Date: Wed, 22 May 2002 11:28:13 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Henry Armistead <74077.3176@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: part 3, Dorchester May count analysis MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Part 3 (of 5 parts). Species abundance changes, 1966-2002, on 70 May counts in Dorchester County. King Rail. 18/18. Average 7. Now only 1 or 2 per count are tallied normally. Good fresh water habitat for Kings has degraded. For instance, Gum Swamp along Route 335, which Brooke Meanley used to consider the best place in MD for this species, is now very open, the cattail stands have almost vanished, and Phragmites is invading. The north end of EIR (from around where the woods begin and on north from there), Shorter's Marsh just n. of Liners Rd., the section of Gum Swamp just n. of Riggins Corner, and, in Wicomico Co., the Nanticoke marsh across from Vienna, still have Kings. In my experience King Rail seldom respond to tapes. Sometimes missed now. Clapper Rail. 14/18. Average 2. Clappers seem to have increased, perhaps because the marshes are getting saltier. It is not uncommon to have 5-10 or more now, e.g., 15 on May 8, 1999. Virginia Rail. 18/18. Average 39. SDC's bread-and-butter rail seems to be in decline, although as recently as May 8, 1999, our one party total was 104. Several other times over 100 have been recorded. Recent counts indicate a perhaps severe decline is in progress. Sora. 16/18. Average 4. Recently we are lucky to get 1 or 2. Especially good totals were in 1975 when 13 and 11 were heard. Black Rail 8/18, but this is misleading since on only 8 dates were the counts started early enough so that they began at EIR, usually the only site where Blacks are heard. Average 6. Even so, in recent years, which almost always start at EIR at midnight, less than this average is achieved. In 2002 only 1 and 2 where heard on nights that had quite favorable weather. Something has happened to this species here. The high count was 31 on May 4, 1968, 4 on which were NOT at EIR. Sometime in the 1970's they disappeared as a regular species at Broadkill Beach, Delaware, as did Henslow's Sparrow there. American Oystercatcher. 0/18. Now 1-4 can be seen almost without fail on the Tar Bay sandbars off of Hooper's Island. They started to breed in Dorchester in the 1970's - the first county nest was one I found in the midst of large, unexploded shells on Pone Island, a satellite of Bloodsworth Island. By the same token Sanderling (1/18) and Ruddy Turnstone (1/18) are now found in small numbers almost every count on these same Tar Bay sandbars. They were no doubt there all along but we did not begin scoping these bars until the 1980's, yet another variable to be considered when looking at these data. American Woodcock. 18/18. Average 14. Timberdoodles have also declined. Recently only 1-4 are heard each count. Highs were 32 on May 1, 1971, 31 on May 6, 1972, 27 on May 11, 1974, and 26 on May 4, 1974. EIR seems to be their stronghold, or at least was. Willet. 18/18. Average 37. In decline. Recent totals are about half the old average. Pectoral Sandpiper. 18/18. Average 16. Often missed completely now or else only 1-3 are seen. This species is much more likely to be seen in late March and April in recent years. Stilt Sandpiper 3/18. Total of 5 seen on these 3 dates. Now it is seen c. once every 2 or 3 counts. The impoundments of BNWR are an especially good spring locale for Stilts. I think this species is overrated as a spring rarity. It is a regular migrant in the Middle Atlantic states then. Black-necked Stilt. 2/18, 1 each in 1967 & 1968 at BNWR. The one seen May 6, 1967, by Will Russell and myself was a first state record. A few years ago Mark Hoffman first found breeding evidence at EIR. They are now regular on the May counts and for a long time before that, between 1976 and 1996, were encountered almost every year. Recently they seem to have stopped breeding at Deal I. and moved to EIR. Forster's Tern. 1/18. That's right. Only seen on May 1, 1976, when there were 3. Since then they have been common breeders in Somerset and Dorchester counties, although much less so in recent years. Recently counts of 60 or 70 or more are normal, although in 2002 only 20 were seen on May 11, the lowest total in many years. In the past few years their colonies in the central Chesapeake have not fared well, esp. the South Marsh Island ones. They seem to be in decline on the May counts. Whip-poor-will. 18/18. Average 8. Recent totals are more typically only 3 to 6 although Marshall Iliff, George Armistead and I counted 12 on May 8, 1999. I feel Whips have declined and Chuck-will's-widows have increased, or, at least, spread into more areas, especially piney woods adjacent to the marshes. Whips seem to prefer the more upland woods now, perhaps because Chucks have out competed them in lower areas. In some of the southern states Whips have, by way of contrast, been extending their range south and east. Common Nighthawk. 13/18. Average 1. Hard to get on the first weekend in the 1980's and early 1990's but found then on 7 of 10 dates 1970-1976. It used to be that bullbats were easy to hear in Cambridge. Often it was just a matter of rolling down the car windows as you rolled through town. Recently they are missed most of the time even though a greater effort is now made to find them. 4 were heard May 6, 1967, and 5 on May 13, 1972. Only occasionally have they been encountered other than in Cambridge. Have definitely declined. Best to all.-Harry Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA 19119-1225. 215-248-4120. Any off-list replies, 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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================