MARYLAND:  FERRY NECK (Rigby's Folly), BLOODSWORTH ISLAND, BLACKWATER
N.W.R., and the ELLIOTT ISLAND ROAD, June 9-13, 2006.

1.  RIGBY'S FOLLY, Armistead property on Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD,
25124 West Ferry Neck Road near Royal Oak but nearer still to Bellevue:

Friday, June 9.  Juvenile Great Horned Owl calls 22 times at dusk.  There
is a baby Raccoon on the rip rap rocks, about the size of a small cat.  It
just bumbles around 20 feet or so away as I nurse my St. Pauli Girl brew,
turning occasionally to fix me with its stare.  Cute.  Nice markings. 
Distant Green Treefrogs calling.  A few fireflies.

Saturday, June 10.  2 Yellow-billed Cuckoos calling in the yard.  An imm.
Bald Eagle.  A singing male Indigo Bunting, not present earlier this
spring.  Carolina Wrens have begun a nest inside the boat trailer winch
cable housing, something they've done in previous years.  Necessary to
stuff a rag in there so this does not happen.  Great Crested Flycatchers
are nesting in a bird house on the old phone pole on the S side of Field 4.
 6 deer.  A Red Fox kit in Field 4 (seen again there June 13).

Sunday, June 11.  Great Horned Owl calling at 9 P.M., call carries all the
way from Deep Neck.  Mysterious bill clapping in the yard at 9:05 P.M. - 2
incidents with 12 clappings each, perhaps the juvenile Great Horned. ("Feed
me, Seymour!?")  4 rabbits.  8 deer incl. a small fawn.  

Monday, June 12.  Much-needed rain in the morning.  A basic-plumage Common
Loon hunting fish in the rain, divebombed by the Osprey once ("HEY!  Those
are MY fish!").  Earlier I'd heard the first note of a loon yodel call
once, thought my ears were playing tricks, but then saw the loon and heard
it give that note again.  A Fox Squirrel on the SE side of Field 4, runs
into the woods.  This is the FURth record here for this superpooh; the
FURst one was seen May 8, 1998.  Hope they establish a viable population on
Ferry Neck.  

2.  LEAST TERNS.  On June 10 Jared Sparks scrutinizes the Least Terns on
the roof of Best Value Inn in Cambridge.  A ladder is left in place by a
utility company and on the roof Jared counts 48 Leasts, including 20 young
(2 of the young, as they do every year, somehow had ended up in the parking
lot, where they were being tended by their presumed parents). 

3.  SUNDAY, JUNE 11.  Up at 2:30 A.M.  A 28.4 statute mile boat trip (use
6.5 gallons) to the greater BLOODSWORTH ISLAND area.  Harry Armistead &
Jared Sparks.  Not to visit the glamorous colonies this time but instead to
do some of the grunt work of atlassing Bloodsworth's 4 atlas blocks. 
Mostly sunny and fair, temps in the 60s, sometimes low 70s.  

I am comfortable all day in 3 long-sleeved layers and clunky rubber boots. 
But windy, NW 10-20, pretty rough sometimes.  This slows us down a lot,
makes some of the landings dicey.  Tide low to high to low.  The high not
all that high due to several days of NW winds and even that falling fast in
the afternoon.  A very fine harrier day on the islands.  At least 2 pairs. 


Excellent visibilty.  Easy to see the western shore, St. Mary's County, 13
statute miles away.  The target ship 'American Mariner' stands out clear in
the shallows almost 7 nautical miles off to the SW.  So does the strobe
light on the tower at Ewell, Smith I., 12 statute miles distant to the S. 

ABBREVIATIONS:  BCNH = Black-crowned Night Heron.  GBBG = Great
Black-backed Gull.  I.S.S. = in sight simultaneously.  YCNH = you guessed
it!, Yellow-crowned Night Heron.  

4.  Cambridge Wawa.  3:33 A.M.  2 Bullfrogs calling from the little
triangular catchment storm pond, full of cattails, which is hemmed in by
paving and highways on all sides.  Several release calls heard, which means
a male in its misplaced ardor has glommed onto another male.  The release
call means: "Unhand me sir!" (aber schnell!!).  I've heard as many as 3
Bullfrogs here in previous years.    

5.  Blackwater N.W.R.  Quick drive-through.  8 Bald Eagles, 29 Great and 2
Not-so-great egrets (snowies, if you must know).  Water low in the
impoundments, very low in the tidal areas.  Hugh Sargent, Bill Kleh & I
made a visit here on Monday, June 12, for a couple of hours late in the
afternoon, when we found 2 Summer Tanagers and an ad. Red-headed Woodpecker
plus 4 Red-bellied Sliders. 

