Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2001 10:05:43 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Henry Armistead <74077.3176@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Ferry Neck Nov. 24-25 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii 'Rigby's Folly', our family vacation home, Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, near Bellevue, weekend of Nov. 24-25, 2001. Liz, Mary & Harry Armistead. Mostly did house chores but birded a few hours each day, esp. on Sunday. Nov. 24. Overcast, mostly calm, light rain off & on, 52-62F., hazy. 14 Northern Shovelers, surpassing our previous yard high of 6 on Nov. 21, 1999. Our 8th record, all flyovers (except for a drake feeding in the cove with other dabblers on Feb. 22, 1997) seen over the years between the dates of Sep. 15 and March 30. 1 Pileated Woodpecker. This species not seen here until Sep. 15, 1975, but with 50 records, all of singles, afterwards until Aug. 12, 1995, at which point I stopped counting, but since then there were 2 on 2 dates: Sep. 16, 1995 & Feb. 27, 1999. As far as I know they don't breed on the neck. Pileateds are funny. From 1965 to 1973 on the Cape Charles Christmas Count we only had 3 singles in those 9 years; now we get several every year. In southern and coastal New Jersey they're very scarce. The only one last year on the southern New Jersey Christmas counts was one at Cape May, where it was considered unusual enough so that it was boldfaced. 1,500 Canada Geese incl. a small, almost duck-sized one which was not "hutchinsii" since its neck and bill were proportionately apparently the same as the other CG's it was flying with close overhead. Nov. 25. 42 species. Overcast. 58-67F. Wind south 20-30 mph. 85 Lesser Scaup in 5 flocks. That's not a lot of bluebills but I found it interesting that they were in strong migration since nothing else was. These little ducks are impressive flyers. They can really tear, even into today's strong wind. Also: 1 Common Loon, 17 Tundra and only 2 Mute Swans, 12 Long-tailed Ducks, 1 female Common Goldeneye, 20 Buffleheads, 1 ad. Bald Eagle, 3 sharpies, 9 Laughing Gulls, 3 Forster's Terns, 18 waxwings, 6 towhees, 28 White-throated Sparrows and 12 juncos. The Choptank was quite barren today in spite of an intensive "sea watch" of over an hour early in the morning. Even on land birds were hard to come by. 1 doe, 3 Gray Squirrels, and 1 unID medium-sized, darkish butterfly glimpsed briefly in the 'Magnolia grandiflora'. Numerous S. Leopard Frogs in the pond. Tremendous rainstorm on the way home, what Floyd Parks refers to as a toad-strangler and a frog-choker. Best to all.-Harry Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA 19119-1225. Any off-list responses, 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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================