, Hip Roof Road, and Smithville Road up to the entrance to Moneystump Swamp, which is just N of Beaverdam Creek and is part of Blackwater N.W.R.
4. Colin McAllister. Areas N of Route 50 and also Kraft Neck Road.
5. Diane Cole: Cambridge area.
6. Harry Armistead, Jared Sparks: Elliott Island road in its entirety but also Lewis Wharf, Kraft Neck Road, Vienna, and the Route 50 borrow pit.
7. Levin & Diane Willey: Linkwood area., Percy May Road, Salem, Linkwood W.M.A.
8. Carol & Lee McCollough: Neck District.
SPECIES REPRESENTATION IN SOME GROUPS:
10 sparrows (good): Chipping 137, Field 9, Savannah 3, Grasshopper 46 (5 parties; 32 in the fallow field-rich Neck District), Saltmarsh 1, Seaside 92, Song 10, Swamp 8 (breeding birds), White-throated 23, White-crowned 1 adult (Chapel of Ease Road).
8 heron types (good): great blue 95, little blue 1 ad., tricolored 8, green 3, black-crowned night 1, great egret 64, snowy egret 18, glossy ibis 7.
6 rallids (good): clapper 47 (3 parties), Virginia 37, king 9, sora 1, common gallinule 3, coot 1.
10 waterfowl: Canada goose 127 (incl. a pair w/ 2 goslngs), wood duck 24, gadwall 2, American black duck 32, mallard 99, mallard X American black duck 1, blue-winged teal 2, green-winged teal 2, scaup unID’d 1, HOODED MERGANSER 5 (A ♀ with 4 young; Colin McAllister; at Lecompte Wildlife Management area; only the 2nd count record), ruddy duck 578 (a very unlikely 5th most numerous species today). Species with 2s all represent pairs.
15 shorebirds (so so; low nos. for most): black-bellied plover 18, semipalmated plover 105, killdeer 20, black-necked stilt 1 (Blackwater; Terry Allen), greater yellowlegs 27, lesser yellowlegs 14, willet 28, spotted sandpiper 27, ruddy turnstone 1, sanderling 4, semipalmated sandpiper 9, least sandpiper 58, pectoral sandpiper 3, dunlin 80 (low), short-billed dowitcher 1. The BBPLs, SESAs & most of the SEPLs in a ploughed, wet field N side of Steele Neck Road. WHERE are all the Leasts … sometimes see 100s.?
16 warblers: northern parula 12, yellow 2, black-throated blue 1, myrtle 5, black-throated green 2, yellow-throated 1, pine 67, prairie 21, black-and-white 3, American redstart 3, prothonotary 9, worm-eating 15, ovenbird 50, Louisiana waterthrush 4, common yellowthroat 157, yellow-breasted chat 14.
The OTHER SPECIES: wild turkey 41, northern bobwhite 4 (continues to decline drastically), common loon 16, double-crested cormorant 114, black vulture 36, turkey vulture 151, osprey 143, bald eagle 105, northern harrier 3, red-shouldered hawk 1, red-tailed hawk 29, American kestrel 1,
laughing gull 1206, Bonaparte’s gull 1 (Hooper’s I.), ring-billed gull 23, herring gull 132, GLAUCOUS GULL 1 (a 2nd cycle bird at Hooper’s I. by Steve Ford & Don Meritt; Don took photos, 4 good ones; a gleaming white bird with pink base to the bill, dark tip, new to the count), great black-backed gull 16, Caspian tern 1, royal tern 4, Forster’s tern 81, least tern 24 (nesters on a roof near the Cambridge Walmart; by Diane Cole),
rock pigeon 36, morning dove 122, yellow-billed cuckoo 6 (4 parties), eastern screech-owl 2, great horned owl 6, barred owl 2, chuck-will’s-widow 33 (5 parties), whip-poor-will 2, chimney swift 36, ruby-throated hummingbird 6 (4 parties),
red-headed woodpecker 14 (5 parties), red-bellied woodpecker 21, downy woodpecker 9, hairy woodpecker 4, northern flicker 13, pileated woodpecker 8 (7 parties), eastern wood-pewee 12, Acadian flycatcher 3, eastern phoebe 1, great crested flycatcher 139 (all 8 parties), eastern kingbird 51,
white-eyed vireo 35, red-eyed vireo 42, blue jay 57, American crow 165, fish crow 33, crow unID’d 53, horned lark 12, purple martin 254, tree swallow 106, barn swallow 292, Carolina chickadee 36, tufted titmouse 96, red-breasted nuthatch 3, white-breasted nuthatch 1, brown-headed nuthatch 28, Carolina wren 94, house wren 33, marsh wren 61, blue-gray gnatcatcher 26,
eastern bluebird 93, veery 1 (neck District), wood thrush 22, American robin 415, gray catbird 21, northern mockingbird 79, brown thrasher 10, European starling 623, summer tanager 21, scarlet tanager 8, eastern towhee 24, northern cardinal 171, blue grosbeak 69, indigo bunting 105,
red-winged blackbird 797, eastern meadowlark 23 (5 parties), common grackle 694, boat-tailed grackle 29, brown-headed cowbird 96, orchard oriole 40, house finch 30, America goldfinch 116, house sparrow 79.
