Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2004 21:18:06 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Henry Armistead <74077.3176@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Feb. 12: Tuckahoe Hursery, Rts. 309 & 301, Rigby MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline February 12, 2004, Thursday. Overcast, 28-44 degrees F., winds calm to SE to SW 5-15 m.p.h., some partial clearing in the west late in the day. Quite calm most of the morning. Tuckahoe Nurseries, Inc., John Brown Rd. & Rt. 18, Queen Annes County, MD, e. of Queenstown. I spent 9:30 - 10:15 A.M. and 3:30 - 4:15 P.M. here today and did not see any Cedar Waxwings or the Bohemian Waxwing. Those trees with all the fruit seem to be crabapples. A couple of flocks of American Goldfinches, c. 15 each. One of the labels said Golden Raindrops Crabapple. I did see an Eastern Cottontail across Rt. 18 in the underbrush lining the big refuse pit there. I bet the waxwings will be back sometime. Route 309 pond (1.0 mile east of the T-junction of Routes 213 and 309), 10:30 A.M. Some open water here and a nice variety of waterfowl, to wit: 47 Ring-necked Ducks, 4 Gadwalls, 3 Canvasbacks, 1 female Common Goldeneye, 180 Tundra Swans, 245 Canada Geese, 15 Snow Geese, 2 Mallards, and 7 American Black Ducks plus 2 Horned Larks across the road. When I came back at 3:10 P.M. the snows and swans were gone but the Canada Geese had built up to c. 2,000. The other attractive little ponds in this area (between routes 213 and 404 on Route 309) are still frozen solid. Roadkill du Jour. Alas, a dead red phase Eastern Screech-Owl on the Bellevue Road c. 0.5 from the T-junction of Bellevue Road at Royal Oak. Pretty badly squashed but the wings and rather cat-like legs still in reasonably good shape. Bellevue Ferry slip. 11:30 A.M. Much more open water on the Tred Avon than there was last Saturday. 9 Ruddy Ducks, a male Canvasback, and a male Lesser Scaup. Several dozen ducks out in the big water in the distance. "Rigby's Folly", Armistead property on Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, near Bellevue. 11:45 A.M. - 2:15 P.M. Spent most of the time talking to contractor Dana Sindermann, who is doing a great job on our house. Ate lunch, a chicken salad sandwich (very good) on whole wheat from Wawa, sitting on the dock. 94 Ring-billed Gulls in the cove, which is still almost entirely frozen. From Lucy Point c. 2 P.M.: 385 Canvasbacks (in one compact flock, resting and sleeping). 65 Common Goldeneyes. 30 Buffleheads. 1 Northern Harrier (soaring high in the sky). 42 Mute (and zero Tundra) Swans. The mouth of the Choptank River has opened up a great deal. Since last Saturday the no. 4 marker pole has been impacted by the ice and now leans to the northwest. Mouth of Irish Creek completely ice-free but the rest of Irish is still frozen. Starr from Route 309, Queen Annes County. Starr is not even consequential enough to be a hamlet but there was an adult Bald Eagle perched in a shade tree right next to one of the houses. Make yourself at home big fella. Goin' home along Route 301, 4:30 - 5:45 P.M. Milepost 90.5, 1,500 Canada Geese. 6 deer somewhere, I didn't note where. 500 Canada Geese at mile 92. At miles 97-99 at least 6,000 Snow and c. 40 Blue Geese. Most of these were in one big flock circling warily and slowly descending into a field with high stubble corn, reminding me of the circling flock of White Ibises in that great painting by Francis Lee Jacques. 15 deer at mile 102 in one group. At mile 118.3, where there was an active beaver dam and lodge in the spring of 2002, the beaver dam is now defunct although still largely in place. This is Skunk Cabbage heaven and those plants are already up 4-6 inches. A Great Blue Heron was hunting in this little wooded creek. I think this is Jacobs Creek. 500 Canada Geese in the fields nearby. Just across the line west of Middletown, Delaware, c. 3,000 Canada Geese in the fields. This is the third day trip in a row that has involved driving to Rigby and back from Philadelphia, 272 miles round trip. Exhausting but there's always a lot to see. 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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================