In the time of Loblolly Pine pollen.  A fine yellowish dust covers
everything.  The Dogwoods are coming out strong now.

"Rigby's Folly", Armistead property on Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, near
Bellevue.  Saturday, April 24, 2004.  Overcast becoming fair.  56 - 73
degrees F.  Winds NW 10-5.  A pretty day, somewhat cool.  Worked in the
house c. 8 A.M. - 3 P.M.  Tides low.  Did brush work on the Olszewski
Trails 4 - 5:30 P.M.  1,120 Surf Scoters still present (farther offshore
than previously this spring) but only saw 6 Buffleheads.  Also:  3
Red-breasted Mergansers, 11 Common Loons, 1 Snowy Egret, 1 ad. Red-tailed
Hawk, 1 Pileated Woodpecker (giving its full call), 1 Eastern Kingbird, 1
Green Heron.  In a Sweet Gum sapling right next to the west Olszewski Trail
I found last year's White-eyed Vireo nest about 5 feet off the ground; how
I missed it in 2003 I don't know.  Dragonflies conspicuous along the
trails.

Zero Lesser Scaup and gannets.  The Ospreys on Channel Marker 4 continue
their fruitless efforts to build a nest in an impossible location.  Our
fields have not yet been tilled, are lovely and green with cattails coming
up.  Lawn cut for the first time this week.

Also:  1 female Box Turtle towards the middle of the Big Field, 1 Muskrat
near the dock at dusk, 1 American Lady, 1 Diamondback Terrapin, 1 Tiger
Swallowtail, and 10 Cabbage Whites.  2 Tree Swallows investigating the
occupied bluebird box along the driveway.  The Mute Swan pen still on her
nest.

Sunday, April 25.  Clear becoming overcast.  A cold, raw east wind 10-15+
m.p.h.  55-65 degrees F.  A chilly morning.  At Rigby, a Wild Turkey
gobbling in the distance at 5:45 A.M.  A Chuck-will's-widow calling
vigorously at 6 A.M.  I listened for them the evenings of April 23 and 24
with no luck.  Two Eastern Cottontails at 6 A.M. alongside the sumpy, wide
ditch visible from inside the Easton Denny's (booth on the south side),
where grackles and starlings were feeding in the mud, one starling taking
nesting material to an adjacent post with a lamp.  Small willows, cattails,
and Panicum grow in or next to this ditch.

Blackwater N.W.R.  17 persons on the bird walk including Levin Willey, Jim
Brighton, and Hans Holbrook.  1 Sika Deer in a wheat field along Egypt
Road.  A lovely male Prothonotary Warbler at the wooded swamp on Egypt Rd.
("The Prothonotary Spot").  Levin had 2 there on April 18, an early date
for Dorchester.  A Fox Squirrel on Wildlife Drive.  Several Painted and
Red-bellied Turtles and a Tiger Swallowtail.  Tidal waters low, freshwater
areas high.

76 bird species (some of these seen only by others we ran into on the
refuge) including:  5 Cattle Egrets, 2 pintails, 8 Gadwalls, 6 wigeon, 20
Bald Eagles, 3 bobwhite giving their primary call, a Solitary Sandpiper, 1
Caspian Tern, a Least Tern, a hummingbird, a House Wren, a gnatcatcher, a
Yellow Warbler, an Ovenbird, 4 singing Summer Tanagers, a Blue Grosbeak,
and a Grasshopper Sparrow.  I was surprised to find no Orchard Orioles.

Other birds seen locally but not by us in the past day or so:
Yellow-billed Cuckoo and Red-eyed Vireo.  Levin Willey has begun checking
on the dusk roost of herons in the willows of Pool 3 and reports a couple
of hundreds or more.

Maple Dam Road.  A recently dead roadkill Fox Squirrel c. 100 yards S of
4275 Maple Dam Road and a little north of the new impoundments that are
west of this road.

Route 309 communications tower just NW of Rts. 309 X 404:  the Ospreys are
back at this very high, inland nest, which survived Hurricane Isabel; I've
been watching it all spring but this is the first time I've seen the
Ospreys there in 2004; it was occupied in 2003 also.  Route 309 ponds
between Rts. 481 and 213 heading northwest on 309.  Pond 1:  1 Great Blue
Heron, 8 Lesser and 3 Greater yellowlegs, 2 Least and 1 Pectoral sandpiper,
the Canada Goose still on its nest, and 1 Painted Turtle.  Pond 2:  1
Greater Yellowlegs, 7 Canada Geese and 1 Eastern Meadowlark singing nearby.
 Pond 3:  nothing.  In the "town" of Starr:  a Black Rat Snake d.o.r. and 4
Black Vultures.  Pond 4:  5 Painted Turtles.  Pond 5 ("the Route 309
Pond"):  1 Greater Yellowlegs, 2 American Black Ducks, 2 Mallards, 75
Canada Geese, 4 Gadwalls, 1 male American Wigeon, 6 Green-winged Teal.  The
big pond just SE of Rts. 213 X 301:  1 Glossy Ibis, 7 Lesser and 1 Greater
yellowlegs.  The little pond right next to it has been drained, as it was
also last summer.  Pond 5 always seems to have the most birds; it is the
largest and the farthest from the road also.

Route 301:  A dead Woodchuck at mile 102.3.  R.I.P.

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
=======================================================================