"Rigby's Folly", Armistead property on Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, near
Bellevue.  Not much migration going on.  A subdued weekend. 

Friday, August 26, 2005.  Going up the drive at 10:15 P.M. a Spring Peeper
suddenly appeared on the windshield.  I got out and tried to remove it but
it hopped off into the hedgerow but afforded me the best (only, I think)
view I've ever had of this small tree frog.  Probably inspired by the
country and western song "I'm just a bug on the windshield of life."  

Saturday, August 27.  Overcast.  Low-mid 70s.  SSE 5-10.  Rain of varying
intensities into the early P.M. starting up again after dusk.  Tides lower
than normal.  

1 male Green-winged Teal feeding in the submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV)
bed, earliest ever by 3 days.  25th property record.  Even in his subdued
eclipse plumage the pale spot at the base of and to the side of the tail
shows up pretty well. 

1 Traill's Flycatcher.  91 Canada Geese.  6 Green & 3 Great Blue herons, 1
Snowy & 2 Great egrets.  1 adult Bald Eagle.  A female Blue Grosbeak
carrying food and a male singing frequently. 

In the yard I trimmed high branches on the Magnolia Grandiflora overhanging
the house, removed a large dead branch from a Red Maple, and a broken and
ugly but live branch from a Red Cedar.  Triple extension saw worth its
weight in gold, reaches up 20 feet or more.  Stocked up on camouflage gear
at the Shore Sportsman from boots to gloves and a hood and in between.  

Sunday, August 28.  Gentle rain most of last night.  Overcast with
gradually rising ceiling, 74-83, SE 5.  Very humid.  Semi-fair at day's
end.

2 Traill's Flycatchers.  2 kingfishers.  On driving down the driveway at
1:30 P.M. I flushed a Great Horned Owl that flew over the road for a couple
of hundred feet before disappearing, not drawing the attention of any
crows.

5 Monarchs, 3 Common Wood Nymphs, 3 Pearlcrescents & 3 Red-spotted Purples.
 Buckeyes are really scarce this summer.

Liz saw 4 Diamondback Terrapin in the big SAV bed.

Very few Sea Nettles this summer.

A good workout.  Spent 1.5 hours with hedge clippers clearing overhanging
vegetation from the Irish Creek and Choptank River trails.  Then 2 hours
with a small handmower mowing the rather high grasses and young Sweet Gums
from c. 80% of the Olszewski trails, pushing the mower c. 2.5 miles.  Some
trail sections require 6 passes to mow their entire width.  On the south
trail was a beautiful female box turtle with bright yellow-orange markings
on her carapace.  She was half-submerged in a muddy, wet area.   

This has been an extremely green August with nice amounts of rain off and
on all summer and hot spells that did not last very long.

Headin' home.  On Route 481 between Rt. 309 and Rt. 304 22 Eastern
Kingbirds were on the wires (Queen Annes County).  We've seen such numbers
here before at this time of year.

Corrigendum et addendum.  In my previous post I indicated 2 dates for
Dorchester County's first Brown Pelicans.  The correct date is July 4,
1992.  John Weske et al. banded a total of 209 Royal Tern chicks at Skimmer
Island, Ocean City, MD, this summer - 157 on the first go round, 52 on the
second.  

Best to all.-Harry Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA
19119-1225.  215-248-4120. harryarmistead at hotmail dot com