Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2003 14:28:39 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Henry Armistead <74077.3176@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Ferry Neck Sept. 13-14 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline "Rigby's Folly", Armistead property on Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, near Bellevue. Weekend of September 13-14, 2003. Extremely humid. Phew! Spent most of the weekend moving contents of the house to the garage or shifting it to "finished" rooms in preparation for installation of new wells, plumbing, and a heating/cooling system. In my life we've never had winter plumbing. Sat., Sep. 13. Overcast to fair, 70 - 83 degrees F., winds NE -E - SE 15+ m.p.h. 31 species. Birding 4 P.M. - 7:30 P.M. only. 18 Wood Ducks (flyovers; ties 12th highest property record; best count ever was 150 on October 9, 1994, a dusk flight witnessed by David Bacab, a visitor from Yucatan). 1 Common Nighthawk (at dusk). Loads of Fowler's Toads and Southern Leopard Frogs, some of the latter calling. Few butterflies but many dragonflies. Happened on a smallish fawn 3 times, naive and unafraid, which allowed me to pass within 50 feet without running away. Exceptionally clear, good visibility today with the western shore clearly visible in the line of sight from Black Walnut Point all the way south to Cook's Point, even at full high tide. A lovely, peaceful dusk with Mars rising over the loblollies at the head of the cove, many fishes hunting and splashing right around the dock. The passing, distant influence of "Henri" made for a very high tide at least 1 foot above normal. Very few Sea Nettles this year but there were some huge ones today. "How can water that doesn't chase the moon speak to the imagination? I had rather watch tides come and go from the merest muddy fingerling of a cove off a creek off a river off a bay off an ocean than own Golden Pond. What mattered to me as a boy was the fact that the scruffy water in Cambridge Creek was contiguous with, say, Portugal." novelist John Barth. One of the benefits of house renovation is discovering "lost" items. This time I found a 1968 copy of the "Yellow Book" by Robbins and Van Velzen in which I had written 20 or so individual bird sightings of interest, four of which I had no other record for, such as a Whimbrel seen here May 15, 1972. I had looked for this booklet dozens of times previously without success. Sun., Sep. 14. Fair, 68 - 83 degrees F., wind SE 10-15 m.p.h. 51 species. Talbot County Bird Walk, 7 of us, Les Roslund, Charles Hopkins, Wayne Bell, et al., 7:30-10:15 A.M. Most birds were seen then. Black Scoter, 1 female. Bald Eagle 3 (1 ad., 2 imm.). Merlin 1 (brown bird, good look on top of old phone pole; earliest property record is Sep. 13 but some day I expect to see one in late August; 30th record). 1 each of the 5 common woodpecker species. 80 starlings (WHAT makes them tick? Some days we come close to missing them.). Black-throated Green Warbler (a non-adult male and a beauty nonetheless). On the drive home yesterday I could not take my eyes off of the sky, full of constantly changing cloudscapes, great towering cumulus and other clouds, like illustrations out of the most flamboyant heroic fantasy books - Maxfield Parrish on steroids, Albert Bierstadt on and in ecstasy. Heaven help us if "Isabel" strikes later this week. Heaven help us. I intend to be at Rigby this coming Thursday and possibly Saturday, even if I have to walk in over the windfalls, to look for the first "yard" shearwaters or petrels and to try to deal with the damage. If "Isabel" passes up the western shore there may be a good chance for seeing pelagic birds on the Eastern Shore. I may postpone Saturday's Dorchester Fall Bird Count until Sunday, when I am also obliged to lead a bird walk at Blackwater N.W.R. (8 A.M. - 11 A.M.). 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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================