MANY, MANY THANKS to the intrepid participants who put in long hours in spite of a rather jumpy forecast but on a day when the weather turned out somewhat better than anticipated.
MOST NUMEROUS SPECIES, the top 11: laughing gull 1206, red-winged blackbird 797, common grackle 694, European starling 623, ruddy duck 578 (!!), American robin 415, barn swallow 292, purple martin 254, northern cardinal 171, American crow 165, common yellowthroat 157. Turkey vulture @ 151 comes in 12th. Osprey with 143, 13th. Why are so many of the most numerous species black?
WEATHER. Definitely. Basically mostly overcast with strong SW winds, WARM & WET, with periods of rain in the predawn darkness & once in the late afternoon. 64 - 81°F.
At the start, midnight: 74°F., SW15, distant lightning, clear then quickly becoming overcast, lightning getting close at 1 A.M., then a deluge at 1:15 A.M. when overcast, NE5+, 68°F. 3:15 A.M., 66°F., overcast, sprinkles light & variable winds. 5 A.M., 64°F., NE5+, overcast, occasional light rain. At noon: 74°F., SW20, fair. 4P.M., 81°F., mostly overcast, SW15. 4:30-5 P.M. light rain but also sun in some areas of the sky, beautiful. 8:30 P.M, 72°F., fair SW10+. I’ll take an overnight low of 64°F. any old time.
This has been a cold, wet, late spring with predominantly E or NE winds. Many of the breeding birds and migrants are/were late.
DORCHESTER’S LIMITATIONS. This county has spectacular marsh & other wetlands and 100s of miles of Bay and other shorelines, but is quite limited in other respects. It is warbler-, vireo-, swallow-, flycatcher-, and raptor-challenged. The May counts seldom net over 20 warbler species. If we see Warbling Vireo, an empid other than Acadian, swallows other than Barn, Tree or martin, or an accipiter or falcon this constitutes an exception to the usual situation. True, the 3 fancy swallows do nest in small numbers in extreme north Dorchester.
SOUTH OF ROUTE 50 it is curious how scarce woodpeckers are. Red-headeds may be the most abundant woodpecker, getting big help from the countless 1000s of Loblolly Pines dying off due to salt water intrusion. Blue Jays have become scarcer in this area.
TIDES at Fishing Point on Fishing Bay: high 3:36 A.M., low 10:26 A.M., high 3:59 P.M.
MISSED SPECIES: None of these is THAT surprising a miss here. On the other hand, it would not be THAT surprising to have gotten any of them: Swainson’s thrush, yellow-throated vireo, common nighthawk, barn owl, black rail, common tern, solitary sandpiper, white-rumped sandpiper, white pelican, brown pelican, woodcock, oystercatcher, snipe, mute swan, horned grebe, cedar waxwing, pied-billed grebe, least bittern, cattle egret, Baltimore oriole, rose-breasted grosbeak, vesper sparrow, Kentucky warbler, dickcissel, bobolink, red-breasted merganser, surf scoter.
MISTAKES in my separate Elliott Island Road report for May 11, posted earlier. I could with considerable justification blame this on my failing keyboard, but ultimately the culpability resides with the compiler: Osprey 3 should have been 38. Laughing Gull 12 should be 125. Carolina Wren 1 should have been 13. European Starling 7 (you wish) should have been 70. There’s probably a mistake or 2 in THIS report. If you see such, please let me know. Thanks.
Best to all. – Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.
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