6.  Crocheron harbor.  Launch about 7:30 A.M. (I'd hoped to launch by 5
A.M. but there was a botched rendezvous), return at 5:20 P.M.  At least 5
active Osprey nests including one inside a tire on top of one of the
pilings.  As with the situation on May 28 House Sparrows are present again
nesting offshore in the Osprey nest on top of channel marker 3.  A Clapper
Rail swimming across a tidal gut here.  Muskrat nearby at Wingate.  3 Sika
Elk on the way down from Gum Swamp.

7.  BLOODSWORTH I. CE atlas block.  Fin Creek, 8-10:30 A.M.  Hard to hear
due to the strong wind.  27 SPECIES.  1 House Wren singing (missed on May
28).  11 Little Blue Herons (most rising out of the bushes, ergo apparently
nesting here, which is unusual).  BCNH 24 I.S.S., no doubt multiple nests
here.  1 imm. Bald Eagle.  10 Clapper Rails.  2 catbirds.  4 Green Herons
(probably the scarcest of the heron/ibis tribe on these islands).  2 Cattle
Egrets.  2 harriers.  3 Song & 20 Seaside sparrows.  30 Marsh Wrens.  6
Tricolored Herons.  5 Willets.  1 male yellowthroat investigates me at very
close range when I walk around on Fin Creek Ridge.  Strange to say:  no
Fish Crow or kingbird.  1 black duck.  5 Glossy Ibis.  18 Diamondback
Terrapin.  Overhead 2 A-10 "Wharthogs" engage in maneuvers, spectacular for
a few minutes.  

8.  BLOODSWORTH I. CW atlas block.  This is the NW part of the island.  We
make landings and have nice walkabouts at Okahanikan and Bloodsworth
points.  11:25 A.M. - 12:45 P.M.  31 species.  2 RED KNOTS.  1 Sanderling. 
2 harriers (a pair).  1 Bald Eagle.  3 oystercatchers.  110 pelicans.  1
Royal Tern (the only 1 all day).  5 Ospreys (at least 2 nests).  2
Mallards.  6 Tricolored Herons.  only 1 Willet.  5 Clapper Rails.  3 Barn
Swallows (nesting inside some of the debris the navy has left here).  125
Herring Gulls.  1 Laughing Gull (one of the few all day).  3 Glossy Ibis. 
1 BCNH.  1 Fish Crow.  25 GBBGs.  

Also: a Buckeye and a Mourning Cloak.  A few Angel Wings on the beaches. 
The Peterson guide to eastern shells by Percy A. Morris (3rd ed., 1973)
states that Angel Wings are "rare north of Virginia" but every year we
easily find them on islands of the central Bay.  A few terrapin.  Jared
fixes a GPS waypoint to note where the largely submerged Sherman tank is
offshore.  Wouldn't be at all good for the prop.

9.  BLOODSWORTH I. SW atlas block.  This is a rich block that includes Pone
& Adam is. as well as the N 2 segments of Holland I. and seldom-visited
(and seldom worth visiting) Northeast I.  1-4 P.M.  We did not land at Pone
I. this time but instead resolved to for once do justice to Adam I., which
I usually skimp on by just making a list while boating by.  Make 2 landings
and have 2 extensive walkabouts.  26 species.  

Adam I. has been in 2 large segment for a few years.  In the center of the
S segment are some live Red Cedars, a few big dead ones, and a nice
American Hackberry.  At least 6 Great Blue Herons nests in the cedars.  No
kingbird, catbird, red-wing (!), or yellowthroat.  Years ago the navy tore
down Adam's big metal observation tower, now used by nesting Ospreys,
previously by peregrines, and also left behind a huge generator.  Today I
find windrows of expended small arms cartridges in the midst of Adam's
coquillage, dead Horeshoe Crabs, rusting Marsden mat, and sea grass wrack. 
   

