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Subject:

J. J. Audubon at Hooper's Island in November

From:

Henry Armistead

Reply-To:

Maryland Birds & Birding

Date:

Tue, 7 Dec 2004 10:06:41 -0500

1.  Here's a re-run of my reports of Nov. 27-28 with the names Audubon used
(many of them identical to today's nomenclature), as indicated in "The
Audubon Society Baby Elephant Folio," revised edition (Abbevile Press,
1990).  This is such a "baby" that it weighs 18 pounds.  Our contemporary
bird names appear in my original account posted then.  Space constraints
prohibit re-posting it here as an appendix for conveniently
cross-referencing the old and new names.  I regret we saw no Nuttall's
Lesser Marsh Wrens, Cuvier's Wrens, or Bemaculated Ducks.  Too bad for him,
but Lewinsky's Flycatcher, Dimaggio's Bunting, Aaron's Hitting-away, Bush's
Liarbird, and Barishnikov's Tyrannulet did not occur in Audubon's time.


2.  Audubonized account.  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 buzzards (the
latter also referred to as Carrion Crows).  2 Sharp-shinned, 1 Stanley's &
4 Red-tailed hawks.  4 ad. & 4 imm. White-headed Eagles.  1 Marsh Hawk. 
TOTAL:  44 raptors.  

Elsewhere farther south on Hooper's Island, 11:30-1:30:  4 Horned Grebes. 
4 Brown Pelicans.  6 ad. & 1 juvenile Common Gannet.  410 Common American
Swans.  35 Dusky Ducks.  2 American Widgeon.  14 Long-tailed Ducks.  85
Surf Ducks.  2 Red-breasted Mergansers.  2 Sharp-shinned Hawks.  2
White-headed Eagles.  1 male Boat-tailed Grackle.  Also an ad. male Marsh
Hawk 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. Common Gannet, seen
plunge-diving twice, the first property fall record but not that
surprising.  105 Mute Swans (not in Audubon's books).  32 Scaup Ducks
(Audubon didn't discriminate between the 2 species).  95 Buffel-headed
Ducks.  310 Surf Ducks.  2 Black-headed & 1 Bonapartian gull.  1 Great
Horned Owl calling at dawn and dusk.  The Olszewskis killed an iregular,
5-point buck (Virginian Deer) today. 

A pair of White-headed Eagles tangling with each other over Trappe and
Route 50 c. 2:30 P.M.

Sunday, Nov. 28.  80 species:  

Blackwater N.W.R.  8 - 11 A.M. & 4-5 P.M.:  1 Pied-billed Dobchick in the
Little Blackwater River.  8 imm. Florida Cormorants (at the Seward's
Christmas tree reef).  Only 1 ad. Blue & 1 ad. Snow goose.  8,000 Canada
Geese.  475 Mallard Ducks.  1 ad. male Dusky Duck X Mallard Duck hybrid in
company with a female Mallard Duck.  800 Pintail Ducks.  125 Green-winged
Teal.  12 Ring-necked & 2 Ruddy Ducks.  28 White-headed Eagles.  4 Marsh
Hawks.  1 American Coot.  2 Black-headed Gulls.  20 Havell's Terns.  1
Mottled Owl.  1 Yellow-bellied Woodpecker in the trees by the Contact
Station feeders.  1 White-breasted Black-capped Nuthatch (and you thought
Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow was a mouthful) in the trees by the
triangular section enclosed by the road to the Observation Spur Road in a
mixed species foraging guild that includes Black-capped Titmouse,
Golden-crowned Wren, Ruby-crowned Wren, Crested Titmouse, Brown Creeper,
Downy Woodpecker, Yellow-crown Warbler, and several Brown-headed
Nuthatches.  1,600 starlings (not in the Americas in Audubon's time) at
dusk on wires along Egypt Road (Does anyone really know what makes
starlings tick?).  1 Fox-coloured Sparrow (singing).  Also:  1 Carolina
Grey & 1 Cat 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 Turkey &11 Black buzzards.  4 Sharp-shinned Hawks.  4
Red-tailed Hawks.  7 White-headed Eagles.  2 Marsh Hawks = a total of 63
raptors.

Elsewhere on Hooper's Island, 12:15-3:30 P.M.  7 Great Northern Divers
(plus 1 possible Black-throated Diver, 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 Great Northern Diver 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 Common Gannets (way offshore). 
28 Brown Pelicans (mostly hanging around the distant pound nets off from
Hoopersville; probably a low estimate).  18 Scaup Ducks.  2 Sharp-shinned
Hawks.  2 Red-tailed Hawks.  7 White-headed Eagles.  17 Kildeer Plovers.  6
Tell-tale Godwits.  184 Red-backed Sandpipers (164 of them roosing on the
experimental jetties south of Ferry Narrows Bridge).  1 Ruddy Plover.  55
Havell's Terns.  7 White-bellied Swallows.  110 Cedar Birds (about a week
ago tens of thousands passed by the hawk watch at Kiptopeke, VA, in one day
according to Sam Stuart).  65 Yellow Birds (a small flight taking place,
the birds flying north).   

Missed this weekend:  Purple Finch, Pine Finch, Red-breasted Nuthatch,
Hutchins's Barnacle Goose.  

SCARCITY OF YELLOW-CROWN AND YELLOW RED-POLL 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 Yellow-crowns 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 Yellow Red-poll
Warblers.  

On Sun., Nov. 21 Liz and I were visited my mother-in-law in upstate New
York.  On the way home we saw an adult Great American 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: