SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 2006.
WEATHER. Sky: mostly overcast. Wind: SW 20 falling off to 5-10 then
calm at day's end, then rising to 20 after dark. Temperature in degrees
F.: 48 in A.M., fallen from 51 on arrival at Rigby last night at 10:30,
56-62 in the P.M. Tide: low. Precipitation: a very few, brief showers.
General: warm. Visibility: good.
RIGBY'S FOLLY, Armistead property on Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, near
Bellevue. Until 10 A.M. only. Didn't walk around at all but a nice
feeding frenzy in 2 Red Cedars visible from the kitchen with c. 30
waxwings, 6 Myrtle Warblers, and House Finches. One waxwing swallowed a
cedar berry about once every second. Once there were 24 House Finches on
the ground below one cedar. Also a Great Blue Heron in a field, an imm.
male harrier nearby, and c. 2,000 Canada Geese. 2 White-footed Mice in the
house traps since last weekend, both in the first floor bedroom.
CAMBRIDGE. 11:30 A.M.-1 P.M. Route 50 to Riverside Drive covered.
HARLEQUIN DUCK. Saw the imm. male briefly on the west side of the yacht
club right next to the bulkheading. I ran to notify 3 lady birders
(representing 3 generations of one family, I think) but in that one minute
it had disappeared. Once on the Cape Hatteras Christmas count we saw a
male harlequin that had been frequenting a similar marina situation, at
Hatteras village.
Other waterfowl: 2 Mute & 2 Tundra swans. 35 wigeon. 85 Mallards. 2,550
Canvasbacks (flock has built up, flocks of birds were coming in most of the
time I was there). A pair of Redheads. 1 Greater & 170 Lesser Scaup. 530
Surf & 4 Black scoters. 16 Long-tailed Ducks. 40 Buffleheads & 30
goldeneyes. 240 Canada geese. Threw out a dozen or so big cups of deer
corn at the Oakley Street overlook, which were well-received.
Also: the 2 imm. Double-crested Cormorants are still at the pond. 2 ad. &
1 imm. Bald Eagle. 2 Horned Grebes. 14 robins. 12 juncos. 2 Black
Vultures right over Race Street.
EGYPT ROAD. 14 Tundra Swans. 1,010 Ring-billed Gulls.
BLACKWATER N.W.R. 1:30-3:30 P.M. Tide very low. 3 AMERICAN WHITE
PELICANS at 2:30 P.M. in the Blackwater River opposite Pool 3B; good views
of them variously resting, swimming, in flight, hunting, feeding, and
walking. Gargantuan. 3,200 Snow (mostly in Pool 3A) and 265 Blue geese.
Only 4 shovelers. 145 pintails. 135 Green-winged Teal. 12 Common
Mergansers. 16 Bald Eagles. 7 Greater Yellowlegs. 16 Dunlin. 47
Killdeer in sight simultaneously foraging on the exposed, blackish, tumpy
mud as seen from the parking lot on the north side of the Blackwater River
where Route 335 crosses it.
The video in the Volunteers Office at the Visitor Center shows a female
Bald Eagle on her nest, which is in a pine close to Key Wallace Drive.
Peggy Tillier told me the first egg had been laid 2-3 days ago.
HOOPER'S ISLAND. 4-5:30 P.M. Tide very low. 360 Tundra Swans (over on
the east side of Barren Island). Some of the waterfowl, not a lot: 1
female Canvasback, 12 Surf Scoters, 60 Buffleheads, 4 black ducks, 40
Mallards, 12 goldeneye & 6 Ruddy Ducks. 10 Common Loons & 16 Horned
Grebes. 1 screech & 1 horned owl at dusk. 12 House Sparrows all the way
down at Hoopersville, where a house on the NW segment of Steamboat Wharf
Road has multiple feeders, usually with a cat or 2 lurking right underneath
them.
A few Long-tailed Ducks can usually be seen to good advantage from the top
of Narrows Ferry Bridge (but where stopping is ... prohibited). One male
flew across the road a few feet above the causeway paving, low enough to
risk becoming a roadkill.
Heading back to Rigby that night I saw more moths than I sometimes do on a
summer evening.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 22. Up at 3:50 A.M. At Cambridge at 5:36 A.M. 5 House
Sparrows were active, flying by and almost brushing me as I put on my
boots.
