Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 18:01:56 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Henry Armistead <74077.3176@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Ferry Neck & Blackwater, April 27-28 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline "Rigby's Folly", Armistead property on Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, near Bellevue. April 27, 2002, Sat. 8 A.M. - 8:15 P.M. Clear - fair - overcast. 50 - 65 degrees. Wind variously NE 10-5, calm, E 10. Mostly cool and breezy. 50 species. Did brush and yard work c. 1/2 the time. Numerous arrivals but I haven't been here for 2 weeks: 2 Royal Terns, 1 Chuck-will's-widow, 6 Chimney Swifts, 3 Great Crested Flycatchers, 3 Eastern Kingbirds, 2 Gray Catbirds, 3 White-eyed and 1 Blue-headed Vireo, 1 Black-and-white Warbler (beautiful male), and 1 Orchard Oriole. Also 26 Surf Scoters, 4 Black Vultures, 1 imm. Bald Eagle, 1 Pileated Woodpecker, 37 Myrtle Warblers and 30 White-throated Sparrows (many of them feeding on insects 20+ feet up in Sweet Gums, acting like warblers). A hen Mallard has a nest with 9 eggs in our yard, 3 feet from the drive edge, next to the woodpile, in between the garage and the house, surrounded by mowed lawn. Homemaker of the year. 5 Spring Azures, 3 Pearl Crescents and 4 either sooty wings or dusky wings (along open woodland trails; 3 areas with from 1- 5 white spots each towards the outer edge, topside of the forewing; anyone know what is most likely?). 5 deer (does) and 6 Gray Squirrels, one of them brown everywhere they are usually gray. Mud Turtle in The Pond. A Sea Walnut under the dock. Bull and Green Frogs in 2 of the ponds. Blackwater N.W.R. April 28. 7:30 - 10:00 A.M. Overcast. Raining. Winds SW 5-10. low 60's. All water levels very high. Levin Willey, Valerie Lubrick, Steve Shaw and myself. 51 species. All our birding was from the car or the Visitors Center. 4 Snowy & 8 Cattle Egrets, 1 Glossy Ibis, a pair of Canada Geese with 6 downy goslings, 2 Ruddy Ducks (a pair in the Little Blackwater River opposite Pool 1), 20 Least Sandpipers, 180 Laughing Gulls, 2 hummingbirds (at the Visitors Center feeder), 3 Blue Grosbeaks, 4 Grasshopper Sparrows (one singing from up high on a phone wire), and 7 Orchard Orioles. On the way back to Philadelphia today Liz and I did a Turkey Vulture run and ended up with 109. Levin Willey saw a Black-necked Stilt at Blackwater on April 21 and on one other day I forgot to record. No quail all weekend. Off topic. Son, George Armistead, was a co-leader in a tour group April 19-22 that went to the Florida Keys and the Dry Tortugas. The good news is that after an absence of a few years a Black Noddy has reappeared on the Tortugas. They also saw Black-whiskered Vireo, the West Indian race of the Short-eared Owl on Loggerhead Key, 20 or so Masked Boobies on Hospital Key, and numerous Pomarine Jaegers on the boat rides plus a Mangrove Cuckoo somewhere in the Keys. No luck with the Antillean Nighthawk (too early?). George will be the head guide from now until late August on the Pribilof Islands, 300 some miles off the Alaska coast in the Bering Sea ("St. Paul Island Tour" of the Tanadgusix Corporation [TDX]; website is: www.alaskabirding.com). If by chance any of you are going there on a tour you will most likely be shown around by George and/or his assistants. His address: St. Paul Island Tour, P. O. Box 88, St. Paul Island, AK 99660. (georgearmistead@hotmail.com). Needless to say he is hoping for various Asian strays in addition to the great alcid, gull, seal and seabird spectacle. 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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================