ADDITION to the Dorchester County May Count of May 14.  In my haste to get
out information on the two parties whose lists were at hand then I did not
make any commentary on Levin Willey's list, which arrived in today's mail,
a very welcome 3rd party for a county that often has only 1 party.

Levin covered the lower Choptank River, Horn Point, and the airfield on
Cordtown Road.  6:30-10:30 A.M. & again from 2:30-4:30 P.M.  He found 66
species including:  1 Snowy Egret.  1 Ruddy Duck.  15 Wild Turkeys.  13
Greater Yellowlegs.  3 Solitary Sandpipers.  3 Yellow-billed Cuckoos.  1
Pileated Woodpecker.  3 Brown Thrashers.  1 Horned Lark.  1 Grasshopper
Sparrow.   

Is it just my glazed, vacant stare or is Horned Lark missing from the
official May count list?

The Black Locust trees seem especially gravid this year with their abundant
white blossoms.


May 19, 2005, Thursday, 7:45-10:45 A.M.  Bombay Hook National Wildlife
Refuge.  A brief visit with Liz's cousin, Whitney Mallam.  Nothing unusual
but I'm sure it's there given enough time to sort through the great
shorebird spectacle.  Fair, temps in the low 70s, wind N or so 10 m.p.h.,
hazy.  Tide high but falling a little.

Conditions are good (drying) for shorebirds.  Several 1,000 at Raymond's
Pool, the commonest being Short-billed Dowitcer, next Dunlin, followed by
Semipalmated and Least Sandpipers, Semipalmated & Black-bellied Plovers
plus a few Greater Yellowlegs and Spotted Sandpipers.  3 Bald Eagles. 
Seaside Sparrows are common in the adjacent tidal brackish marsh.  5 Red
Foxes.  Oodles of Painted Turtles.  2 Scarlet Tanagers.  5 Red-eyed Vireos.
 7 Yellow Warblers.  3 pewees.  1 Ring-necked Pheasant.  40 Glossy Ibis. 
Lots of singing Swamp Sparrows.  3 Marsh Wrens.  2 Willets.  24
Black-necked Stilts.  8 avocets.  Also:  1 kestrel north of Smyrna.

Conditions are pretty good (muddy) in Shearness Pool & Bear Swamp but not
much is in them other than a few score shorebirds in each.  Several broods
of downy Canada Geese.

Tree Swallows seem to have occupied almost every "bluebird" house. 
Thriving Purple Martin colony in the white gourds by the Visitor Center
building.  Pretty goldfinches everywhere, Indigo Buntings nearly so. 
Glorious time of the year in spite of this cold spring.

Unfortunately I ran over a Garter Snake on the west side of the Bear Swamp
dike.

Not much on the clipboard except a couple of Stilt Sandpipers.  Didn't see
any mention of White-rumpeds, goldens, Curlew Sandpiper, Ruff, or
phalaropes.  STAY in Maryland, ergo.


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