ELLIOTT ISLAND ROAD, 6 A.M. - 6 P.M. 81 species. Birds in scrubby areas,
woods, and fields were scarce but there was a good mixed species foraging
guild at Langrell's Island.
WEATHER. Sky: clear to fair to overcast. Wind: calm to NW 10-15 to NE
10. Temperature in degrees F.: 35-48-41, becoming raw at the end of the
day. Tide: low becoming extremely low, one of the lowest tides I've ever
seen here, with tide finally starting to rise some c. 3 P.M..
Precipitation: 0. General: a little skim ice on puddles, protected
ditches, and exposed tidal flat areas in the morning. Visibility: good
becoming excellent. Mileage: by car 83; by foot 2.
Highlights: 28 Blue-winged Teal at Gadwall bend along with some Gadwalls,
Green-winged Teal, 11 Hooded Mrgansers (only 1 male), 2 Mute Swans, and
most of the day's Great Blue Herons.
Owls: 2 Short-eared, 3 horned and 4 screech, the latter slow to respond to
my imitations.
Ruddy Ducks: 3,155, most of the little dears massed in several rafts in
Fishing Bay as seen going out the road to McCready's Creek.
22 waterfowl species incl. all 5 pochards (630 Canvasbacks. 8 Ring-necked
Ducks in the Route 50 borrow pit N of Vienna.), 185 Snow Geese (flying E
from the direction of Blackwater N.W.R. to across the Nanticoke River
somewhere at 6:45 A.M.).
6 Double-crested Cormorants at dusk flying out to roost on a platform out
where Fishing Bay merges into Tangier Sound
2 Peregrine Falcons. Visibility was so good in the late afternoon it was
easy to see through the scope from McCready's Creek all the way to c. 4
miles distant to the Clay Island hacking tower. When the birds were doing
acrobatics there it was quite clear they were peregrines. In the morning I
saw an adult male over Fishing Bay carrying a meadowlark-sized bird and
being harassed by an ad. Great Black-backed Gull, which he shook off
without too much trouble.
11 bobwhite together, sitting in a field, just relaxing and not feeding,
near the intersection of Kraft Neck and Elliott Island roads. The first
covey I've seen in years. This species is in deep trouble.
Also: 18 Great Blue Herons. 11 raptors including an ad. Red-shouldered
Hawk soaring and in full cry, one of the most beautiful of birds, 2
Rough-legged Hawks, 14 Bald Eagles. 2 coots. A female kingfisher sitting
on the wire at Lewis Wharf Road holding a large, fat minnow for minutes on
end as if savoring its prize before swallowing it. 625 crows, mostly Fish,
apparently going to roost out on Bloodsworth Island, where a huge wheeling
mass of them was later visible shortly after sunset, even though that's
almost 8 miles distant (through 32X scope). 2 Winter & 1 Marsh wren. 3
Brown-headed Nuthatches at Langrell's Island & 3 Fox Sparrows there, one of
them singing.
The only Common Grackles (9) and cowbirds (12) were in Vienna. Thank you.
A morning transit of the marsh road revealed no Mute Swans but by late
afternoon 3 pairs of them materialized there, perhaps on territory.
At dusk the black ducks get energized, becoming very vocal and active,
making frequent flights and sorties. To me their calls sound harsher than
those of Mallards.
Missed: Boat-tailed Grackle, Killdeer, grebes, loons, Horned Lark, rails,
shoveler, pintail, wigeon, snipe, woodcock (in spite of stopping at dusk at
their favorite stageing area, but it was cold, raw, overcast, and breezy by
then), kinglets, creeper, waxwing.
3 Red Foxes. One trotting by at close range as I was concealed and
spishing at Langrell's Island. 2 others were involved in an extended chase
right in the middle of Elliott village in broad daylight as if they were
someone's pet dogs. The only live mammals seen all weekend.
Found a perfectly good wooden canoe paddle in the middle of nowhere on the
road shoulder. Also a nice, plastic Schlitz mug that says "Go Terps", a
5-gallon plastic bucket in good shape, and a baseball cap in good
condition: "AFSCME, Maryland, one strong voice." Also, alas, a roadkill
Great Blue Heron that had been feeding, I suppose, in a woodland roadside
ditch near the defunct Cokeland area.
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 (never, please, to 74077.3176 ....) |