1.  Deal Island W.M.A., Somerset County, MD.  Thursday, August 4, 2005,
7:30-8 P.M. only.  Clear, 90 degrees F.  Water in the big impoundment along
Riley Roberts Road very high.  Consequently not much of interest other than
a big group of Great Egrets:  120 Great Egrets, 18 Tricolored Herons, 6
Glossy Ibis, 15 Snowy Egrets, 1 imm. Bald Eagle, 5 Seaside Sparrows, 1
Marsh Wren & 1 Caspian Tern.  No Pied-billed Grebes or moorhens.

Fri., Aug. 5.  Localities in the Smith I., MD, area.  Basically this was an
expedition to band nestling Brown Pelicans.  Dave Brinker, John Weske,
Nancy Richards West & myself.  

2.  Peach Orchard Point, Accomack County, VA, south of Smith I., MD, c. 1.5
miles.  Here there is a small colony of Brown Pelicans and also a few
(perhaps 10) Double-crested Cormorant nests.  I think this is the first
time the cormorants have nested at P.O.P.  We banded 52 pelican chicks here
in c. 45 minutes, then moved west c. 0.5. mi. to the 2 much bigger pelican
colonies at South Point Marsh.  Also seen:  2 Yellow-crowned Night Herons
(YCNH), 6 Glossy Ibis, 3 oystercatchers, 4 Great Egrets & Snowy egrets, and
c. 125 flying Brown Pelicans. 

3.  South Point Marsh, south and north colonies, Accomack Co., VA.  There
are 800-900 pelican nests here, down from c. 1,100 last year, but on the
other hand there are c. 150 pelican nests at a new colony on Holland
Island, Dorchester County, MD (which we may visit this coming Wednesday). 
Today Dave and John banded 415 pelican chicks in toto with Nancy and I
working as bird catchers.  Many of the chicks were small. These are easier
to handle and they also do not try to escape the way the bigger youngsters
do.  So far this year Dave and his helpers have banded 1,331 pelicans in MD
& VA, down from last year's record of 2,421, way more than any other year. 
There's also a small colony in coastal Worcester County for the first time
in 10 years or so.  

The north colony has several hundred cormorant nests, where John banded 10
young.

Also found here:  3 Clapper Rails, 7 Seaside Sparrows, 10 oystercatchers,
25 Semipalmated & 10 Black-bellied plovers, 30 Sanderlings, 2 Royal Terns,
2 Willets and a Canada Goose.  Also present were 35 Mute Swan and one
striking swan that was jet black, with a reddish bill, and conspicuous
white flight feathers that flashed spectacularly when the bird flew.  It
flushed readily from a lagoon, leaving a Mute Swan behind and flying
straight out into the open Chesapeake Bay for perhaps a third of a mile
before landing.  I suppose this was an Australian Black Swan. 

The nearby VA nesting sites for Royal Terns at Little Fox Island and south
of South Point marsh have been unsuccessful this year and some of the N.C.
colonies, according to John, have not been tremendously successful either. 
The colony at Skimmer Island, Ocean City, MD, is also diminished but John &
Dave and others were going to go there later today to band the 100 or so
young royals.  This summer no royals nest on Fisherman's Island for the
first time in many, many eyars.  Most of the region's Royal Terns are
nesting on Wreck I., VA.  

4.  Last night John Weske worked the South Point Marsh area until c. 3 A.M.
 He uses a technique to capture birds that combines stalking, use of a head
lamp, and a dip net, esp. on nights when there isn't much of a moon, and is
able to catch a remarkable variety of birds in this manner.  Last night he
captured 5 adult Brown Pelicans, a juvenile oystercatcher (which he
color-banded), and c. 40 cormorants.  In previous visits, here and
elsewhere, including Virginia barrier islands and in N.C., he has been able
to capture by this night stalking technique:  Marbled Godwit, Short-billed
Dowitcher, Black-crowned Night Heron, various gulls, and other species.  I
call him the Night Stalker, or Marsh Phantom.  A remarkable achievement for
one man nearing 70 and working alone in the dark walking through the
precarious marsh, lagoons, and various mudholes.    

