Another biriparian report:

LOWER EASTERN SHORE OF MARYLAND & VIRGINIA, July 22-24, 2006.

VIRGINIA, July 22-23.

July 22, Saturday:

CAUSEWAY to Chincoteague.  Hundreds of Laughing Gulls nesting in the
marshes off the eastern part of the causeway, esp. on the N. side.

CHINCOTEAGUE N.W.R.  4:50-6:45 P.M. only.  Everything is very green. 
Impoundments full of water of moderate depth.  Tide rising, c. 1' above
normal, strong S winds.  85 Stilt Sandpipers.  110 Lesser Yellowlegs.  10
Least Terns.  20 Little Blue Herons.  35 Glossy Ibis.  375 Canada Geese.  1
Willet.  12 Black Skimmers.  2 Brown Pelicans.  40 Short-billed Dowitchers.
 Also: 2 Muskrats copulating.  19 Sika Elk, most of these stags in one
tight group.   

Chincoteague visitation is so heavy now.  18 cars lined up at the entrance
contact station waiting to pay fees.  In town one sees such phenomena as
Hot Dog in Paradise, Mister Whippy, Little Saigon, and Blue Crab Boutique
across the street from Blue Crab Gallery & Gifts.  Older, established
entities such as Buzzard Swamp motel and Chicken City Road seem innocuous
by comparison.  

The book store on the right just before the bridge where you turn to leave
the island is quite civilized and delightfully cluttered (Irene Rouse
Bookseller, 4073 Main Street).  I acquired "Birdlife of Virginia" by Joseph
J. Shomon (VA Commission of Game & Inland Fisheries, 1957, 88pp.) and
"Beyond the food patch: a guide to providing bobwhite quail habitat" by Irv
Kenyon (VDG&IF, 2000, 44pp.). 

A dozen horse trailers on the refuge roads.  The roundup is starting for
this week's pony penning festival.  My nickname for Chincoteague, intended
to underscore the tourism that is beginning to run rampant, and not to
denigrate the lovely place itself, is, in its unvarnished glory: "pony plop
heaven."  

WILLIS WHARF.  7:45 P.M.   Tide a good 1.5' above normal.  No chance of
finding the godwit/Willet flock.  2 Spotted Sandpipers.  85 Boat-tailed
Grackles.

EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA N.W.R.  1 screech-owl calling when I arrive at
dusk plus another one seen.

VIRGINIA, July 23, Sunday.  Annual Delmarva Tip butterfly count conducted
within the same circle as Cape Charles Christmas Bird Count.  Lynn Davidson
is the compiler.  I tag along with Bob Ake & Brian Taber and we find 27
species, most common being Silver-spotted Skipper (46) and Spicebush
Swallowtail (29).  Lynn, Hal Wierenga & Sue Ricciardi find 31 species. 
Other participants include Teta Kain and her entourage, Larry Brindza, and
Ned Brinkley, perhaps others I'm unaware of.  Much of the day is humid and
oppressive.  Some sun in the morning, hardly any in the afternoon.

I help look for butterflies, am first to find Variegated Fritillary and
Question Mark, but do spend much of the time birding.  Bob and Brian know
butterflies (and their preferred plants) in depth and this is an excellent
chance for me to learn, which I didn't completely squander by birding.

RAMP LANE on the S end of Eastern Shore of Virginia N.W.R.:  12 White Ibis
(Hal, Lynn & Sue later see 80+).  52 Great & 18 Snowy egrets.  1 imm.
Yellow-crowned night, 4 Black-crowned night, 1 Green, 7 Tricolored & 5
Great Blue herons.  7 Clapper Rails.  7 Semipalmated Plovers.  1 Bald
Eagle.  4 hummingbirds.  9 Orchard Orioles.  A Peregrine Falcon coursing
over the refuge fields.  5 Yellow-billed Cuckoos.  Brian Taber sees an
AMERICAN BITTERN, 2 waxwings, and 7 Gull-billed Terns here.

OYSTER.  Tide VERY low.  11 Black Skimmers.  30 Short-billed Dowitchers.  1
Greater Yellowlegs.  2 Whimbrel (flyovers).  5 Black Vultures.  20 probable
Marbled Godwits (1 of this flock of same-sized, at-the-same-distance
shorebirds flew and was definitely a MAGO).  

