Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2001 07:39:23 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Henry Armistead <74077.3176@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Ferry Neck Dec. 6 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, Thurs., Dec. 6, 2001. 57-70 degrees F. 6 AM - 5 PM. Clear - Fair. Wind S or SW 15-20 to 5 to calm. Only my 2nd yard December Big Day. The first was Dec. 6, 1998, when it went up to 76F., was clear but almost calm all day and often HOT. 2 Very similar days. Numbers in parens are for 12/6/98. 57 species on both days. Getting 60 or more is certainly possible but 57 was a workout. Walked about 5 miles both days. In the late afternoon it became calm on the Choptank affording a great opportunity to carefully estimate the numbers of divers on the 'Tank. I spent 2 hours in the early afternoon doing chores so this Big Day was somewhat compromised. 1 Skipjack, 1 work boat, and 2 pleasure boats were all the craft I saw today. Common Loon 11 (9), 4 in apparent migration. Horned Grebe 1 (1). Green-winged Teal 10 (0). Long-tailed Duck 275 (800). Surf Scoter 90 (40). Common Goldeneye 15 (2). Bufflehead 1875 (950). Red-breasted Merganser 0 (12). Black Vulture 0 (4). Sharp-shinned Hawk 6 sightings, at least 4 birds, 3 in migration (5). Forster's Tern 1 (2). Pileated Woodpecker 1 (0). Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3 (5). Eastern Bluebird 28 (11). Hermit Thrush 2 (0). Cedar Waxwing 0 (41). European Starling 2 (575). Eastern Towhee 8 (2). Fox Sparrow 4 (0). Song Sparrow 30 (6). House Finch 30 (8). House Sparrow 21 (0), a new property high count [get out the champagne] in a multiflora rose hedge far from any house area. These numbers were in similar weather on the same route on the same date under very dry conditions but different years but vary so much I wonder how much sense I can make out of birding sometimes. Does anyone really have a handle on starlings? One day a few years ago at Kiptopeke I had several thousand pass by, apparently migrating, and the next day a few dozen yet no change in the weather. See the contrast for them between the 2 dates above also. The goldeneye is another funny critter. Many of the Gulf state Christmas counts get some each December but on some of the high-powered Mid-Atlantic Coast counts I participate in, such as Back Bay, VA, and in NC Bodie-Pea I. & Cape Hatteras, etc., they are fairly frequently missed or just to be had by the skin of one's teeth. A few years ago I birded from Ocean City up to Bombay Hook one weekend in mid-winter, seeing 31 waterfowl species along the way, but the goldeneye wasn't one of them. The Choptank River, however, is a pretty good place for them. Mammals: 8 Gray Squirrels, 2 does, 1 Meadow Vole (fat doesn't even begin to describe this little guy; spherical works much better.). Reptiles/amphibs.: 1 Box Turtle, a female, alert and, for a Box Turtle, perky. 1 Painted Turtle. 12 S. Leopard Frogs. The Box Turtle was the most unusual sighting of the day. Don't think I've ever seen one past October before. The loveliest sighting was a flock of 24 calling Tundra Swans migrating across the Choptank just at sunset. We need a Rembrandt to try to capture such a beautiful scene but Bruno Liljefors, Lars Jonsson, and Sir Peter Scott have done their parts of the world some good justice. Edgewater's John W. ("Bud") Taylor has done some lovely, soft paintings of birds with evocative skies ("skyscapes") that remind one of Peter Scott's. Numerous small, brown moths today, various flies, lady bugs, and some crickets calling. I was surprised to not see 1 butterfly today. In 1998, if I remember, I saw 3 species. Out at Lucy Point our shoreline looks across 14 miles to the western shore. An 120 degree arc has prospects across miles of water for its full length. I've set an old folding chair there and often end the day sitting in it scanning the waters as the sun goes down at an "into thin air" Eastern Shore elevation of 10 feet or so above the water. No jaegers or phalaropes yet but there's always next year. Musings. Boycott Toyota? I am offended by the ad where several men run at a rhino, push it over, then leap into their Toyota and drive away with the rhino chasing their truck. Go rhino. I am also offended by the Mountain Dew add where a young man butts heads with a bighorn sheep, and wins. Mountain don't. We are in the hands of the Philistines. Page 40 of the Nov. 26 "Newsweek" shows President Bush meeting with Putin at the ranch in Texas. Clearly visible on the coffee table next to them is a book, "Birds of Texas". Good, but I don't know what significance this really has. More than I think it does, I hope. I don't recognize the book. It is not the one by Rappole. As of Dec. 3: 267 Northern Saw-whet Owls had been banded at Kiptopeke plus 7 foreign recoveries of birds previous banded at Assateague Island, Cape May, and Adkins Arboretum in Caroline County, according to Bart Paxton, to whom I'm indebted for these numbers. There was also a return owl that had been banded at Kiptopeke in 1999. On Several nights 20 or more were captured. A Long-eared Owl was also seen (date?). The banding goes on until Dec. 15, I think. Merry Christmas counts, Happy Holidays and best to all.-Harry Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA 19119-1225. 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