Saturday, March 19, 2005.  Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, Dorchester
County, MD.  6:30-8 A.M. only, a rather quick circuit as the main objective
today was to pick up my boat, "the Mudhen", from winter storage at Gootee's
Marine, and return to Rigby to use the new boat lift for the first time. 
33 Bald Eagles.  3 Forster's Terns.  45 Common Mergansers.  1 Great Egret
(Gum Swamp).  40 shovelers.  2 Gadwall.  10 Wood Ducks.  9 Hooded
Mergansers (Pool 5b).  70 pintails.  6 Chipping Sparrows (Egypt Road).  In
a field west of Egypt Road 5 Bald Eagles and 5 Turkey Vultures were
attending a deer corpse close to the road and right out in the open.      
A fat Woodchuck, furred bulldozer, at its burrow along the Easton bypass at
Oxford Road, where there are several burrows with fresh piles of recently
excavated dirt.  A marmot for our times.     

"Rigby's Folly", Armistead property on Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, near
Bellevue.  10:30 A.M. - 7 P.M.  Fair, winds calm - SE at 5 m.p.h., 37-59-52
degrees today.  Visibility poor-fair in low haze.  39 species.    

4 Common Loons.  22 Horned Grebes (several in pretty good breeding
plumage).  0 gannets.  75 Canvasbacks.  270 Lesser Scaup.  12 goldeneyes. 
125 Buffleheads.  10 Long-tailed Ducks.  1,320 Surf Scoters.  2
Sharp-shinned Hawks.  3 Bald Eagles.  1 Osprey (none of the local nest
sites visible from our shoreline, which vary from c. 3-6 each year, seem to
have been occupied yet by arrival birds; they're late).  1 Great Horned Owl
(calling at 5:30 A.M.).  

Also:  4 deer, incl. the partial albino.  1 Cottontail.  A few Chorus
Frogs.           

Sunday, March 20.  Blackwater N.W.R., 7:30 - 11:30 A.M.  Official refuge
"Bird Walk": 5 of us -  Liz & Harry Armistead, Shirley Bailey, Cathy Cooper
& Gerhard Rauh.  Overcast, 45-54 degrees, winds calm becoming easterly
5-10, raw and penetrating.  Tide high.  62 species.

1 Great Egret (Pool 5b).  11 (only) Tundra Swans.  95 Snow & 20 Blue Geese
(flock landing in field on Egypt Road c. 7:30 A.M.).  0 pintails.  1 male
Blue-winged Teal (Pool 1).  55 shovelers.  10 Gadwall.  6 American Wigeon. 
6 Hooded & 40 Common Mergansers.  6 Ospreys.  35 Bald Eagles.  1 harrier. 
1 kestrel.  4 coots.  4 Killdeer.  4 Greater Yellowlegs.  1 snipe.  1
Laughing Gull.  2 Forster's Terns.  1 female kingfisher.  1 Pileated
Woodpecker.  1 Tree Swallow.  5 Brown-headed Nuthatches.  3 Golden-crowned
Kinglets.  30 Chipping Sparrows (flock along Egypt Road; I have yet to see
any that I consider to be true spring arrivals).  

Also:  Calling Chorus, Wood and Southern Leopard Frogs.  1 Gray and 3 Fox
Squirrels and a Woodchuck at its burrow near the boathouse.  On the
sighting sheets Greg Inskip reported 4 groups of Wild Turkeys in southern
Dorchester County yesterday totalling c. 150 birds.       
Rigby's Folly, 12:30 - 5 P.M., mid-low 50s, winds SW 5-10, ovc - fair. 
Visibility poor-fair in low haze.  30 species.  70 Canvasbacks.  300 Lesser
Scaup.  1,295 Surf Scoters.  110 Buffleheads.  1 adult Bald Eagle.  1
Laughing Gull.  1 Great Horned Owl (calling at 6:10 A.M.).  Big chorus of
Chorus Frogs and several Spring Peepers in W4 (Woods 4).  

Headin' home:  Groups of 17 and 9 deer seen late in the day along Route 301
between Route 213 and Delaware.  

Isn't it late this year, the plants and the birds?  I've only seen 1 spring
arrival Tree Swallow, a species that sometimes shows up in late February. 
The Ospreys are late.  Even so, a lot of the Tundra Swans, pintails, Snow
and Blue Geese, and goldeneyes have left for parts north already.  No
gannets yet off Rigby's shoreline in the Choptank River.  Few Laughing
Gulls in the area.  Late February and most of March has been real cold.  

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