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Subject:

Toddville, Ferry Neck, July 24-25

From:

Henry Armistead

Reply-To:

Maryland Birds & Birding

Date:

Mon, 26 Jul 2004 10:04:30 -0400

Sunday, July 25, 2004.  Overcast, temps in the mid-70s all day, winds NE
15-20 m.p.h.  Tide high and rising.  A delightful, cool, breezy, largely
bug-free day with the only rain coming before dawn.  Up at 2:50 A.M.

My objective was to become more familiar with two remote marsh roads S. of
Blackwater refuge and N. of Toddville while doing some atlassing in their
blocks.  There has been a deluge here recently and the higher marsh and the
wooded hammocks in it have several inches of standing water.  Consequently
there are huge choruses of Southern Leopard Frogs, making it hard to hear
birds sometimes, and lesser numbers of Green Tree and Green frogs.

At the Cambridge Wawa at 4:10 A.M. the House Sparrows were already active,
hopping around looking for food.  Last winter I saw them here foraging well
before it started to get light.

Wingate CE atlas block, Cedar Creek Rd. segment.  This consists of the c.
0.6 mi. east end of that road, the only other road access to the block
being across Fishing Bay at Elliott village, where I did not go today.
5:20 - 8:30 A.M.  This is all marsh with no tree hammocks.  29 species
including:  13 Snowy Egrets, 11 black ducks, 4 Wood Ducks, 2 occupied
Opsrey nests, 5 Bald Eagles, a pair of hunting harriers (present the entire
time), 1 Least Sandpiper (seen in the dark; kept flushing off the road in
the car's headlights beam), 1 Caspian Tern passing through over the high
marsh in migration, 55 Seaside, 2 Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed, 1 Swamp & 3 Song
Sparrows, 70 Marsh Wrens, 45 Boat-tailed Grackles, 2 meadowlarks, 2
yellowthroats, 60 red-wings, 5 Virginia & 9 Clapper rails, a pelican, 2
meadowlarks, and 4 Royal Terns.  Also one bat.  This is a very rich
marshland.  The entire road is 2.0 miles long, high and sandy but with some
unsettling washboard, bumpy areas.  Goes out to near the mouth of Cedar
Creek, which empties into Fishing Bay.

Wingate NE atlas block.  Willey's Neck Rd. provides the only road access to
this block.  The road is c. 2.1 mi. long but only c. one-half of it is in
the block.  9:20 - 11:45 A.M.  37 species including:  8 House & 22 Marsh
Wrens, 10 yellowthroats, 95 red-wings, 7 Song, 1 Swamp, 2 Saltmarsh
Sharp-tailed & 24 Seaside Sparrows, 6 catbirds, an apparently different
pair of harriers than the Cedar Creek Road ones c. 1.75 miles to the south,
2 Blue Grosbeaks, 3 eagles, 2 Brown-headed Nuthatches, 3 pewees, 2 calling
bobwhite (a surprise in this marshy area), a meadowlark singing, 8 Glossy
Ibis, and 2 towhees.  Also:  1 Sika Elk.

This road is characterized by rich, fresher marshlands, including stands of
cattails, than Cedar Creek Road and also has many Loblolly Pine hammocks
full of singing landbirds today.  Nice beds of Sea Pink spangle many of the
"Spartina patens" and "Distichilis spicata" meadows, although they're not
as dense or as extensive as the ones at Elliott Island marsh a couple of
miles to the east.  A grown, live Loblolly Pine was recently hit by
lightning here with a fresh, resulting split or scar that corckscrews down
the trunk from the crown all the way to the tree's base.  Slender splinters
and shards, some of them over three feet long, were barked off of the tree,
some lying over 100 feet from it.  Several other adjacent big loblollies
have been blown over, I suspect by Hurriane Isabel.

I walked c. 1 mile in the marsh here.  At one time Marsh Wrens, numerous
Seaside Sparrows, including several stubby-tailed juveniles, and a
Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow hopped up into the tops of Baccharis bushes
and Cynosuroides in one small area, affording great views as they were in
turn looking at me.  On the Virginia Christmas counts it seems to me these
species do this sort of thing most often when it is overcast and rather
calm, especially if it is also foggy, even raining some.  A high tide
helps, too.  They sometimes adorn the vegetation like ornaments.  So often
they just flush and fly away that it's a real treat when they come out into
the open for an extended period.

Shorter's Marsh just N. of Liners Road.  The Trumpeter Swan of dubious
provenance is still here.  On the road was a roadkill Red Fox, not present
at 5:05 A.M. when I first went by, being consumed by 4 Turkey Vultures.

Blackwater River SE atlas block (on Shorter's Wharf Rd.):  a female black
duck and 4 downy young.

Blackwater refuge.  Worth a visit just to see the 1000s of big white marsh
hibiscus blossoms in the last impoundment on Wildlife Drive.  2 Least
Sandpipers and 8 eagles during a quick drive through.

I returned to Rigby for a 2.5 hour nap in the afternoon.  1 ad. Bald Eagle
at 5:05 P.M.

At Route 481 c. 2 mi. N. of its T-junction with Rt. 309 was a sort of
kettle of 46 Turkey Vultures getting ready to roost at 6 P.M. as if it was
winter already.


"Rigby's Folly", Armistead property on Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, near
Bellevue.  Sat., July 24, 5:00-8:31 P.M.:  10 Purple Martins, 1 imm. Bald
Eagle, and 2 Chuck-will's-widows that began calling at 8:31 P.M.  None
called the following morning here or in the area N. of Toddville in
Dorchester County.  Also:  a bat, a Gray Squirrel and 4 deer (3 does and a
small, spotted fawn).

As usual coffee and music help to drive a long field trip.  A small problem
is decompressing once it's over.  WQSR, 102.7 Baltimore, Bridesmaid
Weekend, great songs from the 1960s and 1970s but which were never number
one.  'Man on the run'.  'If you go to San Francisco'.  "We've got to get
out of this place if it's the last thing we ever do".  How could Credence
Clearwater ever have had a song that wasn't number one?  Never had any.  A
thousand or so grackles over the Middletown, Delaware, Wawa.  Their
breeding season must be over.  I am perplexed by the spaces at this Wawa
with stenciling in big, bright yellow characters:  "Drive Thru Parking".
An oxymoron?  A spectacular burning white van on Rt. 495, flames shooting
up 10 feet, with 4 fire engines speeding to it from farther north.  When I
finally retire I will miss the sugar rush and quasi pandemonium of the long
drives home.  Their slight overtones of Kerouac, Woody Guthrie, William
Least Heat Moon, and Walt Whitman will have to find their inspiration from
other, shorter, and better-rested ramblings.

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