77th DORCHESTER COUNTY, MD, MAY BIRD COUNT summary.  For details on weather
see my previous writeup for my own party that day, which appeared on
MDOSPREY around May 8 or 9, I forget.  A quick, but I hope not dirty,
summation.

N.B.:  For reasons that have nothing to do with MDOSPREY, I've been unable
to access it for a week or so, so forgive me if any of my commentary has
already appeared in that forum, perhaps as expressed by others.

166 species.  The BEST COVERAGE EVER for this count.  Midnight to midnight.
 6 parties.  14 observers.  Not much of a flight today with warblers and
shorebirds disappointing.  

To give you some idea of the difference a good flight day makes, George
Armistead and his father, just the 2 of us, found 168 species on May 13,
1995, and three other one party days I've participated in here have
reported 162, 162 & 163 species respectively.

This is probably all correct below but I still need to double-check the
numbers.  I have not yet totalled mileages and times.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE - the starting lineup.

1.  Jim Brighton, Mike Burchette, Matt Hafner, Hans Holbrook & Jim Stasz. 
The A Team.  The Neck District, Horn Point & Taylor's Island.  Midnight - 4
P.M.  c. 100 mi. by car.  119 species.

2.  Bob Ringler & Jared Sparks.  Nothing to sniff at either.  The county
north of Route 50.  4:45 A.M. - 4:30 P.M.  122 car miles.  106 species. 

3.  Harry Armistead, Joshua Stone & Roger Stone.  Southern part of county
including Elliott Island Road, Blackwater N.W.R. & Hooper's Island. 
Midnight - 8:30 P.M.  192 car miles.  135 species.

4.  Diane Cole.  West Cambridge (Jenkins Creek Rd. area) in the A.M.;
central county south of Rt. 50 and extreme south Dorchester, 5:30 P.M. -
midnight.  (Midnight!!)  

5.  Shirley Bailey.  East central county including Vienna and areas west of
there.  8:30 A.M. - 5:30 P.M.  

6.  Levin & Diane Willey.  Dusk watch at Blackwater N.W.R. for roosting
herons and, briefly, Cambridge (= Glaucous Gull).  The roost, at Pool 3, in
recent years with a couple of hundred herons or more, does not exist any
more apparently. 

Some interesting totals (party number may appear in parentheses):

Red-throated Loon 1 (1).  Only the 3rd May count record.  

Black Scoter 10 (1).  Only the 3rd May count record.

Ruddy Duck 9 at Hurlock (2).

Bald Eagle 57.  Party totals of 45, 1, 3, 2 & 6.

Cooper's Hawk 1 (1).  Only the 3rd May count record.   

Ring-necked Pheasant 5 (1).  There's an estab;lished (at least for the
moment) population on north Taylor's Island.

Northern Bobwhite 11.  Party totals of 2, 1, 6 & 2 say it all = bad news.

Black Rail 3.  At a location where none have ever been recorded (or tried
for?) previously.  For reasons that should be obvious, I'm choosing to keep
the location undisclosed.

Black-bellied Plover 0.  One of those anomalies that "just happens."  
American Oystercatcher 0 (probably present in Tar Bay as well as the
islands, which never get covered on the May counts).

Laughing Gull 6,102, including 5,600 in the area of the "Pig Farm" north of
Indiantown Road.

Bonaparte's Gull 1 (2; near Brookview).  This is not a good Bonie county.  


Glaucous Gull.  Seen in Cambridge by the Willeys.  Present for some time? 
First May count record.

Least Tern 14.  Nesting again on the roof of Best Value Inn east of
Cambridge.

Chuck-will's-widow 93.  Party totals were 28, 5, 26 & 34.

Belted Kingfisher 2 (2).  Much of the county lacks banks, so they are
scarce breeders here, usually found north of Route 50, if at all.

Red-headed Woodpecker 5 (1 & 3).  Most extensive lumbered woods with many
dead snags, areas cut 2-6 years ago, may have some.

Northern Flicker 12, party totals of 6, 2, 1 & 3.  In apparent decline.

Great-crested Flycatcher 73.  Doing just fine.

Blue-headed Vireo 1 (1).  

Blue Jay 22 with party totals of 3, 6, 3 & 10.  Not doing very well.

Horned Lark 48 with party totals of 6, 30 & 12.

Northern Rough-winged Swallow 2.  Scarce here probably for reasons as
explained under kingfisher (q.v.).

Bank Swallow 35 with party totals of 4, 30 & 1.  The 30 were at a colony at
the Brookview sandpit (RFR,JWS).  

Cliff Swallow 7 (2).  Small colonies at the Brookview & Sharptown bridges,
probably as far south as they breed on the Delmarva Peninsula.  Hal
Wierenga & Lynn Davidson first found them breeding in the county a few
years ago.  

Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 (1).  Usually a tough nut to crack here in May.

Veery 2 (1).

Swainson's Thrush 2 (1).

WARBLERS.  19 species.  Of most interest are the non-breeders: 
Chestnut-sided 4, Magnolia 2, Black-throated Blue 4, Myrtle 50,
Black-throated Green 1 & Blackpoll 1.  Party 2 found 2 Louisiana
Waterthrushes, which breed sparingly in the north part of the county, along
Maiden Forest Road.  On days with good flights single parties have found as
many as 22 and 23 species.  

Vesper Sparrow 1 (2).  Lone Pine Road.  Another scarce breeder in the
North.

Swamp Sparrow 8 with party totals of 3 (3) & 5 (1).  Sparse breeder in the
southern marshes.  

Rose-breasted Grosbeak 8 (1).  An amazing spring total for here.

Baltimore Oriole 5 with party totals of 1, 1 & 3.  Scarce here in the
spring.  Cf. 46 total for Orchard Oriole.   

Missed species, none of which is that surprising:  American Bittern, Little
Blue Heron, Broad-winged Hawk, American Kestrel, Merlin, Semipalmated
Sandpiper, Caspian Tern, Common Nighthawk (I don't think they breed anymore
in Cambridge), Eastern Phoebe (a few nest in the northern part of the
county), Yellow-throated Vireo, and too many warbler species to mention.

Jim Brighton's party (party 1 above) included folks who know well nature in
general and they reported seeing the following:

BUTTERFLIES:  Spicebush, Black & Eastern Tiger swallowtails, Orange &
Cloudless sulphurs, azure (sp.?), Eastern-tailed Blue, Red-banded
Hairstreak, Henry's & Eastern Pine elfins, Question Mark, American Lady,
Viceroy, Silver-spotted Skipper, Common Sootywing and Juvenal's Duskywing.

DRAGONFLIES:  Common Whitetail, Blue Corporal, Painted Skimmer, Needham's
Skimmer and Seaside Dragonlet.

HERPS:  Gray & Green treefrogs, Spring Peeper, Southern Leopard Frog, Green
Frog, Bullfrog, Fowler's & Eastern Narrow-mouthed toads, Five-lined Skink,
Northern Black Racer, Northern Watersnake, Eastern Kingsnake, and Eastern
Wormsnake.  

In this connection in the summary of my party's efforts on May 13 I
neglected to mention a big BROADHEAD SKINK I saw at close range on May 12
at Rigby's Folly.  It wiggled its way rapidly up a dead poplar tree in our
yard.  Its big size and energetic activity startled me.  I'd say it was
about one foot long!  A real grandaddy.

Best to all.-Henry ("Harry") T. Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia,
PA 19119-1225.  215-248-4120.  Please, as I never get tired of saying, any
off-list replies to:  harryarmistead at hotmail dot com  (never, please, to
74077.3176 ....)