Saturday, September 17, 2005.  10th DORCHESTER COUNTY, MARYLAND, FALL BIRD
COUNT.  I'll report on 2 other parties' results soon.  Diane Cole, Jared
Sparks & myself.  1 party, 150 miles (exactly) by car, 2 on foot.  5 A.M. -
8 P.M.  Weather:  fair-clear variously, 78-90 degrees, very hot, pretty
humid, winds all over the ball park - light & variable, SW, NW, you name
it.  A few wimpy showers before sunrise.  Very dry.  Tides high, above
normal, due to full moon and Hurricane Ophelia.

THE ROUTE:  Hooper's I. in the A.M.  Blackwater N.W.R. early afternoon. 
Hurlock Wastewater Treatment Plant in mid-afternoon.  The rest of the day
until 8 P.M. along the Elliott I. Rd., some of which was submerged with
tidal waters.  Big shoals of peanut Menhaden out in Fishing Bay, as
determined by Jared through an engaging conversation with a waterman at the
McCready's Creek dock.

111 species.  

OF MOST INTEREST:  

1 Red-throated Loon flying south over Swan Harbor Rd., Hooper's Island. 
Low, good view, spikey, thin bill, lacked the massive head and big, gangly
legs of Common Loon.  Really early.  A total surprise.  

1,200 Bobolinks.  Big flocks in the field at the end of Wildlife Drive,
Blackwater N.W.R. (field west of Rt. 335 near the broken-down silo and the
old house with the wraparound porch).  The next day we could only find 30
or so here.

Also:  all of 8 Green-winged Teal (1 year there were over 1,000).  3 Ruddy
Ducks (Hurlock).  45 Bald Eagles.  5 Ospreys (They are usually this scarce
on the fall count here).  11 Clapper (2 well-seen) & 4 Virginia rails.  1
moorhen.  3 golden plovers (sod farm on west side of Rt. 331 S. of
Hurlock).  90 Killdeer.  42 Sanderlings (Tar Bay sandbar just W. of
Hooper's I.).  2 Wilson's Snipe.  835 Laughing Gulls.  25 Royal Terns.  169
Forster's Terns (widespread).  2 Barred Owls (first species of the day,
excellent vocal display; the 2nd was a House Sparrow foraging at the
Cambridge Wawa at 5:30 A.M.).  1 Whip-poor-will (last bird of the day,
Elliott I. Rd.).  6 woodpecker species with 3 Red-headeds.  5 kingbirds. 
14 Purple Martins (roosting on one of the 2 very high pylons at Vienna). 
18 Brown-headed Nuthatches.  1 Winter Wren (at Elliott; seen & heard by
Diane & Jared; quite early).  13 Marsh Wrens.  1 Blackburnian Warbler.  17
Pine Warblers (many of them actively singing).  25 Savannah & 7 Seaside
sparrows.  

Some of the many species with ONLY SINGLES found:  Pied-billed Grebe. 
Brown Pelican.  Little Blue, Green, Tricolored & Black-crowned Night
herons.  turnstone.  Caspian Tern.  crested flycatcher.  Horned Lark. 
gnatcatcher.  Veery.  catbird.  4 of the warbler species.  Blue Grosbeak. 
Common Grackle (!).  House Finch (a male on the shoulder of a small road in
Vienna).  goldfinch. 

Species not found until after the first 100 species were tallied:  catbird,
Common Grackle, Blue-winged Teal (2 only), harrier (3 only).      

Interesting MISSES (such a fickle time of year):  Renee Russo, pintail,
shoveler, sharpie, any gallinaceous species, Pectoral Sandpiper, kingfisher
(but 1 seen on the day of the count W of the Rt. 335 bridge across the
Blackwater River by some kayakers I ran into on Sunday), Tree and Barn
swallow, Susan Sarandon, House Wren for the love of Pete, tanagers,
bunting, Song Sparrow, meadowlark, Boat-tailed Grackle.

COMMON YET NOT NOTICED MUCH:  bluebird 3, mockingbird 4, crested flycatcher
1, Fish Crow 4.

One of the ihglights was at the end of the day watching the pumpkin-colored
full moon rise behind the open pine forest clerestory over the Nanticoke
River.  Beautiful.  Enchanting.  After dusk it was hot and calm.  If it had
been wetter with fresh, standing water we probably would have heard many
frogs and toads.  Pray for rain.  

"The ancient pulse of germ and birth
Was shrunken hard and dry.
And every spirit upon earth
Was fervorless as I."  Thomas Hardy, 'the Darkling Thrush' 

However, driving up Elliott I. Rd. at dusk, as sometimes happens, silent
frogs and toads were swarming over the pavement, a veritable slalom course
for the circumspect driver.  During the course of the day we did hear a few
Green Frogs, some distant, tentative Green Tree Frogs, and saw a few
Southern Leopard Frogs.  3 Red-bellied and 2 Painted Turtles at Blackwater.
 Some d.o.r. Black Rat Snakes.  A Green Tree Frog or 2 for reasons known
best to them are now frequenting the walls and trash container sides at the
Blackwater refuge Contact Station.  

