Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2001 10:07:22 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Henry Armistead <74077.3176@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Dorchester (mostly) Aug. 19 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii August 19, 2001, Sat. Rigby's Folly, Ferry Neck, Talbot County. Present only a few hours in the P.M. 230 Fish Crows - unusual for this time of year. I have had 8 higher counts ranging from 480 to 970, these all in late October or November, plus one late winter count of 170 but never a count such as this in the warmer months. A male kingfisher, a post-breeding migrant. 1 female Wood Duck. 3 Royal Terns. 4 Question Marks attracted to a pile of new lumber. Aug. 20: Mostly overcast. Wind 20 m.p.h. SW to SE variously. Temperature in the high eighties. A Northern Oriole in our yard. In other years we've had migrants as early as Aug. 11. In Dorchester County: Cambridge (Malkus) Bridge: 22 Great Black-backed Gulls (19 adults). Egypt Road, 10 A.M. until noon (the 1.9 mi. stretch immediately south of the school), all birds seen in or over the fields: 1 Upland Sandpiper, 12 Grasshopper Sparrows (all seen), 45 Bobolinks, 9 meadowlarks, 7 goldfinches, 6 kestrels, 2 Blue Grosbeaks (1 still singing), 2 bobwhite (still "singing"), 1 ad. Red-tailed Hawk, 18 Barn and 1 Bank Swallow, 4 Red-winged Blackbirds, 6 TV's, 65 Mourning Doves, 15 Wild Turkeys (incl. 7 poults-capable of flight). The fields are full of scores of Clouded and Orange Sulphurs plus a few Monarchs and Red-spotted Purples. Most of the action was on the west side of the road. The east side is soy bean heaven. Blackwater N.W.R., noon - 1:30. Tidal water too high and impounded water also too high and too full of vege to be able to see much. 1 Blue-winged Teal (at Seward's), 16 Great Egrets, 3 Bald Eagles, 8 Caspian Terns. Whup-dee-doo (sp?). Loads of Buckeyes along the dikes. There's a fungus among us: big ones, some toadstools almost the size of a frisbee, along some parts of Wildlife Drive (the west end of which was closed due to water being pumped out of the pools.). The pink marsh mallows have really come into their own here and elsewhere in the past 2 weeks, much smaller than the big white ones, which are still going full blast. Hurlock W.W.T.P.: 2 Black Terns, 1 Pectoral, 4 Spotted, 19 Least and 1 Semipalmated Sandpiper, 4 Ruddy Ducks (6 were here Aug. 5; 2 male & 2 females), 7 Killdeer, 575 Bank, 35 rough-winged, 180 Tree and 18 Barn Swallows, 2 Purple Martins, 2 ad. Snow Geese, 85 laughers, 1 (only!) Canada Goose. About 70 cowbirds on nearby road shoulders. Albino (more correctly ... leucistic, I suppose) swallow: I had heard (I only check MDOSPREY at work and not since last Fri.) one was seen and reported as a Barn. This, I submit, was a Tree, studied carefully on the wire for several minutes in good light at c. 25 feet w/ 8X and a regular Tree right next to it. White underparts, upperparts white but with some dark on primaries, fore edge of wings, upper back and nape and top of head and the tail. Bill very (strikingly) light, a very pale, dull pinkish-white. Not seen in flight. Bulkier and bigger than the rough-wingeds and Barns perched a few feet away on the same wire. Tail notched and seemingly completely developed. Faint traces of blue in the forewing and upper back. Leucistic Tree Swallows are seen with some regularity in the fall at Kiptopeke, maybe one every 2 or 3 years, that is. At Hurlock the dikes have recently been mowed. They were a little wild and wooly when I was here last on Aug. 5, brushing against the undercarriage of Liz's Cavalier. Also recently, the vegetation on the inside (water side) of the dikes has been killed. Most of the peep were feeding by walking on top of the scum on the NW side of the SE pool, where a Tiger Swallowtail was "nectaring" (on what I am afraid to say.). Loads of Buckeyes were here as well. On the way in to the ponds off of Skeet Club Rd. on the right (east?) is a c. 50 acre field, mostly smooth dirt, but full of countless rotting cucumbers. Might be worth watching. We had mucho shorebirds in such fields last fall at Kiptopeke. Today I only saw 3 Killdeer and 5 unid. peep in this field. On the way home to Fillelfya I stopped at John Brown Rd. where Wayne Bell, Stan Arnold et al. scoped but found nothing save some Killdeer and Horned Larks. Earlier in the day Wayne had seen an uppie here. Best to all.-Harry Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA 19119. Any off-list replies, please, to: harryarmistead@hotmail.com. ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================