Date: Mon, 15 Jul 2002 11:37:40 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Henry Armistead <74077.3176@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Captain Carolina Wren; Sibley MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline 1. "Rigby's Folly", Armistead property on Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, near Bellevue. July 13, 2002, Sat., Mostly overcast, 72-84 degrees, wind SW 5-20. 46 species. Earlier this year we witnessed a Black Rat Snake just after it had eaten the eggs in a Carolina Wren nest inside the base of the winch mounting on my boat trailer. This weekend we found a nearly-completed Carolina Wren nest inside the boat, in the recessed well just forward of the outboard engine and partially concealed by the boat cover! Also today: an ad. Tricolored Heron (6th property record, others range through the calendar from April 7, 1972, to August 30, 1987; 3 records in Aug., 2 in July); 6 Snowy Egrets (a little evening flight); 10 Ospreys (several with 1 ft.+ fish & one caught a White Perch at the head of our cove); an ad. Bald Eagle; 2 Royal Terns; a Yellow-billed Cuckoo; 1 Great Horned Owl (called 3X at 7PM); 2 Chuck-will's-widows; 1 Bank Swallow (post-breeding migrant of some kind); a Cedar Waxwing; 4 Orchard Orioles. Quite a few Common Wood Nymphs and Common Whitetails flying around. A Red Fox and 9 deer (including 2 fawns). Nothing different on Sunday except a singing Blue Grosbeak and a most welcome gentle rain much of the day and night. 2. Forthcoming book by Dave Sibley, "Sibley's birding basics" (Alfred A. Knopf, due out Oct. 9, 2002). $15.95. 192 pages. I have uncorrected proofs I'm reviewing for "Library journal". 120 color illustrations, all new. Size of a somewhat large paperback. Consists of 16 chapters that are in reality thoughtful essays on Misidentification, Understanding Feathers, Molt, Age Variation, Identifying Rare Birds, Ethics and Conservation, Voice, etc. ISBN 0-375-70966-5. Not intended to be a complete compendium but instead consists of thoughtful approaches to birding, including explanations of some technical situations as well as generalities, especially ranges in variation. Ethically I can't review it in more than one forum so am simply trying to describe the book here without making any judgements. 3. I've written a 4,000 word report on my drive east, Phoenix to Philadelphia, July 1-8. Opinionated and flaky. Anyone want to see it, just e-mail me. 4. There's been an Osprey nest just north of the junction of routes 309 and 404 in Queen Anne's County on top of a 100 feet or so communications tower but it looks as if it is unsuccessful. Except for upper Tuckahoe Creek this is a ways from any major water. 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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================