Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2001 22:11:00 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Henry Armistead <74077.3176@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Eleven islands MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii 3 days in my boat from Crocheron, Dorchester County, MD, to Watts I., Accomack Co., VA, and back, 93.8 mi. by boat. 11 islands visited. By my pedestrian standards, an epic trip but it's the first time in 15 years I haven't spent Labor Day Weekend at Kiptopeke. Thanks to John Gill at Blackwater, manager of Chesapeake Marshlands N.W.R., for granting access to Spring, Swan, and Watts Islands. abbreviations: DCC0, Double-crested Cormorant. BRPE, Brown Pelican. YCNH, Yellow-crowned Night Heron. BCNH, Black-crowned Night Heron. Sept. 1. In MD: 2 Veeries in the pre-dawn at our place - Rigby's Folly, Talbot Co., MD, from whence I trailer 60 mi. to Crocheron. In Easton, 3 Gray Squirrels. This trip is off to a PAWspicious start. Cambridge. 20 Great Black-backed Gulls on the Malkus Bridge. Blackwater N.W.R. 5 Bald Eagles, all near nests on Shorter's Wharf Rd. Crocheron. 1 ad. Bald Eagle, 25 Royal Terns, 30 BRPE. One other boat at the launching ramp this busy day. Launch at 11 A.M. Spring I. 11:45 A.M. - 12:15 P.M. 820 flying and a surprising 40 non-flying BRPE, 175 Mute Swans, 65 DCCO plus 10 flightless young, 1 Clapper Rail, 1 Seaside Sparrow, 1 ad. female peregrine (on the hacking tower), 1 Red Admiral and 1 Monarch. This is the 4th year of this BRPE colony's existence. South Marsh I. 1 P.M. Just boated by the west and south sides: 90 BRPE, 2 Sanderlings, 1 imm. Bald Eagle, 1 ad. peregrine. 7 terrapin. Swan I., Glenn L. Martin N.W.R., Smith I. 1:45 P.M. 15 species in about as many minutes, incl. 2 YCNH, 115 Great Black-backed &135 Herring Gulls, 2 Bank Swallows, 1 Least Sandpiper, 17 Ospreys. Low tide is better here. In VA: greater South Point Marsh area, north BRPE colony, just s. of Smith I., MD. 3:40 P.M. 610 flying BRPE plus c. 16 flightless young and one dead bird with band 0938-16373. Also: 975 DCCO's (incl. 18 flightless young), 15 Mute Swans, 7 BCNH, 3 Clapper Rails, 7 Black-bellied Plovers, 55 Sanderlings, 1 Willet, 8 black ducks, 3 Semipalmated Sandpipers, and 1 harrier. Kerplunk. Right up to my waist. Notebook and binocs wet but not damaged. Won't try to jump over that gut again. Did NOT get to the nearby south BRPE colony here due to my dread of boating in shallow waters on a falling tide. Tangier I. 5 P.M. 55 Canada Geese, 1 black duck, 9 Mallards, 2 Caspian Terns, 4 House Sparrows (yes, they're here.). A book, a big one, could be written about the store, crammed with spare parts for workboat engines, where I topped off "the Mudhen". Tangier I. is SO rich and colorful. Beautifully tended white houses and workboats, countless thousands of crabpots in huge piles, religious and anti-Chesapeake Bay Foundation signs along the waterways. Several books could be written about the entire island. It is SOMETHING. The anti-C.B.F. signs at Smith I. have been gone for a couple of years, it is good to report. Watts I., 5 mi. e. of Tangier. Arrive 6 P.M. 1 Willet (only species not seen Sept. 2). This is the most isolated island in the Chesapeake. Sept. 2: In VA. Watts I. 2:42 A.M. Rain wakes me. Put sleeping gear in garbage bags. An ominous squall line hits, causing breakers to crash, roar and hiss around the boat, distant lighting, NE winds (forecast was for light NW ones) in excess of 25 m.p.h., while to the west the sky is clear with the full moon and a few stars visible. None of this was forecast and the present weather radio readings from Accomac, which I can almost see, say it is clear with light winds. Right! I am chilly with 3 layers on plus a life preserver. I baby-sit the boat 4 hours until sunrise, in case the 2 anchors don't hold. To the east 5 miles on the VA mainland 17 towers with blinking red lights and 2 with white ones are visible. No wonder my call to Philadelphia the previous evening was so clear. (cf. "Audubon" Sept.-Oct. 2001, p. 78, for an article on birds vs. towers. There's also an article on Pickering Creek Audubon Center in Talbot Co., MD, on pp. 112-113.) Watts I. 6:15-11:15 A.M. 55 species. A significant passerine flight: 2 Yellow-billed Cuckoos, 1 pewee, 1 Traill's & 1 crested flycatcher, 1 unid. empid, 2 Bank Swallows, 3 waxwings, 2 Red-eyed Vireos, 2 Black-and-white, 1 Golden-winged (best bird of the trip, a stunning ad. male), 1 Blue-winged, 1 Yellow, 1 Prairie, 2 Magnolia, and 2 female Black-throated Blue Warblers, 11 yellowthroats, 35 redstarts (only 1 an ad. male), 4 N. Waterthrushes, 5 unid. warblers (flyovers), 1 Balt. Oriole, and 2 Veeries. Big numbers of resident species for a Bay island: 16 Carolina Wrens (several juveniles), 18 Song Sparrows, 13 catbirds, 12 cardinals (incl. juveniles of both sexes) plus a White-eyed Vireo and a House Wren. In the past few decades cardinals, catbirds, and House and Carolina Wrens have disappeared from some of the Bay islands I visit annually. Nice to find an island where they are thriving. Very out of place: a Downy Woodpecker and a mockingbird, the later furtive, skulking in the undergrowth. Also of interest: 20 BCNH, 4 YCNH, 1 peregrine, 1 ad. female harrier in migration, a