"Rigby's Folly", Armistead property on Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, near
Bellevue.  Arrive 7:55 P.M., Sat., March 10, 2004.  An ad. Bald Eagle at
Frog Hollow roosting near a presumed nest.  Big chorus of Spring Peepers by
The Pond.  1 deer (a doe).  56 degrees F., partly clear, winds light out of
the SE.

Easter Sunday, April.  BONAPARTE'S GULL DAY, too.  7-11 A.M.  Overcast,
light rain, winds NE 5 increasing to 15, 50 degrees F., fog, visibility
less than 0.5 mi., a higher than normal high tide.  Some Spring Peepers
calling.

In spite of the limited visibility 1,160 Surf Scoters are easily seen from
Lucy Point plus an adult Northern Gannet ("through the fog it came" like
Coleridge's albatross).  Also present:  165 Buffleheads, 2 Lesser Scaup
(only), 2 adult Bonaparte's Gulls, 5 Common Loons, 2 adult Bald Eagles.
Strange to see no Red-breasted Mergansers.  This hasn't been a good spring
for them here.

I don't know what these scoters are feeding on (mollusks, worms, or other
invertebrates?) but there must be an awful lot of it because thousands of
these ducks have been present here and quite at home in a comparatively
small area at the mouths of Irish and Broad creeks for over a month now.
They are known to feed mostly on mollusks, often swallowing them whole.

THE OSPREYS OF CHANNEL MARKER 4 in Irish Creek.  Site fidelity champions.
For several weeks I have watched them at this channel marker trying to
place sticks on top of a naked pole that lost its signage during Hurricane
Isabel.  Within the past week the Coast Guard has placed new triangular
signs on each side.  But the pointy signs only project 6" or so above the
pole.  It will still be difficult and chancy for the Ospreys to place their
nest here.  A few years ago Ospreys tried to make a nest on the sloping
roof of a Barn Owl nest box at Blackwater and the sticks kept slipping off.
 They seem as resistant to a paradigm shift as I am.

3 Black Locusts have blown over recently at Lucy Point in the area where
there is already a tremendous amount of plastic trash, big logs and tree
blowovers obstructing our trail system, and huge rocks - all compliments of
and displaced by Isabel.  Today I found and uncovered the little chair I
used to sit in to watch sunsets at the point.  It had been missing since
Isabel.

The daffodils are spectacular now.  I cut a bunch and put them in an empty
1/2 gallon plastic milk carton.  In the midst of this activity a sulphur
butterfly perched on the cut daffodils, oblivious as I inserted new ones
into the jug.  On finishing I removed it by hand and placed it on one of
the daffodil clumps on the driveway shoulder.

A day full of large numbers of active ducks, gulls and terns busily feeding
in protected waters and ploughed fields, and shorebirds very vociferous
along Wildlife Drive.  Many Horned Grebes are in fine breeding plumage now
as are some of the Bonaparte's Gulls.  In our cove were 13 Horned Grebes
found without help of binoculars.

Get out the champagne.  It looks from the distance as if we have an active
Mute Swan nest at the head of our cove.

Egypt Road.  11:45 A.M.  An adult Bald Eagle perched in a yard tree right
next to one of the Malkus family households.

Blackwater N.W.R.  Noon - 2:15 P.M.  Winds increasing, NE 15-20 m.p.h.,
occasional light rain, some fog, visibility sometimes poor.  48 degrees F.
Shot the breeze a little in the Contact Station where an injured Bald Eagle
was awaiting transport to Tri-State Bird Rescue in northern Delaware.  With
the recent southern weather we've been having I was surprised at the amount
of exposed mud in tidal areas along Wildlife Drive and at Sewards.

1 Pied-billed Grebe, 5 Ring-necked Ducks and 9 Gadwalls in Pool 1.
Elsewhere along Wildlife Drive:  11 Caspian Terns, 38 Bonaparte's Gulls, 12
Bald Eagles, 17 female-plumaged Common Mergansers, 4 Pectoral and 2 Least
Sandpipers, 65 yellowlegs of both species with much calling, 95 Northern
Shovelers, 285 Green-winged and 55 Blue-winged teal (most of the latter in
one flock), 2 Northern Harriers, 1 Glossy Ibis, and great views of a
Pileated Woodpecker which was also quite vocal.

Conspicuous everywhere were c. 575 Tree Swallows, hovering low over the
marshes and waters and grasses plus a group of 35 fluttering only an inch
or so over and sometimes below the tops of some of the grasses at a bend on
Wildlife Drive where there must have been tiny insects present.  It was a
treat to see these fat swallows so close, the blues and greens of their
upperparts brilliant even on this overcast day.

Not a great mammal day but 1 Easter(n) Cottontail at the refuge entrance.

Near Sewards there was a feeding frenzy of Ring-billed, Laughing, and
Bonaparte's Gulls gleaning small fishes from the shallow waters around the
exposed mud.  Chipping Sparrows are now widespread and in immaculate fresh
plumage, exquisite birds when seen at close range.

A male Sharp-shinned Hawk in migration s. of Easton at 2:50 P.M.

Route 309 ponds between Rts. 481 and 213 (heading west).  Pond 1:  Canada
Goose still on the nest, 1 harrier, 14 Bonaparte's Gulls.  Pond 2:
nothing; this is the pond I drove right past last weekend; it is somewhat
distant and obscured by a rather high dike.  Pond 3:  a Muskrat lodge, 23
Bonaparte's Gulls really pigging out in a recently ploughed adjacent field
along with lots of ring-bills and laughers.  Pond 4 (only pond on the S
side of 309):  22 Green-winged Teal, 1 Greater Yellowlegs.  Pond 5 ("the
309 Pond"):  7 Ring-necked Ducks, 1 American Black Duck, 5 Canada Geese, 4
Green-winged Teal, 1 Lesser Yellowlegs.  The larger of the 2 ponds just SE
of Rts. 213 X 301 had a pair of Mallards and 125 Canada Geese.

Today the shad bush and hawthorns were blazing away in full flower, as were
the magnolias and much quince is still going strong.

Woodchuck coda.  Today Liz returned 378 miles from Canton, NY, where she
had visited her sister and mother.  She saw 9 Woodchucks on the way back.
About a mile from home here yesterday evening I saw one striking a pose
right in the middle of Stenton Avenue, with oncoming traffic in both lanes.
 At about the last possible moment it lumbered off up the slope towards its
burrow.  Our children made us the best Easter dinner I've ever enjoyed:
ham, scalloped potatoes, artichoke hearts, salad (a real good one; George's
contribution) and blueberry pie.

Best to all.-Harry Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA
19119-1225.  215-248-4120.  Please, any off-list replies to:


=======================================================================
To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to 
with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey
=======================================================================