Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2001 07:13:01 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Henry Armistead <74077.3176@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Smith Island pelicans MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Smith Island, MD, June 21. George and I were privileged to accompany Dave Brinker, Roger Stone, and 10 or so others from DNR, the Fish & Wildlife Service, interns from Assateague National Seashore, et al. on a pelican banding expedition. There are 2 colonies slightly south of the MD/VA line in one of the most remote areas of the Chesapeake. Today we banded 506 young Brown Pelicans. Afterwards one smells like one of Frank Purdue's chicken plants. This colony is a spectacle. At one point I stopped working and estimated over 800 pelicans in sight (not counting juveniles) and also over 175 juvenile Double-crested Cormorants. Herring Gulls are also common nesters. So far Dave and his assistants have banded 1,053 young pelicans in the central Bay, including 140 at Spring Island, Dorchester County. Each year now he gets over 100 recoveries. We also saw a male Wood Duck (really out of place), 3 Mute Swans (present in the area for several years), and a Caspian Tern. In the Maryland portion of Smith I. we saw a Northern Harrier, 30 Little Blue Herons, a Turkey Vulture (uncommon on the islands) and 40 Yellow-crowned Night Herons. The adult pelicans continuously fly overhead at close range while the banding proceeds. There is one word that seems appropriate to describe them; they are ... grand, and attentive parents, unlike the cormorants which pretty much vacated the premises while we were there. In spite of a big pelican presence and some rudimentary nest platforms there are no successful nests at Barren or Bodkin islands but the white pelican has been seen recently at Bodkin. News from here and there. Dave says there are 23 pairs of Black Skimmers nesting on South Marsh I., their northernmost breeding site on the Bay, plus a mixed colony of Common and Forster's Terns. The Assateague folks say there are c. 55 pairs of Piping Plovers on the MD part of that island, another 25 or so in the VA part. At present there are c. 13 broods hatched out. Recently there have been large numbers of beached Loggerhead Turtles, mostly dead, a dozen in MD and over 200 in VA. Dave says there are now 2 pairs of Bald Eagles nesting on Smith Island, one in the large hammock known as Cherry Island (part of the Martin N.W.R.) and one in a small hammock just north of the VA line. After the pelican banding George and I, Carol Erwin and her fried, Kim, visited Deal Island briefly. It is quite unproductive, the waters in the impounded area (and elsewhere) very high. We did see 3 harriers and a pair of Gadwall, heard a couple of Clapper Rails, but saw no Black-necked Stilts. RE my posting for June 17 when we were aground on Holland Island waiting for the tide to rise and observing possible tidal bores, Carol suggested that there should be a poem. Here is a worse-than-mediocre offering. I don't know if what we saw were really tidal bores, but, as Lady Brett Ashley said at the end of "the Sun also Rises": "Isn't it pretty to think so?" 3 Haiku for Carol 3 haiku for Carol, Who waited for God to stir. The first is title. Holland Island tide, So low you go real slow. Stop. Time and tide, you wait. I'll bore you with bores In threes on Holland Island, Lapping on the shore. -the Swamp Rat, June 21, 2001. 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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================