5.  Apres pelican banding the 4 of us had the usual delicious celebratory
crabcake sandwich lunch at Ruke's in Ewell, Smith I., MD, a chance to
rehydrate, relax, and chat.  Not too many birds here but we did see an imm.
YCNH on the way out.  

OFF TOPIC:

6.  Ivory-billed Woodpecker (IBWO) news.  On July 30 I accompanied Paul
Sykes to Blackwater N.W.R. where he found a measured 39 Pileated Woodpecker
(PIWO) "gouge marks."  These are parallel grooves made when pileateds strip
bark away in search of beetle larvae.  IBWOs make similar gouge marks but
Paul maintains they are much bigger, their width apparently mutually
exclusive from those of PIWOs.  On August 2 Paul examined an IBWO nesting
cavity collected 100 years ago in Florida and now at the Museum of
Comparative Zoology at Harvard.  It contains gouge marks consistent in size
with those of suspected IBWO diggings Paul found recently in Arkansas.  In
the middle of last week came the electrifying news that on the basis of
calls and double knock drummings recorded in Arkansas earlier this year
respected ornithologists skeptical of all or most of the Arkansas tableau
had changed their minds.  Paul was elated, to say the least, to learn that
these recordings were made only a mile or so from where he had found
suspected IBWO gouge marks. (!!!!!!!)  There's been some phone calls back
and forth with several people but I think I got all this right.

Paul continued on to Cornell where there is an IBWO nesting cavity
collected from the Singer Tract in Louisiana in 1935.  There were some
helpful markings in that one, also.

7.  Somewhat coincidentally, last week I received "Woodpeckers of North
America" by Frances Backhouse (Firefly Books, 232pp., $39.95) to review for
"Library Journal".  This copy is apparently the finished product although
the accompanying promotional stuff says the book won't be published until
October.  On page 102 is a fine color photo of a Red Squirrel family in a
former PIWO nesting cavity.  On the lower right, somewhat out-of-focus yet
still easy to discern, are examples of PIWO gouge marks.  The caption
reads:  "Chisel-like marks on the walls of this red squirrel's cozy den
recall the labors of the pair of pileated woodpeckers that were its
architects and original tenants."  A remarkable photo on p. 100 shows a
pretty large Black Bear and a female Hairy Woodpecker staring each other
down on opposite sides of a big tree bole, the sort of scene that cries out
for a caption contest, perhaps in the "New Yorker".  So far we have come up
with: "Dr. Livingston, I presume."  "This town isn't big enough for the two
of us."  "You said WHAT?"  "Am I Friar Tuck, or Little John?"         

8.  Liz and I spent the weekend with Carl & Carroll Sheppard at Beach
Haven, NJ.  Carl has a new boat for his charter fishing business, the Star
Fish, made in Crisfield by Evans Boats (Eugene Evans).  It is almost 39'
long, over 14' in the beam, with 660 h.p. (2 Cummins Engines, 2 props).  On
Saturday we caught 5 Bluefish, each c. 15'; this was c. 2 mi. offshore
where we saw 5 juvenile (brown) gannets, a dolphin, and numerous big
schools of Menhaden.  Over the course of the weekend we dined on fresh
Cobia and Bluefin Tuna that others had caught and given to the Sheppards,
washed down with champagne. 

On Sunday I visited and climbed the marvelous Barnegat light, over 180'
high (200+) steps.  This gives a great view of the south end of Island
Beach State Park, where there are 23 Osprey nesting platforms plus a
peregrine hacking tower.  Outside of Barnegat Inlet there were 243 boats
fishing.  From 3rd St. in Beach Haven I also saw 3 juvenile gannets at 7:30
P.M.  On Mordecai Island, c. 1/3 mi. S. of the red water tower in Beach
Haven, there are c. 285 adult Black Skimmers, apparently a nesting colony,
which we passed 4 times during the weekend.  Usually, I think, they nest
farther S on the Holgate Peninusla, a unit of Forsythe N.W.R.  2 Black
Terns were near Little Egg Inlet.  
     
Best to all.-Harry Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA
19119-1225.  215-248-4120.