Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2002 09:52:06 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Henry Armistead <74077.3176@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Beulah Feb. 28 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline February 28, 2002, clear, wind NW @ 20, 29-40 degrees F.: "Rigby's Folly", Armistead property on Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, near Bellevue. A.M. Mostly did errands. 140 Ring-billed Gulls (in 1 kettle), 1 ad. Bald Eagle (soaring high near nest), 1 Hermit Thrush, 40 Buffleheads. 1 daffodil in full bloom but in the spring our vegetation, so close to the cold of the Bay here, is often a week or so behind that a few miles away and inland. Winter Jellyfish stranded by the low tide. Dorchester County in the P.M.: Cabin Creek pond, W. of Rt. 16 & N. of East New Market: 11 Hooded Mergansers and 2 Pied-billed Grebes. Beulah Landfill: 1 ist-yr. Iceland Gull, quite pale with markings on wing and tail, if any, very hard to see. I saw this lovely bird with its engaging, gentle aspect 4 times today, in flight and at rest. George says the one he and Marshall saw recently was a nearly full adult, and ... thanks to them for "discovering" this place. Other stuff (mostly wild guesstimates): 875 Herring (lots of ratty-looking young 'uns), 5 Great Black-backed, and 3,000 Ring-billed (almost all adults) Gulls, 7 Red-winged Blackbirds, 19 Turkey Vultures, 2,500 starlings, 190 Fish Crows, and an ad. Red-tailed Hawk that caused all the gulls to flush and leave. At one point a huge truck dumped countless thousands of sausages, which both before and after the compactor ran over them, caused a major feeding frenzy. To get into the spirit of things I then went through a bag of Combos. The operator of the compactor, Mr. David Collison, came over and we talked. He was an advocate for the Bank Swallow colony here, protesting its destruction by the road graders, and says this cast him in a bad light with the other workers. Anyone reading this who is with DNR perhaps could help out in this respect (assuming there may still be a colony here this coming summer). There are lots of banks at Beulah plus several attractive ponds on this facility. The folks here, regardless of the Bank Swallow situation, have been friendly and accommodating to birders this winter and deserve our thanks and respect. Please, no one do anything to change their minds. The compactor looks like something out of Star Wars, with its 4-huge metal wheels, 3 feet wide and with spikes the size of a football. It is an Al-Jon Impact 91K Landfill Compactor, model Big Blue. Lousy mileage. Mr. Collison's car, parked nearby everyday and subject to countless hits, will never be used on prom night. Neither, for that matter, will mine. Tanyard, Caroline County. So much car traffic but there were some Green-winged Teal and Tundra Swans resting here, visible during a brief stop. This marsh has really opened up (i.e., eroded) alarmingly in the past 10 years or so. Best to all.-Harry Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA 19119-1225. 215-248-4120. Please, any off-list replies 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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================