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Subject:

Dorchester County, May 13 & Ferry Neck, May 11-14

From:

Henry Armistead

Reply-To:

Henry Armistead

Date:

Mon, 15 May 2006 21:28:00 -0400

Dorchester County, Maryland, MAY BIRD COUNT LXXVIII (78th), in part. 
Several others were out today and when I receive all of their reports I'll
do a compilation and summation and post it here.  Added all up, they should
total new high counts for Chuck-will's-widows and Clapper Rails from what
I've gotten wind of so far.

MAY 13, 2006, SATURDAY.  Southern Dorchester County, Maryland.  Mel M.
Baughman & Harry Armistead.  Midnight - 9 P.M.  192 miles by car, 2 or so
on foot.  A lovely day and night.  No see-ums bad after sunset, however.  

135 species.  Not much of a flight today.  

Abbreviation:  EIR = Elliott Island Road.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Black-necked Stilt.  We found a brooding stilt on its nest, which contained
4 eggs.  Even though it was brooding, it did not appear unhappy or sulky. 
Independently Doug & Debbie Wechsler had discovered this same nest today.

Black Rail.  One was singing (calling) at close range.  At c. 2 A.M. we ran
into Dan Ombalski from Julian, PA, who had heard one calling and made sound
recordings of it.  About an hour later we heard our bird several hundred
yards south of where he had heard his.  The first one I've heard in the
county in several years.

Common Merganser.  1 male.  On the Blackwater River just upstream from
Shorter's Wharf.  Only the 2nd record for the 78 counts.

Bufflehead.  A female surprised us in Pool 5b at Blackwater.  I'm not sure
I've ever seen a Bufflehead at any season in the central Blackwater area. 
Levin & Diane Willey reported this bird, too.

Also:  1 Pied-billed Grebe, calling and then seen preening at Gadwall Bend,
EIR.  5 Brown Pelicans, 1 at Hooper's I., 4 at EIR (from McCready's Creek).
 1 Least Bittern seen at Shorter's Wharf Road, which was badly flooded.  6
Tricolored Herons at EIR.  6 Red-breasted Mergansers at Hooper's Island.  2
Peregrine Falcons:  1 from McCready's Creek at the Clay Island hacking
tower, the other in Cambridge flying into town from the bridge and then
divebombing an Osprey.  Only 2 bobwhite (at the T-junction of Andrews Road
& Rt. 336).  

RAILS:  1 Black, 17 Clapper, 1 King & 47 Virginia rails plus 9 Common
Moorhens (which have been increasing here).

6 Spotted Sandpipers (vs. none on May 6).  35 turnstones & 30 Sanderlings
(on the Tar Bay sandbars with 2 oystercatchers, which were missed on May
6).  1,475 Laughing Gulls, c. 1100 of these were in the field, often very
productive, south of Spicer Creek next to Route 335.    

TERNS:  7 Royal, 2 Common, 30 Forster's & 3 Leasts.  Unimpressive.

35 Chuck-will's-widows & 2 Whip-poor-wills (a good spring for chucks, or,
more likely, merely good weather conditions to induce them to call a lot). 
3 Red-headed Woodpeckers (3 localities, too).  1 Acadian Flycatcher (Old
Field Road).  9 White-eyed & 14 Red-eyed vireos.  Only 3 Blue Jays (West
Nile Virus, anyone?).  Only 2 flickers.  

1 White-breasted & 6 Brown-headed nuthatches.  1 Swainson's Thrush.  3
waxwings.  Only 11 warbler species.  8 chats.  8 Summer Tanagers.  5
Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed & 60 Seaside sparrows.  4 singing Swamp Sparrows
(EIR & Transquaking River).  12 Blue Grosbeaks.  30 Orchard Orioles.    

CONDITIONS.  A warm night and day.  Much of the time the wind was c. 5
m.p.h. from the South but it increased to 10-15 m.p.h. for a while in the
afternoon, then subsided to near calm at dusk, as so often, mercifully,
this seems to happen.  Temperatures no lower than the high 50s and up to 74
in the afternoon, down to 66 in the evening.  Mostly fair skies.  For a
couple of the wee small hours it was mostly overcast with occasional, brief
showers and clouds coming from the south.  2:30-3:30 A.M. the clouds had
drifted to the distant north with impressive lightning and thunder miles
away.  The full moon lit up the night skies with bright Jupiter above and
to its right.  As usual the May marsh was punctuated by many fireflies,
which I suppose are a different species than the ones we see in our yards
in June and July.  

