December 17-19, 2004.  3 days in Virginia & Maryland.  Jared Sparks & Harry
Armistead.  A 539.4 mile trip.

Friday, December 17.  A roadkill Barred Owl in Delaware in the Route 113
centerstrip 13 mi. N of the Maryland/Delaware line.

Ocean City, MD, area, noon - 2  P.M.  Clear, winds NW 15, 45 degrees F.,
high tide starting to ebb.  At the inlet:  a Peregrine Falcon.  65
Forster's Terns.  3 Common Eiders.  195 Surf Scoters.  28 Purple
Sandpipers.  35 Sanderlings.  2 imm. Great & 1 imm. Double-crested
Cormorant.  35 gannets.  60 Red-throated & 3 Common loons.  1 Bald Eagle.  

West Ocean City Pond, a quick look-see:  475 Canvasbacks.  45 Hooded
Mergansers.  6 Lesser Scaup.  95 shovelers.  4 Green-winged Teal.  4
pintails.  1 Great Egret.  12 Gadwalls.  1 sharpie.  Skimmer Island from
Hooper's Crab House almost bereft of birds: 1 oystercatcher, a few gulls.

Chincoteague N.W.R., VA, 3-5 P.M. (Tom's Cove & Show Goose Pool).  Low
Tide.  Sunny, cool, lovely.  250 shovelers.  1 Tree Swallow.  75 black
ducks.  65 coots.  45 pintails.  1100 Snow Geese (lots of immatures).  30
Tundra Swans.  6 Great Egrets.  1 imm. Little Blue Heron.  12 Forster's
Terns.  7 Bonies.  9 Horned Grebes.  200 Gadwalls.  65 Ruddy Ducks.  2 Snow
Geese had yellow collars:  HH7 & KX80.  A perfect, clear sunset with winds
dropping.  5 Sika Elk.    

In Accomac at 7:30 P.M. a Gray Fox crosses right in front of us, well lit
up by the car headlights at close range - a species I seldom see.

Saturday, Dec. 18.  Wachapreague, VA, Christmas Bird Count (Accomack
County).  7 A.M. - 5 P.M., 38 - 52 degrees F., winds NE 5-20-15-5 m.p.h.,
mostly overcast to clear.  Tide very low to high.    Michael Male ferries
Jared, Mel Baughman, Jack Carroll and me to the S end of Cedar Island.  On
the way out a stop is made while Michael and Jared change the propeller. 
Mel stays with Michael in his Carolina skiff w. 50 HP Honda four-stroke
outboard.

240 Red-throated Loons (offshore flight going on all morning).  45 Common
Loons.  10 gannets.  45 Double-crested Cormorants.  3 Great Egrets.  3
Tricolored Herons.  1 blue-phase adult Ross's Goose (seen from Michael's
Locustville yard overhead flying with numerous white Snow Geese at 200+
yards with my 10 X 42 Swarovskis; I realize many apparent blue phase Ross's
are held to be hybrids but this bird was the right size, much smaller than
the snows and blues, had a stubby, short neck, and a stubby "equilateral
triangle" bill).  6000 Snow and 200 Blue geese (probably a way too low
estimate of both; in Burton's Bay there was an "island" of resting snows
hundreds of yards long).  540 Brant.  34 White-winged Scoters.  3 Black
Vultures (actually on Cedar Island).  5 Bald Eagles.  1 Peregrine Falcon. 
9 Semipalmated Plovers.  135 oystercatchers.  47 Willets.  2 Whimbrel
(spotted by Jared; we all saw them;  warm brown, large shorebirds with
decurved bills but no trace of rufous on their plumage; as they typically
do on the VA Eastern Shore in winter they were well back from the water's
edge in the center of a large mud and oyster flat, at Hummock Cove NE of
Wachapreague).  only 1 Marbled Godwit.  30 Western Sandpipers.  4000
Dunlin.  4 Short-billed Dowitchers.  22 Bonaparte's Gulls.  225 Forster's
Terns (in sight all day, especially far offshore).  7 Ipswich Sparrows & 5
"regular" Savannah Sparrows.  A very poor day for marsh birds in spite of
the high and rising tide with but 1 Clapper Rail, 3 uidentified
sharp-tailed sparrows, no Seasides, and no marsh wrens. 

Found a dead Raccoon.  A Boat-tailed Grackle nest in a dead cedar.  Cedar
Island's Red Cedar forest, formerly extensive, is over 95% gone, vanquished
by the waves.  The inlet created by a NE weather system 8 or so years ago
in November at Great Gut Cove is only 100 or so yards across but seems
deep; the tide rushes through it impressively.  So about 1/3 of the island
(c. 2.5 miles) is S of this breach, 2/3 (c. 4.5 miles) N of it.  Michael
and Mel ferried us across to the north segment and then were joined by Judy
Fieth when they picked us up near the old coast guard facility on the
island's north end.  Early in the day Bonies, Forster's, and Red-throated
Loons fed around us at Wachapreague Inlet at very close range right near
the boat at the north end of Parramore Island, a lovely spectacle.

