FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2006. Clear, 25-35 degrees F., winds NW 25-30 m.p.h.,
tidal waters extremely low. A very cold, windy day with a lot of skim ice,
including some in the salty tidal waters.
Rigby's Folly, Armistead property on Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, 25124
West Ferry Neck Road near Royal Oak but nearer still to Bellevue. By 11
A.M. after a couple of days of the big cold front with gale force winds the
water has receded 100 feet out from the dock.
Cambridge. Don't see the resident winter Canvasback flock in a quick drive
through but there are 20 Ruddy Ducks, 35 Surf Scoters, and 12 Tundra Swans
plus 2 imm. Double-crested Cormorants in "Wigeon Lake."
Blackwater N.W.R., 1-2 P.M. 115 Dunlin, 9 Greater Yellowlegs, 42 black
ducks, 27 Bald Eagles, 70 Ring-necked Ducks (Pool 1), 7 coots, and 5
AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS. There may very well have been more pelicans but
the strong winds, the intense sun glare, and my hurry did not make for a
complete looksee. Tom Miller of the refuge staff saw the lingering CATTLE
EGRET yesterday, a really late bird.
DeCoursey Bridge: 3 Greater Yellowlegs. The closure of Bestpitch Ferry
Road forces me to take this other road, leads me to believe they may
finally be replacing the charming, one lane, high-arched, wooden rickety
bridge across the Transquaking River at Bestpitch. What a shame if so.
With the demise of other old wooden bridges at Shorter's Wharf and Narrows
Ferry something of Dorchester's past is lost. I have a big, thick section
of creosoted wood from the old Shorter's Wharf bridge in the Rigby garage,
a touchstone to the old days. The old bridge at Narrows Ferry, a long one,
connected Upper and Middle Hooper's Island, is celebrated in Tom Horton's
book "Bay country" in his chapter there entitled "The clatteringest old
bridge." It was also one lane with a pullout in the middle. Fortunately
the diving birds long found there, especially Long-tailed Ducks, are in
good evidence this fall.
Drawbridge, Chicamacomico River. A Pied-billed Grebe.
Elliott Island Road. 3-5:30 P.M. 2 Short-eared Owls at dusk, one hunting,
unconcerned with my presence, 100 feet away, doing impressive acrobatic
turns and swoops, a truly beautiful creature. Tide as low as I've ever
seen it here. Also: 1 Tree Swallow, 7 Bald Eagles, 7 Northern Harriers
(Brian Taber has called them hairy northerners), 6 meadowlarks, 90 Tundra
Swans, only 6 Lesser Scaup, 7 Great Blue Herons, 27 Hooded Mergansers (at
"Gadwall Bend"), 155 Dunlin, 1 Lesser Yellowlegs, 215 crows going to roost
somewhere at dusk, 1 Pied-billed Grebe (in Island Creek), and 1,015
Canvasbacks. The cans are flying around a lot, not sure why.
Mammals: A big Raccoon humping along out in the marsh. A D.O.R. Red Fox;
for a creature celebrated for its intelligence it certainly ends up very
frequently as roadkill. Here and elsewhere in the county there suddenly
seem to be a LOT more Muskrat lodges, perhaps due to the very successful
local extermination of Nutria. I haven't seen or heard a Nutria all year.
Eastern Shore serendipity. Happens with inordinate frequency. One of the
reasons a trip here is always something to look forward to. JUST as I pull
into Rigby's driveway at 8 A.M. today the Olszewski brothers are leaving
and I stop and talk to Jimmy Eastern Shore style, driver's windows rolled
down, our vehicles pointed in opposite directions. They've left us 3 big
paper bags full of fresh venison. JUST as I return at 6:41 P.M. from
today's birding, after rising at 4:30 A.M. and driving over 300 miles, in
my rear view mirror I see a car 300 yards behind me coming up the drive
with Liz and our weekend guests Carl and Carroll Sheppard.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9. Rigby's Folly. 31-40 degrees F., clear, SW winds 5.
215 Ruddy Ducks in Irish Creek. 8 flickers. 1 Great Blue Heron. 2 Black
Vultures. 2 Common Loons. 7 deer (does). Carl and I flush a Great Horned
Owl from a big, 80 foot Loblolly Pine in Woods 6. At dusk 120 Common
Goldeneyes, a very good count for here, about 100 of these in one flock. 1
Winter Wren. 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk. Tide still very low. For dinner fresh
rockfish and stew with a quart of oysters from Kool Ice in Cambridge.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 10. Clear, 39-51 degrees F., winds SW 10. We had hoped
to go boating but it is still cold and a bit too windy. Besides, we see no
boats fishing and no birds working the waters. Cove waters still way too
low to launch from here. 15 waterfowl species.
