Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 20:01:14 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Henry Armistead <74077.3176@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Dorchester County May 12 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii May 12, 2001, Dorchester County May Bird Count LXVIII (68 !!), midnight - 8 P.M. Mel Baughman, Robert Hilton, Lisa Shannon and myself. 63 - 87 degrees. Mostly clear w/ winds SW 5-15 becoming overcast 3-8 P.M. with winds becoming W or NW 2- 8 P.M. @ up to 15-25 m.p.h. essentially ending the day at 7 when combined with rain. 133 species. Night list 30 species (23 last weekend, May 5). Highlights (such as they are): 9 Common Loons; 9 heron-type species (1 Least Bittern, 1 Tricolored Heron, 7 Cattle Egrets, 3 Green Herons - all missed last week); 52 Brown Pelicans (Hooper's Island, just 6 last week); 30 Bald Eagles (incl. 6 large eaglets); 6 Wild Turkeys (seen at 3 spots); 2 Black Rails; 5 Common Moorhens (3 of them seen, at 3 spots); 90 Semipalmated Plovers; 5 turnstones & 3 Sanderlings (at Hooper's); 1,425 Dunlin (excellent count, most at Blackwater in Pool 3); 5 Black-necked Stilts (Elliott Island); all of 3 Ring-billed Gulls (almost missed last week also); 12 Chuck-will's-widows; 3 adult Red-headed Woodpeckers (Moneystump Swamp unit of Blackwater); an estimated 30 Purple Martins at night, most unusual for these May counts; 8 Brown-headed Nuthatches (at 4 spots); 2 Brown Thrashers (in recent years often missed on this count); 9 Summer Tanagers; 8 Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows. Missed: any diving ducks or falcons, Sora & King Rail, dowitchers, Barn Owl, Acadian, RC Kinglet, thrushes except for Wood, Rose-breast, Savannah, Baltimore Oriole, many warblers. As with last week, a poor species total. It's not just my failing ears. Each Saturday I've had folks with good hearing and abilities along. Conditions were favorable. The birds weren't there. As we say with the Phillies: "Wait until next year." Still, a glorious day with lots to see (and hear). Mammals: 4 Red Foxes, 15 Nutria, 6 Muskrats, 3 Opossums, 65 White-tailed & 12 Sika Deer, 3 Fox (+ 1 d.o.r.) & 2 Gray Squirrels, 1 rat sp. (the first I've ever run over [inadvertently]). A few butterflies: Clouded Sulphurs, Red-spotted Purples, Tiger Swallowtails, E. Cabbage Whites, unid. anglewings, a Viceroy. 6 or 7 species of dragonflies at Moneystump Swamp. Lots of Black Rat Snakes got nailed on the highways today (by others). Once again the froggy was subdued: a few half-hearted Green Treefrogs, some Bull and Green Frogs, only one Fowler's Toad and that's about it. Never seen the Black Locusts with such profuse flowering. A few Box Turtles, Diamondback Terrapin, and Painted Turtles. 16 shorebird species was good, 11 warblers was not. 7 waterfowl was a poor total. 7 raptors was mediocre. 5 terns was good. Best to all.-Harry Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA 19119. ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================