Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2003 11:13:42 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Henry Armistead <74077.3176@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Dorchester County, Nov. 22-23 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. Sat., Nov. 22, 2003. Jared Sparks and Harry Armistead. Jared saw hundreds of Buffleheads at the mouth of the Choptank River, a few Red-breasted Mergansers, and a dozen or so Common Loons. Briefly from the dock I saw 5 loons (1 uttered the wail call, another the tremolo) and 12 Buffleheads. Most of the day was spent doing brush work (cleaning up some of the aftermath of a big oak that had fallen across a neighbor's lane), talking with our contractor, and taking the "Mudhen" in to winter storage at Gootee's at Golden Hill, Dorchester County. 200 or so pintails at Harry Elzey's farm pools at Golden Hill, Dorchester Co. Sunday, Nov. 23. Dorchester County, MD. 82 species. 16 of us on the birdwalk at Blackwater N.W.R., 7:30 A.M. - 1:30 P.M., including Mary Konchar, Barb & Phil Albert, Jared et al. Foggy early on, then clear with light SW winds or no wind, getting up to c. 70 degrees F. Tides very high today, over the road at 3 places on the Elliott I. Rd. Last Sunday, Nov. 16, had the lowest tides I have ever seen in south Dorchester. At Blackwater: 3 Pied-billed Grebes, 1 Snowy and 2 rather late Cattle Egrets, 4 Black-crowned Night Herons (as usual in the willows of Pool 3), 1 Ross's Goose, 1 Common Merganser (by Tom Miller), 8 Black-bellied Plovers, 6 Laughing Gulls, 1 screech-owl, 1 Red-headed Woodpecker (by Walter Ellison et al.), a sapsucker, 1 phoebe, 5 snipe, 6 or so Brown-headed Nuthatches, and 3 Hermit Thrushes. Still not that many Snow Geese. Towards the end of the bird walk we ran into Walter Ellison and party and were loosely associated with them for the rest of the day. Also ran into Greg Inskipp (Mr. Golden Eagle, esq.) but he had not seen any today. 2 Fox and 2 Gray Squirrels. Up to 3 Red-headed Woodpeckers have been present since at least September, mostly along the south side of Wildlife Drive, and just west of the end of Pool 1 there. One of our party had earlier seen a Fox Squirrel hanging upside down, partially by its tail, and raiding the woodpeckers' food cache in a dead tree. As with other sultry, almost windless days in the late fall such as today, most birds just rested, preened, and fed, although it was a good day for soaring birds. No migration flight today (or yesterday). Bucktown. Adjacent to a big chicken farm here, a minor spectacle of birds attracted to garbage, I guess. 3 Bald Eagles sitting in the fields, 4 or so others in trees over the chicken houses along with c. 70 Turkey Vultures, 15 or so Black Vultures, Fish Crows, starlings, a flock of a dozen Rock Pigeons, plus a Red Fox and a couple of red-tails nearby. Transquaking River at Bestpitch. 7 harriers, 5 Bald Eagles. Walter identified a yellow flower next to the rickety old wooden bridge as an Evening Primrose. Elliott Island Road. 3 Short-eared Owls seen at dusk - distant, unsatisfying views but better than none. No Rough-legged Hawks. 8 Nutria at dusk, quite vocal then, more so than last weekend, plus 7 White-tailed Deer and another Red Fox. 145 Dunlin. At dusk the black ducks really get turned on and there is much loud quacking, flyings back and forth, and other activity. Approximate totals for the day: 2 Clapper and 2 Virginia Rails, 225 Dunlin, 30 Bald Eagles, 18 Greater Yellowlegs. Curiosities: 0 Mourning Dove, 0 cowbird, 1 Common Grackle, 0 Tree Swallow (none on Nov. 16 either). Juncos were widespread. Butterflies: 1 Buckeye, 2 Monarchs, 2 Orange Sulphurs. 1 Red-bellied Turtle at the refuge. A couple of dragonflies (probably darners). The prevalence of spiders. Along many roadsides and in many fields today there were so many spider webs it looked as if someone had thrown a vast net over the grasses. Never seen anything like it. Gossamer strands of webs drifted through the air, catching on the windshield wipers and radio aerial of the car. More Hurricane Isabel stories. At Gootee's Marine the water came up about 1 foot into their facility, the highest ever. Folks there said Isabel was 20 inches higher than the legendary Hurricane of 1933. Some of the Gootees spent the night in their marina building, sloshing through the water and putting computers and files up on high shelving. Contractor Dana Sindermann told me the watermen at Bellevue, who were at first unimpressed with the high water, decided at c. 3 A.M. to rescue their boats, took them from their slips, and rode out the storm in the Tred Avon River, where waves reached 8 feet high. The nest box of the peregrine hacking tower at Clay Island, dimly visible 3 miles or so south of the end of Elliott Island Road at the McCready's Creek launching ramp, was destroyed by Isabel. Best to all.-Harry Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA 19119-1225. 215-248-4120. 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