Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2001 07:34:05 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Henry Armistead <74077.3176@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: March storm birding MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii On or about the 8th anniversary of the "Storm of the Century": March 13, 1993, at Rigby's Folly, Ferry Neck, Talbot County, Maryland. Somewhat like a moth drawn to the flame I wanted to be at our place when the much-bruited "Storm of the Century" was forecast to hit. Early in the morning, after 4 inches of snow fell, the wind steadily rose to 55 m.p.h. from the northeast. The house seemed to vibrate. The barometer plunged to 27.92. Precipitation changed to sleet and then rain. In the afternoon the winds calmed some and the rain mostly stopped. I put on my best rain gear and headed out for the first time. My notes say: "34-38 degrees today. Virtually unbirdable except 3-6 P.M." During this brief period I spotted a Common Loon eating a Hogchoker. An ad. gannet was at that time an earliest-ever date for the property. 11 great blues seemed high for such a day. 17 Green-winged Teal were an excellent count by local standards. 9 pintails were unusual for here. An ad. Bald Eagle was laboring out over the center of the Choptank River, perhaps 3 miles offshore. Closer in an ad. male harrier was making some headway into a 40 m.p.h. northeast wind. 3 migrating snipe were a property high count. At the height of the storm 5 American Pipits sheltered a few inches from the tires in the lee of my Chevrolet Suburban, which I had parked (and got stuck) 200 feet from the nearest trees in case of blowovers (we lost more than a dozen big Red Cedars). 38 species was the best I could do under such conditions. These were all birds that might have been present anyway, storm or not. In mid-afternoon an "impressive, vast squall line with lightning behind it approached from the southwest into a strong northeast wind bringing showers". In the face of these nearing, ominous, purplish-black clouds, coming from the western shore, even though there were some patches of blue sky, I decided it would be prudent to go back into the house. "Beautiful, complex gray clouds today. Very low tide." Electric power was lost 11 A.M. - 6:30 P.M. No trees damaged the house. When the strong winds shifted from NE to SW, trees were then blown over in the precise opposite direction of those that had fallen earlier in the day. The storm did not live up to its advance billing but it had its impressive moments. The drive back to Philadelphia the next day, where over 12 inches of snow fell, was a minor adventure also. Other March storms. A couple of days after the great Ash Wednesday storm of March 1-2, 1962 - a sort of proto-perfect storm - Will Russell, Paul Sykes and I were at Back Bay N.W.R., VA, walking the barrier strip. "What was that back there, a newspaper?", one of us said. "No, it was a rabbit." When we went back to look at the light-colored object we'd seen out of the corner of our eyes it was a light-phase Northern Fulmar tangled in the wax myrtle bushes, a then southernmost record for the western Atlantic. Paul wrote this up in "the Auk" (July 1964, p. 437), noting that it was "neither fat nor emaciated". Clearly it had been blown ashore by the strong winds that reached 51 m.p.h. It was near death and is now in the U. S. National Museum. It's a tough time of year with such storms often damaging nests of species with big stick nests such as Bald Eagle, Osprey, Great Blue Heron, and Great Horned Owl, all of which are usually at their nests by now. In 1983 at Rigby on March 12 there were gusts to 50 m.p.h. In 1989 on March 12 there was a "tremendous northeaster with 2 inches of rain" bringing 310 Ring-billed Gulls into the fields to feed. Best birding to all.-Harry Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA 19119. 215-248-4120. ========================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ========================================================================= ===========================================================================