Considering there was no flight of passerines or hawks and that our lists
of waterfowl (8), shorebirds (12), raptors (8), and warblers (7) were
so-so, our species total was about the best we could hope for (the record
is 133, lowest in the high 90s).  7 herons was O.K.  Sparrows (3) always
seem hard to find this funny time of year.

Mammals:  0 Nutria heard or seen.  5 Sika Elk (1 bugling near Cokeland).  1
cottontail  1 Gray Squirrel.  1 Muskrat.  2 possums d.o.r.  0 White-tailed
Deer.  No Fox Squirrels.  

The Tickseed Sunflowers (esp. Pool 3) and white Marsh Hibiscus (esp. Pool
5) at Blackwater are spectacular.  With plenty of other flowers at Hooper's
and elsewhere plus the calm, hot weather we saw countless hundreds of
butterflies today, including scores of Painted and American ladies.  Dozens
of Cloudless Sulphurs.  Perhaps 35 Monarchs.  7 or so Viceroys.  Lots of
sulphurs, a few Buckeyes, a Common Wood Nymph, a dozen or so Black
Swallowtails, a few Red-spotted Purples, 1 fritillary (sp.?), a few each of
Cabbage Whites and Pearlcrescents.  I am sure I overlooked, in my
ignorance, many other species. 

Many thanks to my companions for chipping in for the very dear petrol and
keeping a careful record of bird numbers through the course of the long
day, not to mention seeing and (especially) hearing many birds I would have
otherwise missed.  On Sunday regular gas was $280.9 at the Cambridge Wawa.

Sun., Sept. 18.  8 of us on the Blackwater refuge birdwalk including Levin
Willey, Mary Konchar, Mark Perenti (and his young son) & myself.  7:30 -
11:30 A.M.  58 species incl.  2 Little Blue Herons, 14 Green-winged Teal, 8
shovelers, 12 Bald Eagles, a harrier, 2 Spotted, 4 Semipalmated, 1 Western,
10 Least & 1 Pectoral sandpiper, 40 Forster's Terns, 3 swifts, 1 Red-headed
& 2 Pileated woodpeckers, 1 kingbird, 1 gnatcatcher, 6 Pine Warblers
(several singing as yesterday), 3 Baltimore Orioles.  

Yesterday in our lengthy, energetic bird count we found only 2 kestrels. 
Today just driving down Egypt Rd. before the birdwalk I saw 8.  Makes you
wonder if they migrate at night sometimes.

5 Gray & 1 Fox squirrel.  1 cottontail.  3 Red-bellied & 6 Painted turtles.
 Mary spotted a Five-lined Skink climbing up a Loblolly Pine trunk on the
refuge spur road to the observation point.

"Rigby's Folly", Armistead property on Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, near
Bellevue.  Fri., Sept. 16.  Arrive at 10 P.M.  It is 80 degrees F.  A Great
Horned Owl is calling. 

Sun., Sept. 18, at Rigby Liz A. saw a hummingbird, a kingbird, and a
Scarlet Tanager.

Without any good cold fronts this seems to be an especially sparse
September this weekend.  Bluebirds seem to be down.

Headin' home.  A Vermont car with tags reading NUPTSE, one of the "lesser"
peaks in the area of the Mt. Everest massif.

UPPER VS. LOWER CASE & ABBREVIATIONS, too.  In my postings I try to conform
to capitalizing bird species names the way the professional ornithological
literature does, such as Black-throated Green Warbler, Bald Eagle,
Black-and-white Warbler, etc.  Also, Eastern Bluebird, Blue-gray
Gnatcatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Belted Kingfisher.  However, if there are
bird groups with only 1 representative species in our area I will sometimes
shorten this to bluebird, gnatcatcher, kingbird, kingfisher, etc., since it
is understood that one is referring to Eastern Bluebird, Blue-gray
Gnatcatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Belted Kingfisher, etc.  I also like to
follow the same format for other species of animals as well as plants and
use the same caps system that the pro. lit. uses for birds:  Loblolly Pine,
Five-lined Skink, Silver-spotted Skipper, Fox Squirrel, etc.  I like the
caps for species.  It affords the organism in question a sort of
recognition and respect, even dignity.  While making field notes I've also
found that using 4-letter abbreviations similar to those of birds but for
non-birds works pretty well.  Thus Silver-spotted Skipper would be SSSK,
Diamondback Terrapin DITE, Sika Elk SIEL, Loblolly Pine LOPI, Monarch MONA.
 Seldom do they conflict with bird abbreviations, at least locally.

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