Saturday, November 27, 2004. Fair to overcast, winds SE 10-20, 40-55
degrees F. Cool.
Jared Sparks joins me for the Dorchester County segment of today. Hooper's
Island, 10:15 A.M. - 1:30 P.M. Hawk watch at Swan Harbor Road,
10:15-11:30. Not much of a flight but the few migrants we see among these
raptors seemed to be heading north: 20 Turkey & 8 Black vultures. 2
Sharp-shinned, 1 Cooper's & 4 Red-tailed hawks. 4 ad. & 4 imm. Bald
Eagles. 1 harrier. TOTAL: 44 raptors.
Elsewhere farther south on Hooper's Island, 11:30-1:30: 4 Horned Grebes.
4 Brown Pelicans. 6 ad. & 1 juvenile Northern Gannet. 410 Tundra Swans.
35 black ducks. 2 American wigeon. 14 Long-tailed Ducks. 85 Surf
Scoters. 2 Red-breasted Mergansers. 2 sharpies. 2 Bald Eagles. 1 male
Boat-tailed Grackle. Also an ad. male harrier seen from Egypt Road both
days.
"Rigby's Folly", Armistead property on Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, near
Bellevue. 6-7:30 A.M. & 3-5 P.M. only. 1 ad. gannet, seen plunge-diving
twice, the first property fall record but not that surprising. 105 Mute
Swans. 32 Lesser Scaup. 95 Buffleheads. 310 Surf Scoters. 2 Laughing &
1 Bonaparte's gull. 1 Great Horned Owl calling at dawn and dusk. The
Olszewskis killed an iregular, 5-point buck today.
A pair of Bald Eagles tangling with each other over Trappe and Route 50 c.
2:30 P.M.
Sunday, Nov. 28. Rain 4-8 A.M. A partial rainbow seen from the causeway
of Pool 1 at Blackwater. Some thunder and lightning at 3:30 A.M. Overcast
to fair to clear. Winds calm then rising to 25 m.p.h. from NNW - NW - WNW,
gusting to 50 m.p.h. after dark on my drive back to Philadelphia. Temps.
47-58 degrees F. Ditches close to brimming over with rain water and with
easily-noticed currents. Tide c. 1.5 feet above normal and impinging on
and in some cases over the roads at Hooper's Island. Today is an official
Talbot Bird Club field trip with Levin Willey, Gordon Jennings, Danny Poet,
John Kristin, and myself. 17 waterfowl species plus 1 hybrid. No herps or
butterflies seen today. At 4:45 P.M. I see two 8-point bucks consorting
west of Egypt Road, truly splendid-looking animals. The huge areas of dead
and dying Loblolly Pines in southern Dorchester County and elsewhere (due,
I suppose, to salt water intrusion) sadden me.
Blackwater N.W.R. 8 - 11 A.M. & 4-5 P.M.: 1 Pied-billed Grebe in the
Little Blackwater River. 8 imm. Double-crested Cormorants (at the Seward's
Christmas tree reef). Only 1 ad. Blue & 1 ad. Snow goose. 8,000 Canada
Geese. 475 Mallards. 1 ad. male American Black Duck X Mallard hybrid in
company with a female Mallard. 800 pintails. 125 Green-winged Teal. 12
Ring-necked & 2 Ruddy Ducks. 28 Bald Eagles. 4 harriers. 1 coot. 2
Laughing Gulls. 20 Forster's Terns. 1 screech-owl. 1 sapsucker in the
trees by the Contact Station feeders. 1 White-breasted Nuthatch in the
trees by the triangular section enclosed by the road to the Observation
Spur Road in a mixed species foraging guild that includes chickadee, both
kinglets, titmouse, creeper, downy, myrtle, and several Brown-headed
Nuthatches. 1,600 starlings at dusk on wires along Egypt Road (Does anyone
really know what makes starlings tick?). 1 Fox Sparrow (singing). Also:
1 Gray & 1 Fox squirrel.
Hooper's Island. Hawk watch at Swan Harbor Road, 11:15-12:15, once again
few of these raptors seem to be moving but those that are are going north
into the wind: 35 TVs. 11 BVs. 4 sharpies. 4 red-tails. 7 Bald Eagles.
2 harriers = a total of 63 raptors.
Elsewhere on Hooper's Island, 12:15-3:30 P.M. Yesterday Jared & I only
went as far south as Ferry Narrows Bridge; today we went all the way down
to south of Hoopersville. 7 Common Loons (plus 1 possible Pacific Loon,
straight, thin bill and white auricular area well-seen but it is back-lit,
the big waves pitch it up and down so that our views are only a fraction of
a second each time, and it is at some distance with no Common Loon nearby
for size comparison; on the plus side it is not diving but preening but it
is slowly swimming farther way and more into the sun glint. Just not good
enough a view to make a definitive ID). 6 Horned Grebes. 8 gannets (way
offshore). 28 Brown Pelicans (mostly hanging around the distant pound nets
off from Hoopersville; probably a low estimate). 18 scaup. 2 sharpies. 2
red-tails. 7 Bald Eagles. 17 Killdeer. 6 Greater Yellowlegs. 184 Dunlin
(164 of them roosing on the experimental jetties south of Ferry Narrows
Bridge). 1 Sanderling. 55 Forster's Terns. 7 Tree Swallows. 110
waxwings (about a week ago tens of thousands passed by the hawk watch at
Kiptopeke, VA, in one day according to Sam Stuart). 65 goldfinches (a
small flight taking place, the birds flying north).
Missed this weekend: Purple Finch, Pine Siskin, Red-breasted Nuthatch,
Cackling Goose.
Change has come to Hooper's Island. Numbers of hispanics are there who I
think help pick the crabs at the seafood businesses. South of the bridge
at Fishing Creek a sign advises the property is owned by Chang Hwang.
SCARCITY OF YELLOW-RUMPED AND PALM WARBLERS. They seem scarce to me. At
Kiptopeke, VA, bander Jethro Runco and his helpers have banded 107 species
including over 7,000 passerines this fall, missing only one day due to rain
in the period from mid-August to Nov. 22. They had some good runs of
Myrtles earlier in the fall but later not many. Perhaps the early birds
winter in the deep Southeast. Perhaps the later ones winter in the
mid-Atlantic coast region, where Hurricane Isabel pretty much wrecked last
year's crop of bayberries. Jethro et al. have also had few Palm Warblers.
Thanks to Tom Miller for pinch-hitting for me by leading the refuge
birdwalk on Sun., Nov. 21. One of the persons on his walk was Jody Powell
(President Jimmy Carter's Press Secretary). Liz and I were visiting my
mother-in-law in upstate New York. She is improving after a broken hip but
is in a nursing home for the first time. On the way home we saw an adult
Northern Shrike south of Watertown, NY.
Best to all.-Harry Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA
19119-1225. 215-248-4120. Please, any off-list replies to:
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