Well, first the birds:

Saturday was an excellent shorebird day at Hart-Miller Island.  We had 21 
species including all three of the fall specialties.

Next, the weather:

Hart-Miller weather always seems to be mentioned in superlatives - extreme 
heat, extreme humidity, extreme lack of breeze, strong thunderstorms. 
Saturday added a new dimension to the story.

Carol McCollough, Danny Bystrak, Jeff Shenot, and I were the four observers 
of the day.  The clouds looked threatening before boarding the boat to the 
island, but we were undeterred.  We observed a red fox following the gray, 
gravel road around 9:00 a.m.   This sighting would become more significant 
later in the morning.  After birding on the island for about three hours, 
the rain began.  Looking at the sky, we were hopeful that it would pass 
fairly quickly, so we decided not to seek shelter at the State Park 
buildings, which we had passed about 10 minutes earlier.  Jeff was about 50 
yards ahead of the remaining three of us when he yelled out "TORNADO" and 
pointed to the east side of the island.  We were all on the North Cell dike 
on the west side of the island and immediately turned facing east.  Out 
beyond the east dike, we were amazed to see a funnel cloud stretching from 
the cloud deck down toward the surface of the Chesapeake Bay.  My first 
thought was to yell out "Auntie Em, Auntie Em!"  My second thought was to 
line up the funnel cloud between two stalks of vegetation to see which 
direction it was moving.  It was moving straight toward Hart-Miller Island 
and us and was growing in size.  As it approached closer, the funnel cloud 
width doubled in size, then tripled in size.  When it had quadrupled in 
size, it had two concentric layers, a very dark inner core and a thin, wispy 
outer shell.  The funnel continued to approach the island and we were coming 
up with contingency plans in the event that it made landfall.  We figured 
that the State Park buildings were too far away and were not tornado-proof 
anyway.  We decided that the best thing to do would be to run down the west 
side of the North Cell dike and lay in the ditch at its base if need be.

We were greatly relieved that our contingencies were not called upon.  When 
the waterspout finally reached the east side of the island, it began to 
dissipate - first at the base and then further up the funnel, until it 
eventually disappeared.  After thinking that all had passed, a second 
smaller funnel cloud was spotted behind where the first had been.  It was 
less well organized and eventually dissipated also.

We all stood there in the rain, a bit awestruck.  We thought of the "Wizard 
of Oz" and the similarities of Dorothy and her three companions and Carol 
McCollough and her three companions.  We figured that the red fox following 
the gray, gravel road must have been "Toto."  Someone mentioned that we 
should keep our eyes open for "flying monkeys" to count and to add to the 
island species list.

Later in the day when we finally reached the administration building, we 
paid no attention to the "man behind the curtain."

Every day a new adventure!!!

Full bird report to follow.

Gene

Gene Scarpulla
Millers Island, Maryland