1 Peregrine Falcon (no doubt a visitor from the nearby Spring I. hacking
tower).  5 YCNH (probably represent 3 nests).  210 Mute Swans I.S.S.  175
cormorants (ergo there must be loads more nests on the middle segment of
Holland I. than we had estimated on May 28).  8 Ospreys, 2 nests at least. 
8 Common Terns and dozens of Forster's from the big colony at Holland
Island's nearby N segment.  3 Fish Crows.  13 Seaside & 1 Song sparrow.  As
many pelicans as you want, hundreds present to the south on Holland I.  11
Glossy Ibis.  11 Boat-tailed Grackles.  275 Herring & 70 GBBGs I.S.S. on
the distant sand bars SE of Pone I.  5 Willets.  4 Mallards & 11 black
ducks.  14 Little Blue Herons.  6 oystercatchers.  4 Marsh Wrens.  No
clapper Rails but no doubt they're here in the huge Juncus roemerianus
marsh expanse.  

Also:  5 Horseshoe Crabs (dead) on the N segment & 4 on the S, 1 of the
latter alive.  1 Orange Sulphur.  2 Monarchs.  2 terrapin.  I dead
LOGGERHEAD TURTLE on the N segment on the sand, carapace measures 30".  On
the S segment we see at close range 2 Red Fox kits, the size of small cats,
and find their den.  Lots of Angel Wings here.    

COMMON SNIPE 1.  A total surprise.  We almost step on it, it flutters away
displaying the orange outer retrices, then settles into the marsh grass out
of sight about 100' away.  Flies from the dense bed of Spartina patens and
Distichlis spicata in the manner of a bird flushed from a nest.  We look
carefully for one.  Snipe does not even appear in the index of the previous
Maryland atlas.  The nearest breeding areas, according to the BNA account
by Helmut Mueller, are central New York.            

10.  BLOODSWORTH I. SE atlas segment.  4:15-4:40 P.M.  The armpit of
Bloodsworth I. but nevertheless a beautiful site anyway.  There is a small
hammock here with 6, possibly 7, live Red Cedars.  Have yet to succeed in
walking to it.  13 species, mostly flybys.  3 Tricolored Herons.  1 Clapper
Rail (seen flying).  20 Seaside Sparrows.  4 Ospreys.  7 Marsh Wrens.  3
Laughing Gulls.  2 harriers.  Seaside Dragonlets by the bucket load.  
               
11.  ELLIOTT ISLAND ROAD.  Night of Monday/Tuesday, JUNE 12/13.  7:40 P.M.
- 1:40 A.M.  Harry Armistead, Bill Kleh, Hugh Sargent & Jared Sparks. 
Diane Cole happens by and stops to say hello in Cambridge on High Street as
we're getting ready to shove off.  Fair to clear, winds calm to SW 5,
temps. from high to low 60s, moon just past full rises at c. 10:30, very
low tide, hardly any bugs, except for fireflies.  

A beautiful night.  Beautiful.  Yes.  Rising over the Nanticoke River, the
nearly full moon hung over the vast saltmarsh, shone through piney woods,
bringing a full measure of enchantment, fully appreciated by us four.  The
only thing missing was Mendelssohn's Overture to a Midsummer Night's Dream.
 1 Sika Elk.  1 Muskrat.  No Nutrias.

BLACK RAIL 4, all calling spontaneously and continuously.  One of these was
going ki-ki-ki-krr, the others ki-ki-krr.  Not even close to the numbers
present in the not-so-old days but still my best Black Rail experience in
years.  

BLACK-NECKED STILT.  An adult hanging around the nest I discovered on May
13.  A good 1.5 mi. away we saw an adult with 4 small, downy chicks.  

OTHER RALLIDS:  30 Virginia and (only) 1 Clapper Rail.  4 Common Moorhens
at the Moorhen Spot.  

OWLS:  2 each of Great Horned, Barn, and screech.

AMPHIBIANS very quiet.  Only 1 Fowler's Toad, 4 Green Frogs, and 2 Green
Tree Frogs, all calling half-heartedly.    

Also:  1 Pied-billed Grebe (called 4 times at Gadwall Bend).  5 Bald
Eagles.  3 Brown-headed Nuthatches.  1 chat & 1 yellowthroat (both at
night).  3 harriers.  1 Dunlin.  5 Semipalmated Sandpipers.  1 Swamp
Sparrow.  1 Tricolored Heron.  1 Glossy Ibis.  25 Snowy Egrets.  only 4
Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows.  45 Laughing Gulls (no nesting area in MD
for several of the last few years; where do you suppose today's birds nest,
if in fact they do this year?).  4 Chuck-will's-widows.  6 Willets.  30
Marsh Wrens.  3 Wild Turkeys.  40 Seaside Sparrows.  3 Song Sparrows.  A
pair of Black Ducks with one downy duckling.        

"June is bustin' out all over."  

'til the next time.  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 ....)