OYSTER LANDFILL.  2 Spotted Sandpipers.  145 Canada Geese.  2 Cattle
Egrets.  1 Blue Grosbeak.  80 Black Vultures.  1 Red-bellied Slider.  The
proposed improvements and gentrification of this site have not taken place
since I was last here in the fall.  In fact, the ones that were done by
that time have deteriorated somewhat.  No lattes, yogurt, or sorbet this
year, it would seem.    

During the course of the day we see some migrants: a Prothonotary & 3
Yellow warblers plus non-migrants - a Gray Squirrel, 12 Eastern
Cottontails, and 4 deer.    

MARYLAND, July 24, Monday:

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

Racoon on the driveway at 11:50 P.M., July 23.  Orchard Oriole still
singing away, and very often, the morning of July 24, a species that will
go underground soon and become hard, at least for me, to find in August. 
The SAV in the cove continues to be luxuriant, like it was in the old days.

CLAIBORNE CW ATLAS BLOCK, Talbot County.  Stan Arnold put me onto this
atlas block on the shore of Chesapeake Bay W of Wittman and N of Tilghman
Island.  Its only land is a small triangular area I'd guess to be c. 10
acres.  Far to the SW the Poplar Island archipelago is visible.  Due W is
the S tip of Kent Island.  Nice little beaches, some remnants of salt
marsh, no buildings, and patches of woodlands with sizeable locusts,
Persimmons, and cherries.  Lots of Phragmites [large areas of phrags have
been killed this year at Chincoteague N.W.R. & Oyster; apparently Roundup
works very well if applied at the right stage of growth].  Also an
overgrown field but with rows of recently planted small loblollies and
deciduous trees (the latter protected by plastic tubes).  Someone is making
very nice future habitat here.

Nine dead Horseshoe Crabs on the beaches.  The Bay water here is shallow,
clear, with much SAV, and schools of minnows.  A big pine bole is washed up
on the beach, 78' long.  Spent 2 delightful hours 11:30 A.M. - 1:30 P.M.  A
rich little area.  34 species.  Mostly Xs with a few Os.  I realize some of
these species are not "safe".  But ... the complete list herewith:

Double-crested Cormorant 1.  Great Blue Heron 2.  Snowy Egret 2.  Black
Vulture 2.  Turkey Vulture 6.  Mute Swan 47.  Osprey 3.  Red-tailed Hawk 2.
 Bald Eagle 1.  Spotted Sandpiper 1.  Great Black-backed Gull 2 adults. 
Herring Gull 3 adults.  Laughing Gull 1 adult.  Royal Tern 1.  Common Tern
16.  Ruby-throated Humingbird 1.  Northern Flicker 1.  Eastern Kingbird 3. 
Great Crested Flycatcher 1.  Tree Swallow 1.  Barn Swallow 6.  Purple
Martin 1.  American Crow 1.  Eastern Bluebird 3.  American Robin 2.  Gray
Catbird 1.  Carolina Wren 2.  Carolina Chickadee 1.  Indigo Bunting 3
singing males.  Blue Grosbeak 1 pair.  Northern Cardinal 3.  Red-winged
Blackbird 6 (1 carrying food).  Common Grackle 1.  House Sparrow 3.     
Also:  3 Silver-spotted Skippers.  1 Red-spotted Purple.  2 Tiger
Swallowtails.  2 Variegated Fritillaries.

EASTON WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT.  2:45-3:30 P.M.  The 2 ponds are high
and quite lifeless except for 1 Mallard.  Other than the spotties the
shorebirds are in what I call the "effluvial fields" where wastewater
issues (intentionally) from holes in the piping and flows out into low,
rich areas full of weeds (where rails occur):

18 Spotted, 3 Pectoral & 40 Least sandpipers.  1 Greater & 13 Lesser
yellowlegs.  4 Killdeer.  Also: 7 Monarchs, 1 Black, 3 Tiger & 1 Spicebush
swallowtail.  3 Buckeyes.  Only a few vultures and gulls at the nearby
landfill.  

ROUTE 481 2 miles N of its junction with Route 309 (Queen Annes County). 
c. 565 Bank Swallows on the wires at 4:03 P.M.  This time of year I often
see Bank Swallows here, but usually not so many.  Also: 1 kestrel.  

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 ....)