"Rigby's Folly", Armistead property on Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, near
Bellevue. A very sunny, very windy, cool, weekend.
Saturday, October 15, 2005. Clear-fair, 62-75 degrees F., winds NW 15-30,
tides above normal. After 8 some days of continuous cloud cover a relief
even if the strong winds largely thwarted my boating plans. Rob & Emilie
Harting, Philadelphia neighbors, our guests this weekend. 45 species.
550 Canada Geese. 2 adult Snow Geese. 76 Mute Swans. 27 Surf Scoters. 1
Merlin. 2 Ospreys. 5 Chimney Swifts. 36 Blue Jays (most of these in 1
flock). 10 each at least of both Ruby-crowned & Golden-crowned kinglets.
1 male Black-throated Green Warbler. 1 Pine Warbler. 4 Bald Eagles. 1
Blue Grosbeak (previous late date was October 12).
Also: 3 Gray Squirrels and 4 deer. Two short boat trips, ea. 3 mi. or
less, but no fish caught. Nice looks through the scope at the nearly full
moon and not-so-full Venus. Jimmy Olszewski gives us a big box of big
apples.
Sunday, October 16. Clear-fair, 59-73, winds NW-WNW 15-35, tides slightly
above normal. After an extremely dry September the rains of the last week
plus very welcome. 43 species.
A fair hawk flight (for here): 21 Sharp-shinned & 3 Cooper's hawks. 2
Merlins. 4 kestrels. The accipiters trickled through all day, flying
steadfastly from ESE to WNW. Also: 4 Bald Eagles, a red-tail and an
Osprey.
27 Forster's and 1 Royal tern. 19 Chimney Swifts (amazing, esp. since this
ties their late date here). 4 Yellow Palm Warblers. 1 Brown Creeper. 35
Tree Swallows (but they usually show up here in fall with NE or E winds).
Also: 1 Gray Squirrel and 10 deer (the latter seen by Mary Armistead and
Michael Solomonov).
The growths of asters in sunny, lee areas, esp. on the S side of the
driveway hedgerow, attracted many butterflies, which seemed to ignore the
Goldenrod and Baccharis halimifolia. 30 Pearl Crescents, 18 Monarchs, 25
Orange Sulphurs, 8 Cabbage Whites, 3 Variegated Fritillaries, 8 Buckeyes,
and 12 ladies (both Painted and American) plus some little blue-gray jobs I
wasn't sure of.
A squirrelee squirrel goes nuts. Getting ready to launch my boat, I
removed one of my white rubber boots stored upside down on a 2" X 6"
vertical post far out on the dock. There was a walnut inside. On the
boat, slung high on straps out away from the dock several feet, were
several shredded walnuts in the aft section near the outboard plus a whole
walnut. Gremlins at work. Do you consider squirrels annoying, gnawing,
naughty, nice, or neutral?
Congratulations to 2 friends whose photographs are now on display. Mary
Konchar's photographs of the Blackwater area and its wildlife, "Blackwater
exposures", are at the Gregorio Gallery, 104 N. Talbot St., St. Michaels,
from Oct. 15-Nov. 30 (www.GregorioGallery.com). George Adams' photographs
of saltmarsh scenes, "Moods of the marsh: an intimate view through the
seasons", will be at the Interior Motives Gallery, 213 the Plaza/City
Center, Salisbury, Nov. 4-18 (410-860-0074).
OFF TOPIC. George A. spent the weekend on the Outer Banks where he was a
co-leader of one of Brian Patteson's pelagic trips. Saturday they were
weathered out but there was a good flight on land with THOUSANDS of Palm
Warblers at Pea I. N.W.R. George started to estimate counting by tens but
gave up because it was hopeless. They almost blanketed the ground with
hundreds more flying over. The Sunday sea trip went, found dozens of
Black-capped Petrels, numerous landbirds, a coot, a Tiger Shark, a large
Mola, and various dolphins. Last Monday at Kiptopeke (Wise Point), VA,
Randy Emmitt and Larry Brindza found a Gray and a Western Kingbird -
chasing each other!
Any MDOSPREY subscribers who would like to see my c. 4,000 word Kiptopeke
report, covering the period Sep. 24-Oct. 10 (plus a little Talbot County,
MD, information for Sept. 24 and Oct. 10), please either let me know or
visit birdingonthe.net.
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 |