Species not seen yesterday: A male American Wigeon, a male Northern
Shoveler (see by Liz), and a pair of Redheads in the cove. 2 Horned
Grebes. 4 female Lesser Scaup. 1 Downy Woodpecker. 1 female Red-breasted
Merganser. 1 Red-throated Loon way out in the Choptank River mouth. 3
Killdeer foraging on the exposed tidal mud by the dock. 1 male House
Finch. 5 Savannah Sparrows. 3 adult Bald Eagles. A Cackling Goose with a
flock of 40 Canada Geese, diminutive, Mallard-sized by comparison, really
stands out. The shoveler is the 8th property record, the Cackling Goose
the 18th.
Also: Carl and I flush a Great Horned Owl from Woods 7. 3 Red-tailed
Hawks. Initially the Redheads are actively diving in water that can be no
more than 2 feet deep and as it gets even shallower they tip up like
dabbling ducks. The CGs, resident Mute Swan family of 4, and many of the
ducks are tipping up, feeding on SAV. The male American Black Duck X
Mallard hybrid still here, seen today and yesterday. In the calmness of
dusk at Lucy Point the Tundra Swans are very actively calling, the
stuttering ringing of flushing male Surf Scoters' wings is heard, and the
distant, perhaps 2-3 miles way, clamor of Long-tailed Ducks is continuous.
Three spectacular sunsets in a row these past days.
3 Gray Squirrels.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 11. More clear than fair, very sunny, very calm, 37-59
degrees F. Tide extremely low (and getting even lower!).
Blackwater N.W.R. A quick drive through from 8-8:45 P.M. only. Quite a
lot of skim ice. Tidal water, i.e., Blackwater River area, the lowest I've
ever seen it, revealing how extremely shallow the areas on the south side
of Wildlife Drive really are. So shallow that today there seem to be
hardly any areas where a white pelican might forage, and indeed they are
not seen. But the eagles love it, most of them seen sitting on the exposed
muddy areas, on the ice, or perched in trees nearby. I see 58 Bald Eagles,
the extreme calm making it too much work for most of them to fly, thereby
enabling what I think is a very accurate count.
Also: 12 Ring-necked Ducks in Pool 1, which is mostly frozen. 12 Common
Mergansers out in the Blackwater River. 20 black ducks. A few dozen
shovelers and pintails.
Gootee's Marine. Leave "the Mudhen" off for winter storage.
Great Marsh Creek. 1 Pied-billed Grebe.
Hooper's Island area from the S end of Middle Hooper's Island north to Swan
Harbor Road. 10 A.M. - 1 P.M. Run into Bob Meyerriecks from Petersburg,
VA, and we bird together. It's still very sunny, there's a dead calm, and
the visibility is excellent with few "heat waves."
63 BROWN PELICANS, many hanging around the pound nets far offshore just as
if it was July and about 40 resting on the small, mashy sod tump off the S
end of Barren Island. Can this really be December 11 in Dorchester County?
Also: 385 Tundra Swans, mostly in Tar Bay. 45 Surf Scoters. 5
goldeneyes. 1 female Red-breasted Merganser. 4 Bald Eagles (a poor count
for here). 30 Double-crested Cormorants, also haunting the pound nets.
175 Buffleheads. 13 Common & 1 Red-throated loon. 9 Horned Grebes. 1
Clapper Rail seen walking across exposed mud just S of Cat Cove. 1 Greater
Yellowlegs. 20 Sanderlings and 510 Dunlin on the bars in Tar Bay. 50
Long-tailed Ducks heard from several places, their voices carrying
extremely well in the calm air. 4 Boat-tailed Grackles feeding in the
intertidal zone on the S end of the experimental jetties on the N end of
Middle Hooper's Island.
Two adult Bald Eagles are on some pilings in Tar Bay. Later one of them
somehow becomes entangled in something. For 15 minutes we watch it do a
sort of breast stroke in the water, then it wades through the shallower
water, its right foot hindered by the entanglement.
Watch an adult Great Black-backled Gull swallow whole, with ease, an 8"
Oyster Toadfish.
The EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE seen briefly in flight on Upper Hooper's Island
just E of Parks Road.
BUTTERFLIES (!): an unID'd anglewing and an Orange Sulphur.
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 ....) |