"Rigby's Folly", Armistead property on Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, near
Bellevue.  Sat., June 4 through Sun., June 12, 2005.  Vacation.

May 30.  Forgot to mention earlier:  a flicker seen carrying food.

June 4.  On the way down from Philadelphia following Murray Raynor-Smith's
memorial service 200 Ring-billed Gulls in one field west of Rt. 213 between
Rts. 301 and 50.  Big chorus of Green Tree Frogs in the Saffs' pond and
some, for the first time, in Michael Davidson's pond.  Sounded a little
like Elliott Island on a sultry summer night.  Hoping they'll spread to our
property.  Poetic, languorous cowbells pealing in the dusk.  A Red Fox
calling at 8:45 P.M., always a little eerie.  1 Chuck-will's-widow calling
after sunset.

June 5.  A 3.8 mile walk atlassing from West Ferry Neck Rd. through the
center of the woodlands south to Benoni Point (sneaking across 8 driveways
in the process) and then back along the road (Ferry Neck Rd. ).  10 A.M. -
1:30 P.M.  44 species.  Best was a Red-tailed Hawk nest up 70' or so in a
big Loblolly Pine, betrayed by small splatterings of whitewash on the
ground all around the tree's base.  One very large young out on a limb a
few feet from the nest craneing its neck and sometimes weaving back and
forth slowly, checking me out.  At the end of Ferry Neck Road are now 27
mail or newspaper boxes in a row where, when I was a boy, there was but 1
property.

Also:  Brood of 4 Canada Geese with adults at Benonit Point.  3
Semipalmated Sandpipers (late migrants), 1 Herring & 1 Great Black-backed
Gull on a sandbar at Benoni Point.  6 Mourning Doves.  4 Red-bellied & 1
Pileated Woodpecker.  Only 1 wood pewee.  6 crested flycatchers.  2
chickadees & 7 titmice.  3 singing and I calling Wood Thrush.  1 juvenile
thrasher attended by an adult.  7 singing Pine Warblers.  11 cardinals.  5
singing Indigo Buntings.  55 Common Grackles, many of them feeding deep in
the woods.  6 Gray Squirrels incl. 2 large young with a parent in
attendance.

Wood Thrush and the Chuck-will's-widow were species I worried about when we
logged 20 some acres of our mature woodlands c. 9 years ago when Liz and I
were both out of work with 3 kids in private colleges.  Both species seem
to be O.K. as are the kids.  This stretch of woodlands traversed today is
over a mile long.  Disappointing not to find any warbler other than Pine,
no vireos, tanagers, or cuckoos.  No Orchard Orioles either.  Much of
Talbot County is on peninsulas such as this and has a somewhat depauperate
avifauna rather in the manner of islands.  

Other taxa today:  A horned owl calling at 3:25 A.M. heard from my bed.  A
5" Five-lined Skink on the front porch.  A nose count of 45 Diamondback
Terrapin in the cove.  Fowler's Toads widespread on the neck.       

June 6.  30 adult Canada Geese and broods of 3, 3, & 4 in the cove.  1 Gray
Catbird, scarce here in the summer.  A large Woodchuck feeding on the lawn
clover, moving through it like Pac Man.  Power Winch wiring was installed
in my car by the Easton dealership today. 

CAROLINA WREN PROBLEM.  I didn't check the garage carefully enough when I
closed it on Memorial Day.  A Carolina Wren was shut in and found dead
today.  As they have for many years this species periodically attempts to
build a nest over our front door sill, where the screen door, when opened,
always sweeps away part of the nest.  In the past, when arriving at night,
that's where the key was hidden, and when reaching for it in the darkness
I've had a wren fly up my sleeve.  After pulling the boat late yesterday,
less than 24 hours later a partially completed Carolina Wren nest was
inside the power winch housing on my trailer inside the garage car port. 
Two years ago wrens nested at the base of the power winch housing - eggs
eaten by a Black Rat Snake.  Later that summer they successfully raised
several young in a nest inside the boat near the outboard.

June 7:  At Hooper's Island.

June 8:  At Holland Island.  Liz comes down for a 4-day weekend.

June 9.  A female Wild Turkey in the yard seen as we ate breakfast on the
back porch.  A 4.5' Black Rat Snake by the garage door.  These snakes and
Fowler's Toads also have an affinity for the garage and risk getting closed
in, not to mention the mice. 

June 10.  Blue Jay is finally "safe."  I "know" a pair is nesting in the
yard, probably in the big Willow Oak.  2 Double-crested Cormorants, also
finally safe.  5 Wild Turkey hens on the east side of Field 4.  40 Canada
Geese.  2 Killdeer.  2 Cedar Waxwings, not yet safe.  A nice, compact
kettle of 1 ad. Red-tailed Hawk, an ad. Bald Eagle, 3 Ospreys, and 3 Turkey
Vultures.  Butterflies: 1 Monarch (good Milkweed crop this year), 5 Spring
Azures & 1 Red-spotted Purple.  

June 11:  at Barren Island.

June 12.  18 adult Canade Geese in the cove accompanied by 9 small young. 
The local mockingbird, which has a rather limited repertoire, nevertheless
heard doing the KICK-KICK-KRRRR call of the King Rail 3 times.  Clapper
Rails also give this call.  Is the controversy finally over?  Can we now
say the vocalizations of these two rails are identical and inseparable?  I
hear different opinions every year.  Dillon Ripley considered them the same
species.    

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