Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2002 21:48:37 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Henry Armistead <74077.3176@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Blackwater, mostly, March 14 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline March 14, 2002, Thursday, fog and overcast early becoming fair then clear, 45-68 degrees, wind NW 5 changing to SW 5 then calm. Blackwater N.W.R. (including Shorter's Wharf Rd.), Dorchester County, MD, 6:30 A.M. - 1 P.M. Two Horned Grebes (unusual here), 5 active Great Blue Heron nests (in the scraggly Loblolly Pines along the side of the pond off the Observation Point Road), 145 Tundra Swans, 170 Snow & 25 Blue Geese (I think they actually left for the Arctic while I watched them fly off), 3450 Canada Geese (came in to rest, arriving over the course of an hour from the north part of the county), 275 pintails, 190 Green-winged Teal, 6 Gadwalls (scarce here), 6 Canvasbacks (also scarce here), 36 Common Mergansers, 9 Black Vultures, 2 Ospreys (only; a pair), 1 dark phase Rough-legged Hawk (Shorter's Wharf, possibly the same bird seen by Larry Lynch on March 11), 27 Bald Eagles (incl. 2 incubating birds), 1 female bobwhite (my first of the year in spite of 8 trips to Maryland this winter), 9 Greater & 1 Lesser Yellowlegs, only 7 Dunlin, 26 snipe, 22 Tree Swallows, 1 pileated. Also: 17 Painted & 1 Red-bellied Turtle, 1 water snake (roadkill), 1 Fox & 2 Gray Squirrels, chorus frogs calling in several spots, 1 Nutria, numerous sulphurs and a E. Cabbage White. The occupied Bald Eagle nest less than 100 yards east of Shorter's Wharf Rd. is in a Loblolly Pine and less than 20 feet high. It's the only live pine left now in this little, isolated hammock. The other 3 pines were killed recently by a marsh fire. Sort of sad and pathetic seeing the incubating eagle trying to prevail in its diminished domain. I know of 3 eagle nest trees killed by such fires recently. I'm not opposed to burning the marsh but I am to burning hammocks and forest, as often happens, inadvertently, I suppose. However, the scientific literature does state that Black Rails and Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows that nest early in the breeding season make use of last year's now dead vegetation in their nests - but they can't do that if it has been burned up, can they? "Rigby's Folly", Armistead property on Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, near Bellevue, 3:30 - 4:45 P.M. Calm, glassy conditions off our shoreline at the mouth of the Choptank River permitted scopeing of mostly distant waterfowl. The big numbers are wild estimates yet I'll bet they are too low: 12 Common Loons, 3000 Long-tailed Ducks (very vocal), 4000 Surf Scoters (4 huge rafts), 50 goldeneye, 1750 Buffleheads, 75 Red-breasted Mergansers and 2 adult Bald Eagles (hoping for a duck dinner) plus 380 Herring Gulls. On the way home: Saw an adult Bald Eagle perched in a hedgerow tree west of Rt. 309 1 mile n. of Cordova (Talbot County), where I have not seen them previously. Stopped at 6 P.M. at the Beaver dam east of Rt. 301 at mile 18.4 and saw a large Beaver swimming placidly in its pond at dusk, with lots of Skunk Cabbage almost all the way out there. A Great Horned Owl also flew by less than 50 feet away, a great view, as it crossed the highway just clearing the heavy traffic from both directions. This is in Kent County just south of Sassafras (at Jacobs Creek), where I saw these impressive animals several times last spring also. 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 =======================================================================