TIDE:  A good foot-and-a-half above normal along the EIR (and rising here)
and Shorter's Wharf Road in the morning, high but lowering at Hooper's
Island in the mid-afternoon, and low and getting lower in the late
afternoon along EIR.  Drove through a cumulative total of a mile or so of
tidal water.  Washed off the undercarriage with fresh water on Sunday.

NIGHT OF THE LIVING FROGGIE.  Frogs and toads were quite vocal, especially
Bullfrogs and Southern Leopard Frogs.  Green Tree Frogs were not especially
vocal but Gray Trees Frogs, heard in 5 localities, were.  Often none are
heard.  When we left Mel's car at Best Value Inn at Cambridge a Gray Tree
Frog and 2 Fowler's Toads were calling from a puddle right next to the
parking lot.  I heard the uncommon Carpenter Frog twice near Savanna Lake. 
A few Spring Peepers, Green Frogs and Cricket Frogs were also heard and
only a few Fowler's Toads.

MAMMALS:  35 Sika Elk, 8 White-tailed Deer, 2 Striped Skunks (I seldom see
them in Dorchester), 1 Raccoon, 1 opossum, 8 cottontails, 8 Gray Squirrels
(most of these squirreleepoohs were in Cambridge), and 8 Muskrats.  A very
good Muskrat day; perhaps they're increasing now that Nutrias have been all
but eliminated.  No Nutrias (good! ) or Fox Squirrels (que lastima!).  

Thanks to Glenn Carowan for permitting access to restricted areas of
Blackwater N.W.R. and to Neil and Kate Birchmeier for letting us scope the
Tar Bay sandbars from their nifty dock at Swan Harbor.


Rigby's Folly, Armistead property on Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, 25124
West Ferry Neck Road near Royal Oak but nearer still to Bellevue. 

Thursday evening, May 11.  Some rain.  One thunder clap made the floor in
the living room shake slightly.

Friday, May 12.  46 species.  2 Common Loons.  53 Fish Crows, many of them
actively feeding on Red Cedar berries.  1 Brown Thrasher.  1 catbird.  1
male Yellow Warbler.  1 Blue Grosbeak.  2 Green Herons.  1 Common Tern.  1
imm. & 1 ad. Bald Eagle.  2 White-throated Sparrows.  2 Yellow-billed
Cuckoos.  2 waxwings.  1 Pileated Woodpecker, in the yard, briefly.  2
Chuck-will's-widows.  3 male Common Yellowthroats, all seen not heard.  

OTHER CREATURES/PHENOMENA.  5 deer, 2 bunnies, and 2 Gray Squirrels.  6
Silver-spotted Skippers.  1 Mud Turtle & 1 Southern Leopard Frog
(well-seen) in the Olszewski Woods.  36 Diamondback Terrapin.  A Winter
Jellyfish off the end of the dock along with schools of tiny minnows.  2
Fowler's Toads seen.  134 Loblolly Pines c. 9-15 feet high along the
Olszewski Trails are irreparably bent, leaning across the trails, from a
wet, heavy snow last winter.  I will cut them.  Just as well ... this will
open up the trails more to sunshine and give the more desirable deciduous
trees a better shot at the good life.  The blossoms on the Black Locusts
seem especially luxuriant this spring.     

BLACK VULTURE "NEST."  The 2 eggs found 2 weeks ago in the field goose
blind not hatched yet.  They took my advice and moved the eggs c. 3' from
the exposed-to-the-sky floor near the blind entrance back underneath the
seat where they'll be protected from the rain and sun.  If the young hatch
I plan to photograph them in a couple of weeks.  

Sunday, May 14.  Doug & Debbie Wechsler heard a redstart and a parula in
the yard.  A hummingbird buzzed the boxwood right in front of us.

Headin' home.  ROADKILL NEWS.  A freshly dead Beaver on the south side of
Route 33 several hundred yards west of Carroll's Market.  Did a U-turn to
check it out.  A medium-sized one with that remarkable paddle tail, sort of
like the obverse of a Duckbill Platypus.  Here there is something of an
isthmus where many roadkills happen.  I've never seen Beavers in the parts
of Talbot County I haunt.  From here to the Delaware line 5 Gray Squirrels,
some of them with a paw raised as if in supplication.  Woodchucks picked up
the slack from the Delaware line to Philadelphia but fell short by 1 with 4
kills.  4 deer including one along the Blue Route northbound lanes with a
Turkey Vulture enjoying the spoils and delectation.  It's a wonder they're
any animals left.  Drive careful, please.  For my own part I once nailed a
Little Owl in Spain, a Blue-winged Teal in Manitoba, and have also notched
several deer locally.  

Best to all.-Henry ("Harry") T. 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 ....)