Red-tailed Hawk, 4 Clapper Rails, 1 Solitary Sandpiper, and a recently dead Barn Owl. Some of the warblers were flying high and to the north here, seemingly in reverse migration. Watts bugs: 5 Monarchs, 3 Hackberry Butterflies, a Red Admiral, 1 Buckeye, countless flies, covering my clothes by the hundreds at any given time. Due to the mosquitoes I slept with cotton gloves on. A Green Darner. Watts I. is managed by Blackwater N.W.R. It is a gem, a narrow island, less than a mile long. Marsh on the west side, high beach on the east. A dense, primarily deciduous forest dominates the lower 2/3 of the island, composed mostly of hackberries, cherries, sassafras (some very big), well-fruited persimmons, sweet gum, and locusts plus great tangles of grape vines, poison ivy, honeysuckle, and some trumpet creeper. Cedars and loblollies form a lesser component. There are at least 4 Osprey nests, 2 of them huge affairs piled over 5' high. Some patches of Sea Lavender in the saltmarsh. Some Watts history. A Princeton graduate spent most of his adulthood here living a hermit's life, settled in with crates of magazines to read, back in the early part of the 20th century. Bill Portlock visited here several times. If I remember right he saw Least Bitterns, found breeding White-eyed Vireos, and saw Wilson's Storm Petrels on the way over from the western shore and a Sooty Shearwater once. He's the only birder I know who has been here. I was here twice in late spring maybe 20 years ago when there was a big mixed heronry. Niles Primrose, then a student at Frostburg, I believe, studied great blues here. Tangier I., noonish. 1 kingfisher. Shanks I., 12:50 P.M. One of several long, isolated sand bars where Shanks Island more or less is supposed to be, or at least once was in this confusing, infuriatingly shallow, and highly changeable area.: 85 Sanderlings, 2 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 5 oystercatchers & 4 Semipalmated Plovers. Great tussocks of some species of panic grass (Panicum), 5-6' high, and dull green, characterize the sand bars here. There is also quite a bit of Sea Rocket. Skimmers and Royal Terns nested here for a few years before moving 7 or 8 mi. east to their present location on the Fox Islands. In MD: Swan I., 3-3:20 P.M. 1 Clapper Rail, 1 Caspian Tern, 1 Spotted & 5 Least Sandpipers and 2 imm. YCNH. Unfortunately ... high tide again. Holland I. 5 P.M. arrival. Spent night in boat off south tip. An excellent sleep of 9+ hrs. though due to wind change I had to move the boat 1/4 mile at 3:48 A.M. the next morning. Herons coming to roost at dusk: 24 Tricolored, 41 Little Blue, 1 Green, 25 BCNH, 4 YCNH & 4 Great Blue Herons plus 25 Great & 22 Snowy Egrets. No Glossy Ibis seen entire trip ... odd. Sept. 3, all in Dorchester Co., MD: Holland Island. 8:30-11:30 A.M. 44 species. A small flight of passerines: 1 hummer, 1 catbird, 1 House Wren, 2 Traill's Flycatchers, 1 Veery, 2 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, 4 yellowthroats, 1 parula, 1 Black-and-white Warbler, a redstart, an ad. male Yellow Warbler. Flushed a Least Bittern at close range and 4 Clapper Rails at "shotgun range". An immature female Merlin shoots right by me, low, and close. 1 Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed and 7 Seaside Sparrows and 7 YCNH. 2 peregrines are visible over on Spring I. A male harrier migrates through, disappearing over the water on his way to S. Marsh I. A turnstone, 3 Least Sandpipers, and 3 Sanderlings. There are some small patches of Sea Lavender here. 3 Buckeyes, 4 Monarchs, 1 Eastern Tailed Blue, and 3 Red Admirals plus a Plume Moth and 1 terrapin. Some patches of Salicornia here, some of which I ate. Adam I. 11:40 A.M. Boated by, didn't stop. 1 Red Admiral, 6 little blues, 3 Cattle Egrets, 1 Seaside Sparrow. Real high tide the rest of the trip, great for boating right next to shore. Pone I. 11:45 A.M. 2 lovely sand bars. 19 Sanderlings, 8 black-bellies, 375 Mute Swans, 22 Caspian Terns and 1 Sandwich (calling and close, my 3rd for Dorchester), 90 DCC0's, 235 BRPE's (This is where George A. & I saw 4 imm., July 2, 1992, the first county record; look at them now!). Bloodsworth I., noonish. 130 Mute Swans (Okahanikan Cove). From Fin Creek, which is deep and penetrates to the island's center well over a mile: 16 BCNH, 7 YCNH, 6 Tricolored Herons, 1 black duck, 5 Seaside Sparrows, 1 harrier plus a dozen or so Diamondback Terrapin. Crocheron, 1 P.M. 33 Royal Terns, the most seen the entire trip. End of boat trip, a most satisfying series of minor adventures. Only about 15 Forster's Terns on the trip and no Commons. Number of other boats now at the Crocheron launching ramp this Labor Day: zero. A few mi. n. of Crocheron is a roadkill otter, one of the few such I've ever seen. Rigby. 4 P.M. A Bald Eagle. 3 roadkill Woodchucks seen during the drive back to Philadelphia. Best to all.-Harry Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA 19119. Any off-list replies, please, to: harryarmistead@hotmail.com "Oh, you won't know why, and you can't say how Such a change upon you came, But--once you have slept on an island You'll never be quite the same!" Rachel Lyman Field, "If once you have slept on an island." ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================