Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2002 10:55:41 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Henry Armistead <74077.3176@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: James I. & Dorchester pelagic, June 9 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline June 9, 2002, Sun. Boat trip from Rigby to James I. to the central Chesapeake Bay and back. 45.3 miles. Clear. Water temperature in low 70's. Wind SW-SE15-25 mph. Rough boating. Air temp in high 70's offshore (very cool, I had on 3 layers when in the shade under the Bimini top in my boat when well offshore), 80's closer in. 6 AM - 4 PM. James Island, Dorchester County (just n. of Taylor's I., c. 0.5 mi. offshore). 7:20 - 10:50 A.M. Never walked around here before so pardon the excessive detail. Consists of 2 islands c. 1 mi. long north to south in toto, mostly less than 100 yards wide. Mostly rather high with 4 substantial Loblolly Pine forests, primarily young trees 10-20' but with some fine, large, old ones. Understory is mainly Persimmon, many large, but also with some American Holly, several large Willow Oak (one with an enormous, see-through, ground-level cavity), Sweet Gum, fewer Black Gum, occasional Sycamores (tall, very narrow, straight, hemmed in by other trees), Black Cherry, and on the south i. Ailanthus. A few ferns. Some Pokeberries. Some Devil's Walkingstick. Several marshy areas an acre or more in size but no marsh birds, primarily with 'Distichlis spicata' and 'Spartina aterniflora' with some Phragmites in higher areas, a few patches of 'Juncus roemerianus' and one hibiscus, and, of course, lots of 'Baccharis halimifolia'. On the north i. is a low, wet, freshwater area (but dried up today) with Scirpus. Extensive beach 100 yards+ connecting pine forests on north i. where I found 30 Horseshoe Crabs, 1 alive, and saw sign of Diamondback Terrapins egg laying. Saw 2 Little Wood Satyrs and 1 Saltmarsh Skipper. Quite a bit of SAV on the west side and loads of Uva washed up. James Island's undergrowth has been extensively and recently burned (no doubt in earlier years, too) making walking the forest interior fairly easy. The big trees have mostly been unaffected by the fire. Few flies and fewer mosquitoes. There are several messy trails littered with plastic, bottles, string, paper. Numerous small trees have been randomly and sloppily cut down. It all looks like the work of adolescents. The only forest I didn't walk in was the south part of the south forest on south i. Notta lotta Poison Ivy. The purpose was to atlas here. James I. is the only land in its atlas block. Complete bird list. Brown Pelican 3. Great Blue Heron 5. Bald Eagle 5 (2 ad. and 2 young at nest on north i. plus a flying imm. 2-3 years old). Osprey 8 (2 active nests on nearby blinds, none on island). Mute Swan 2 (abandoned nest with 2 intact eggs, 1 or more busted ones). Laughing Gull 2. Common Grackle 32 (incl. 17 in sight at once on a beach feeding in the intertidal zone). Red-winged Blackbird 6 (incl. a female carrying nesting material - a long piece of string). Carolina Wren 3 (all singers). Eastern Kingbird 3. Blue Grosbeak 1 male singing endlessly. Great Crested Flycatcher 2. Northern Cardinal 2 males singing. 1 Tree and 2 Barn Swallows. 1 Forster's Tern. Pine Warbler 2 (singing males). Orchard Oriole 1. Carolina Chickadee 1 (today's biggest surprise). An old tree cavity looked like a Brown-headed Nuthatch's. George A. and I saw one here from the boat c. 10 years ago. Saw deer and Raccoon footprints. A wild rose bush and I picked off 2 ticks, which I rarely find on Bay islands. Some of the little wet swales here are similar to the one I found narrowmouth toads in several times on Barren Island c. 15 mi. to the south. Pelagic trip to the Center of Chesapeake Bay, Dorchester Co. waters, from 5.2 mi. SW of s. tip of James I. north to past the red and white navigation marker CP and its adjacent yellow CBOS weather buoy (410-221-8400). 11 A.M. - 2:45 P.M. Water depth consistently 90' or more and I drifted in the boat the entire time. Laid a bunker oil chum slick (Boy, does that stuff stink!) that eventually grew to over a mile long but attracted only 2 Laughing Gulls. Rough, 3-foot plus waves from SE, worse than choppy. Immense 'U. S. Naval Ship Fisher' passed 200 yards to the west, leaving surprisingly little wake. Not too far to the west are visible: Calvert Cliffs State Park, Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, Cove Point Lighthouse, and the huge liquified natural gas facility. A bust: 3 Great Black-backed, 3 Herring and 9 Laughing Gulls, 1 Royal Tern, 1 Osprey, and 40 Brown Pelicans (whole lotta plunge-divin' goin' on). Out here the GBBG love to perch on markers and these 3 were on the clanging, wildly-tilting CP marker. No wandering insects, no sign of fish. About 20 mi. s. of here Marshall Iliff and I saw 7 Wilson's Storm Petrels, 2 gannets, and several dolphins on June 1, 2000. Maybe the petrels are late in penetrating the Bay this year. Several times I have noticed that when the predominant wind is SW on shore or close to it when you get out to the central Bay it is SE and stronger. "Rigby's Folly", Armistead property on Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, near Bellevue. Glenn Therres of MD DNR saw 2 eaglets 6-8 weeks old in our property nest on May 5 from a plane. On the ground we can't see anything. Must be a deep nest. Been in the area of the nest 3 or 4 times as much this year as last yet seen less eagle activity, wasn't much last year, assumed the nest was inactive both times but there have been 2 young both years. Guess they're a lot more subtle than I realized. Pardonez mois for the partial double posting of my June 1 boat trip. My so-called "Outbasket" has been malfunctioning and now does not work at all. 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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================