Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 14:14:14 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Henry Armistead <74077.3176@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Dorchester & Rigby Nov. 20 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline November 20, 2002, Wednesday. Mostly overcast this morning (but clouds very high and hazy), then becoming fair and mostly sunny. 36 - 60 degrees F. Wind light S or SW 5 m.p.h. or less. A rather cool but very pretty day. No Laughing Gulls today. Blackwater N.W.R. 7:15 - 9:15 A.M. 2 Richardson's Geese (Branta canadensis hutchinsii), 2 Black-bellied Plovers, 60 Killdeer, 1 King Rail (called from among the willows in Pool 3, a strange place for one), 2 wigeon, 10 shovelers, 225 pintails, 15 Green-winged Teal, 8 Forster's Terns, several 1,000 each of Canada and Snow Geese (but few blues), 8 Bald Eagles. Also 1 Fox Squirrel. Driving through later at 1:30 there were 2 Cloudless Sulphurs. Swan Harbor Rd. on Hooper's Island. Did a hawkwatch 9:45 - 11:15 A.M. Hardly any flight (because of the lack of wind) but did see: 30 Turkey and 3 Black Vultures, 3 sharpies, 3 Red-taileds, 5 Bald Eagles and a lateish Osprey = 45 raptors. I stayed on other parts of Hooper's 2 more hours until 1:15 P.M. but only saw 2 other migrating hawks, a sharpie and a beautiful ad. Red-shouldered Hawk. From Swan Harbor Road I also heard a unsolicited Clapper Rail calling from 10:42 - 10:52 (continuous contact call) as well as a Marsh Wren giving its call notes. Other goodies (all migrating): 11 waxwings, 25 Tundra Swans, 27 goldfinches, 1 Rusty Blackbird, 19 robins, and, unusual here, 4 Horned Larks (looked as if they had flown across the Bay, they were heading due east). In this rather chilly setting I was bothered by 4 mosquitoes today. Elsewhere on Hooper's I. but s. of Swan Harbor Rd. 45 Common Loon, 9 Northern Gannets (at least 2 mi. offshore, some of them plunge-diving), 115 Double-crested Cormorants, 229 Brown Pelicans (mostly on the marshy sod tump s. of Barren I., where 50 or so pairs bred this summer), 375 Mute Swans, 140 Buffleheads, 9 Long-tailed Ducks, 170 Surf Scoters, 560 Dunlin (in Tar Bay), 22 Sanderlings, 175 Great Black-backed Gulls & 3 Bonies, and 44 Forster's Terns. This is a good showing by the fish-eating birds, especially the pelicans, considering I found so many fewer earlier in the late summer and fall. 1 Monarch migrating at Fishing Creek (the town). "Rigby's Folly", Armistead property on Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, near Bellevue, 2:45 - 5 P.M. 2 ad. Bald Eagles (on their favorite roost tree, a spindly Loblolly Pine), 40 Mute Swans, 2,250 Canada Geese, 1 ad. female Northern Harrier (migrating through) and 2 Great Horned Owls (well-seen at 4 P.M.). The Choptank River mouth was very calm but it was hazy out there so visibility was not perfect. 9 Common Loon, 6 Horned Grebes (will this hard-hit species EVER recover?), 375 Buffleheads, 3 Red-breasted Mergansers, 35 Long-tailed Ducks, 155 Herring Gulls. Elsewhere on our back 40: 3 Orange Sulphurs, 5 Gray Squirrels, a bat, and 11 deer (10 does and a big 8 point buck with one of the biggest racks I've seen anywhere). This morning at 5:15 in the dead calm I could hear the garrulous "Oldsquaws", perhaps 3 miles away. After this summer's terrible drought it is nice to see abundant ground water, as much as in a wet spring. All of the western Olszewski Trails, in low woods, are now under water, as much as 5-6 inches, and "Lake" Olszewski is brimming over. Last night the moon was so extraordinarily bright I bet I could have read the print version of "Science Citation Index" by its light alone. The previous night I missed the Leonid meteor shower; it was cloudy in Philadelphia. George A. is off for 3 weeks in Thailand with his lady friend. It is cheaper to fly from Philadelphia to there than to Hawaii. They will mostly bird but he will collect some insects for the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================