Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2003 23:09:10 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Henry Armistead <74077.3176@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Dorchester & Rigby July 17; Poplar I. MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline July 17, 2003, Thursday. Clear, 75-90, low humidity, winds NW 10, a real "diamond sparkler". No real bellringers today but it sure was a nice day to be outside. "Rigby's Folly", Armistead property on Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, near Bellevue. 7-10:30 A.M. Mostly talked with a movie producer who may be shooting a few segments of an independent film at Rigby this fall. The people involved (Doug Stadler & Dan Bickel) I did not know or know of previously but seem real nice and how can I not like a movie about a waterman's family? White-eyed Vireo 1, hummingbird 1 (investigating Rose of Sharon bush flowers 2 feet from me at 2nd floor window), Great Egret 1, Brown Thrasher 1, pair of Mute Swans with 1 downy but large, duck-sized cygnet. Last night c. 10:45 I came within 3 feet of hitting a doe, a big 8-point buck was in field F4, and no Chuck-will's-widows were heard calling. Our fields still haven't been planted or even disked or ploughed due to the rains, the latest I can remember. John Swaine usually does our fields last because the soil is so poor. It is nice to have the grasses this year but no meadowlarks or Grasshopper Sparrows, alas, grace them. Dorchester County the rest of the day: Noon to 5:30 P.M.: Blackwater N.W.R. 1 Peregrine Falcon soaring (seen from end of the "Observation Spur" Road) with TV's and an imm. Bald Eagle. 3 Pileated Woodpeckers, 2 screech owls I induced into calling at 1:41 P.M., 1 male Orchard Oriole still singing, 2 Short-billed Dowitchers, 2 Spotted Sandpiper (1 with a really bad broken left leg that flails around out to the bird's side; still this plucky bird was feeding actively and doing the trademark Spotted Sandpiper bop), 6 Bald Eagles, 105 starlings, and 2 Least Terns. Tidal waters were high. Also: 1 Snout (resting on a small American Hackberry), 1 Little Wood Satyr, 4 Common Wood Nymphs, 7 Buckeyes, 2 Black Swallowtails, 1 Tiger Swallowtail, 2 Pearl Crescents and 4 Monarchs. One 3-foot Black Rat Snake that was "great with food". Transquaking River at Bestpitch. 3 Greater and 1 Lesser Yellowlegs, 2 Least Sandpipers, 1 Bank Swallow. The mud was exposed at the fairly recently-formed shallow area on the south side of the road, the lights were on, but next to nobody was home. Elliott Island Road. Rather bleak. 1 ad. and 2 large but downy cygnet Mute Swans by their nest which I first saw early last May (at the "moorhen spot"). 3 Greater Yellowlegs. 1 Pied-billed Grebe (most unusual bird of the day, my first in Dorchester Co. this year; at the "moorhen spot"). 1 harrier. 4 Bank Swallows. 2 Ring-billed Gulls. 1 Willet (this is about the time of year that the local breeding ones pull out). 1 Royal Tern. 6 Bald Eagles including a pair with their grown juvenile at their nest just n. of Elliott village and less than 100 yards east of the road. Zero Black-necked Stilts. It is probably meaningless, but I have yet to see or hear a Least Bittern this year. During the interminable wait for my dinner check at the Easton Denny's I glanced through the July 2003 "Talbot Guide" ... always interesting to read about the events I always miss that normal people are going to get to see (!?). Informative little article on p. 42 on the fungus that affects so many of our Sycamores. The foliage of these trees has looked especially scraggly and anemic with all this spring's rain and cool weather, which the article says favors the fungus, called "Apiognomonia venata". However, the one I transported from Philadelphia to Rigby years ago is now over 40 feet high and has so far escaped this plight/blight. In late winter in town here there are sometimes days when the sycamore "butterballs" explode in the high "March" winds and their seeds blow around like snow flurries. In keeping with the late growing year the big swamp magnolia or sweet bay or whatever it is called in our Philadelphia backyard still has scores of lovely cream-colored blossoms. Usually these peak in late May and June. Got all licensed up today with an all-purpose boat fishing license and the new federal duck stamp, which features Snow Geese and the Chincoteague light. Pretty. The fellow in Tommy's Sporting Goods in Cambridge was lamenting the poor fishing he thinks is due to the great influx of fresh water caused by the rains. He was disgusted at catching nothing much but catfish in areas where they usually are uncommon. His store is a fraction of its former size and somewhat hard to find, the old place being taken over by real estate people, who seemed poised to inherit the earth and much of its money in the Cambridge area. I asked if the beautifully mounted pair of Buffleheads in Tommy's was for sale but it's not. One of my favorite birds. Pleasant drive home tonight with Mozart's 41st Symphony on 89.5 FM. The last movement is simply a terrific, stimulating piece of music, and at 65mph on top of the Delaware-Chesapeake Canal bridge just as a perfect sunset was transpiring. Find yourself going 75 suddenly. "Alright, officer, let's see if you can keep to the speed limit at the end of the Jupiter Symphony. If so, then Julianne Moore probably doesn't do much for you either." Last Thursday Dave Brinker was kind enough to give me a copy of a June 27 document Mike Erwin had prepared concerning this year's breeding birds on the Poplar Island archipelago. The number of nests for selected species included: Common Tern 827, Least Tern 62, Double-crested Cormorant 495, Herring Gull 190, Great Black-backed Gull 6 to 12 pairs estimated, and Osprey 6. In addition Killdeer and Willet both nested. Oystercatcher was present but not confirmed as a nester. Later up to 76 Least Tern nests were found but apparently there was some sort of disaster with the Common Tern nests. That's a really impressive number of breeding birds, n'est-ce pas? Best to all.-Harry Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA 19119-1225. 215-248-4120. 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