"Rigby's Folly", Armistead property on Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, near
Bellevue.  July 9, 2005, Saturday.  5:15 P.M. - 8:45 P.M.  Clear, 84-80
degrees F., wind SW 5.  Low humidity.  2 inches of rain this week, some on
Tuesday and over an inch on Thursday night-Friday morning from the
aftermath of the hurricane.  A productive 3.5 hrs.  30 species.  

1 Pied-billed Grebe, 9th property record, all in the "fall", this the only
sighting prior to August 1; alternately preening and diving.  11 Great Blue
Herons, 8 of them in a high line heading towards Poplar Island (probably,
actually Coaches Island), ties 4th highest.  2 small, young Ospreys in the
piling nest less than 100 feet from Davidson's dock, standing and weakly
and slowly flapping their wings; in a normal year they'd be just about
ready to fledge.  42 Laughing Gulls; June is quiet for gulls here; after a
lapse, saw the first 2 "fall" Ring-billed Gulls on July 3.  125 starlings. 
75 grackles.  Latter 2 species feeding in the still-untilled fields, which
are full of asters.   

Other signs of life:  a bat.  15 deer (1 leucistic).  4 cottontails.  1
squirrel.  1 Muskrat.  As with last weekend, lots of small, baby Fowler's
Toads.  Green Tree Frog chorus at Tranquility (Saffs' pond).  3 American
Ladies.  1 Monarch.  2 Diamondback Terapin. 
 

Dorchester County, MD.  Some atlassing on Sunday, July 10.  Clear 77-89
degrees F.  Winds calm becoming NW 10.  Excellent visibility.  Not that
humid yet.  Up at 2:25 A.M.   Last night I dreamt I was trying to deal with
a mist net that held a peregrine, a harrier, and 1 other unidentified
raptor.  The crowd at the Easton Denny's at 3:13 A.M. puts me in mind of
Desmond Morris' "The Human Zoo."  And I don't supposed I helped that much.

Taylor's Island.  Scarce or lacking are vireos, phoebe, warblers,
gnatcatchers, Acadian flys, Wood Thrush, pewees, and tanagers.  No
red-tails.  

1.  Taylor's Island NW.  5-11 A.M.  75 species (50 by 7 A.M., 63 by 8, 71
by 10).

12 Ospreys incl. an active nest on top of a silo.  8 Bald Eagles.  44
Forster's Terns.  Gallinaceous trifecta:  1 Wild Turkey, 2 Ring-necked
Pheasants (well-established) and 7 bobwhite.  5 Yellow-billed Cuckoos.  3
screech-owls.  4 Chuck-will's-widows.  5 woodpecker species (no
Red-headed).  1 Horned Lark, seemed out-of-place, dipping up and down in
their typical slow, deliberate flight.  1 rough-winged swallow (probably an
early postbreeding bird).  5 Brown-headed Nuthatches.  2 thrashers.  2
Cedar Waxwings.  7 yellowthroats.  3 chats.  7 Indigo Buntings.  6 Blue
Grosbeaks.  1 Boat-tailed Grackle.  2 meadowlarks.  6 Orchard Orioles.   

Also:  6 rabbits.  9 deer.  2 Gray Squirrels.  1 Monarch.  4 Common Wood
Nymphs.  Heard from were Bullfrogs, Southern Leopard and Green Tree frogs. 
What's the buzz?  Cicadas.  Starting to sound off.  Didn't hear any on the
shore July 1-4.     

The old graveyard at Behlehem Methodist Episcopal Church is a peaceful
place (good thing; consider the alternative).  Pretty church, lovely
setting.  Some old graves go back to 1789.  A dozen TVs roosting in big
trees around the church provide a somewhat unwanted acent.  By way of
contrast Taylor's Island Family Campground makes cheek-by-jowl seem like a
description of wilderness.  A tumble of crowded trailers, it nevertheless
produced the only wood pewee, active martin colony, and Mallards, plus it
gives an excellent vantage point to look out over the Bay.  A 23-acre lot
with no buildings or bulkheading is for sale a mile south of there for
$675,000.  On the NE side of this atlas block is the inimitable Wilde Ass
Pointe tree farm and wildlife sanctuary - I kid you not.  The e's on the
end make it more palatable yet it still lacks snob appeal for some reason. 
Perhaps because there is no e on the end of ass.  Maybe I should change the
name of our place to Wilde Ass(e) Folly.  Please advise.

2.  Taylor's Island NE.  4:45-5 A.M. & 11 A.M.-2 P.M.  Starting to get
pretty hot but still nice.  Blazing sun.  57 species.  Concentrated on
Hoopersville and Smithville roads and the town on the island per se.  

4 Bald Eagles.  57 Canada Geese.  10 Ospreys.  1 screech-owl.  3
Chuck-will's-widows.  15 swifts (blasting around the marina buildings).  1
hummingbird (came in to screech-owl imitation).  5 woodpecker species
(missed Pileated).  30 Tree Swallows (probably all early postbreeding birds
from somewhere else; in 1 group).  5 Brown-headed Nuthatches.  8
yellowthroats,  3 chats. 

1 Sika Elk (Smithville Road).  Some Green Frogs.  2 Common Wood Nymphs.  2
Monarchs.        

Monarchs are suddenly widespread but not in big numbers this weekend. 


CULTURE.  Have the proofs of Scott Weidensaul's new book "Return to Wild
America", which retraces the 1953 route around mostly coastal America
followed by Roger Tory Peterson and James Fisher.  As with his other
titles: darned good reading so far.  This week want to see the new movie
"March of the Penguins" (probably at a theater reasonably near you), this
year's answer to "Winged Migration."  There's also a documentary on birders
that sounds as if it might be well-done.  Dennis Paulson's "Shorebirds of
North America; the Photographic Guide (Princeton, 2005) is terrific, 530+
photographs.  Some opinions, from the opinionated.

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