Quite strong NE winds make for much sudsy spume above the tideline,
clusters and windrows of it shaking, gyrating, and undulating spasmodically
in the wind, like gossamer bubblewrap.  Its limits of surface adhesion
constantly challenged, portions of it break loose and slide rapidly up the
sand like evanescent, bubbly hovercraft, gradually abrading into
nothingness after a hundred feet or so. 

I observe an annual ritual - eating some succulent, salty Salicornia, like
micro pickles, gathered from the edge of a salt pan in the Spartina marsh. 
I pass an annual test - walking 7 miles in hip waders without mishap.

Michael and Judy have an impressive bamboo thicket with chairs and a little
clearing in the center where they and friends sometime sit.  In their boat
are 2 perfect "poke sticks", used to pole the boat, culled from this
thicket, lovely dark-green poles a couple of inches in diameter.  The poles
fit perfectly in one's hand and are the best poke sticks I've seen. 
Michael and Judy's videos of various bird groups: warblers, sparrows, and
wading birds - widely available - are masterful, great photography, audio
and narration.

Compilation by Irv Ailes at Paul & Ann Smith's house near Onancock. 
Supper, brunswick stew, at the Reigers with Al Parsons and Jean Hungiville
(who bought Heron Hill, the Reigers' old property, which is nearby).  The
total is c. 120 species.

Sunday, Dec. 19.  Sleep in.  Spend the morning talking with George and
Barbara Reiger, Michael and Judy.  At breakfast the Reigers give us, among
other items, wild boar sausage, from one shot by George in South Carolina
this fall.  In their yard I see an adult Ross's Goose fly over with
thousands of snows.  From their second floor balcony, which looks out over
the Rattrap and Finney Creeks estuary into Burton's Bay with the S end of
Cedar and the N end of Parramore islands in the distance, there are 95
Green-winged Teal, 60 Hooded Mergansers, 2 pintails, 740 Dunlin, 4
Black-bellied Plovers and other fowl.  30 hoodies cruise up Finney Creek
actively feeding, with a few Ring-billed and Herring gulls attracted by
their activity, as are 2 Greater Yellowlegs off to the side of the rising
water, all benefitting, apparently, from their cooperative feeding
behavior.  570 Boat-tailed Grackles, loud and raucous, feed on buds in the
Reigers' shade trees, noisily enough so that they remind Jared and me of
some great industrial mechanism that has not been oiled for perhaps 17
shifts.      

Route 772, Hopeland Road s. of the town of Atlantic.  1 P.M.  A pretty road
that takes one out to Kegotank Bay, which is narrow, as is the fringe of
marsh.  Nice view across Kegotank to Assawoman Island, also narrow but with
a dense growth of bayberries.  The actual coast being so slim here, I'd
think this would be a goodplace to watch migration.  4 harriers, 20 scoters
(sp.), a loon (sp.), 30 Mourning Doves, 60 juncos, a kestrel and 6
Buffleheads.

Back to Maryland (Worcester County):

At the boundary at the intersection of Rt. 12 and Swangut Road an ad. Bald
Eagle is perched in a deciduous tree.

George Island Landing (Roue 366).  7 Tree Swallows.  85 Buffleheads, 40
Red-breasted Mergansers.  1 adult Bald Eagle.  3 harriers.  2 Great egrets.
 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk.  Off to the distant south one can see the causeway
to Chincoteague Island, the town, and even the Assateague light.  To the
east is Mills Island.  Lots of defunct seafood buildings and equipment. 
Today has by now turned overcast with occasional fine sprinkles, a cold SE
or S wind of 10-15 m.p.h., temps in the 40s, and it is raw.  

Taylor's Landing Road east of Girdletree.  Rain becomes more steady.  38
Tree Swallows (they're heading out - to the south).  2 Horned Grebes.  1
harrier,  4 Red-breasted Mergansers.  5 flickers.  Nothing in the adjacent
ponds of Vaughn Wildlife Management Area.

Time to head home.  3 Bald Eagles low, horsing around with each other,
right over Rt. 113 a mile north of its junction with Route 13 near Pocomoke
City.  North of Wilmington heavy snow and winds up to 30 m.p.h. suddenly
kick in.  Our last 30 miles or so are a little trying.  Goes down to 7
degrees tonight at our Philadelphia house.

GOSSIP (preliminary & unofficial).  George A. participated in the Bucks
County, PA, CBC on Sat. where the Herring Gulls attracted to the local
dumps were estimated at 175,000 accompanied by at least 15 Iceland, 3
Glaucous & 20 or so Lesser Black-backeds, plus a gnatcatcher, Baltimore
Oriole and Red-necked Grebe were seen on the count.  On Sunday at Cape May
the tally was 157 species but with several lists still not submitted. 
Among the birds at C.M. were 2 chats, 3 harlequins, a Marbled Godwit, a
Western Kingbird, a goshawk, a White-eyed Vireo & 67 knots.  George found a
male Wilson's Warbler.   

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