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

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2007.  43 species at Rigby.  Ice extending 1000s of
feet out from our shoreline but with many open leads, most with abundant
waterfowl.  Our cove and Irish Creek remain frozen.  21-39 degrees F.,
clear with high haze becoming mostly overcast and looking as if there is
going to be precipitation (there wasn't) with the sun luminous through the
clouds.

"I leant upon a coppice gate,
   When Frost was spectre-gray,
And Winter's dregs made desolate
   The weakening eye of day."  
- Thomas Hardy, 'the Darkling Thrush.'

Tide extremely low.  Ground water all frozen.  No snow on the ground. 
Winds calm most of the day but becoming south at 5 then SE at 5 at dusk. 
Spent several hours walking around practicing tracks with the GPS. 
Distributed the residue of deer corn, c. 60 lbs.-worth.      

Tundra Swan 120.  Canada Goose 2,550.  Canvasback 430 (close to the
shoreline at Lucy Point, where most of the other waterfowl are
concentrated; always a pleasure to HEAR them, the little mewing, muffled
growl-like contact calls they utter).  Lesser Scaup 42.  Redhead 8.  Common
Goldeneye 115.  Bufflehead 280.  Long-tailed Duck 20 (very far offshore as
is now usual).  Ruddy Duck 40.  Surf Scoter 240 (far offshore).  

Black Vulture 3.  Cooper's Hawk 1 (seen twice).  Bald Eagle 4: 2 adults, 2
immatures, the young ones perched on the pilings that are the remnants of
the Springs' old blind).  Northern Harrier 1 ad. male.  Mourning Dove 17. 
Great Horned Owl, a female calling several times during the entire daylight
period, finally joined by a male at 5:30 P.M., these from Woods 1.  Brown
Thrasher 1, feeding on Smilax berries; I forget how large BRTHs are until I
see one up close again.  Cedar Waxwing 25.  Song Sparrow 65, a new property
high.  Swamp Sparrow 8 (usually scarce to non-existent on the place in
winter).  American Robin 20. 

Also: A Gray Squirrel, predictable (utterly), but most welcome, at the deer
corn.

"O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
  So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel's granary is full,
     And the harvest's done." 
- Keats 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci.'

1 mouse caught since last Monday, another last night, both of the
White-footed persuasion.  2 deer, does, one of them the leucistic one seen
last February 4, that the astute reader may have noticed that I spelled
"leuuucistic" (sic) at that time, the middle u being silent.  Species
missed today:  junco, Great Blue Heron, Red-breasted Merganser, and Great
Black-backed Gull.          
  
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18.  

Rigby's Folly.  The 2 Great Horned Owls again calling at 6:06 A.M. from
Woods 1.  An Eastern Cottontail along the driveway at 6:12 A.M.  2 deer
(does) and another bunny along Bellevue Road on my way out.  A Gray
Squirrel, return customer, at the corn.  A Northern Harrier, a brown one,
therefore a different individual than the one seen yesterday  

Blackwater N.W.R.  5 of us on the bird walk, Norm & Fran Saunders, Kathy &
Skip Isaacs & myself.  7 A.M. - 11:45 P.M.  Fair becoming mostly overcast,
32-37 degrees F., wind calm becoming brisk and cold NW 20+ m.p.h.  Tide
extremely low.  Almost all of the Choptank River below the Cambridge bridge
frozen to the limit of visibility, magnificent desolation, but substantial
areas upstream open.  All of central Blackwater frozen yet still some small
open areas on Pool 1 and along the Blackwater River.  No snow on the
ground.  A memorable outing.

It's nice that the Saunders now live in Cambridge.  Dorchester has had so
few resident birders over the years.

74 Bald Eagles, probably a somewhat conservative, slightly low, total plus
an adult on its nest as seen on the videocam of the Visitor Center and
another bird N of here on Egypt Road.  Several groups of 6-8 out on the
Blackwater River ice.  A lot of chases involving 2 birds going on plus one
incident of talon-clasping.  The most BAEAs I've ever seen along Wildlife
Drive.

2 Golden Eagles seen in the air from Wildlife Drive X Pool 3.  One bird
with no white visible in the wings and tail, another with a fairly
conspicuous white area at the base of the retrices but none in the remiges.
 Rather lengthy but distant looks but both seen well through the 32X scope.

1 Ross's Goose flying with several flocks of Snow Geese (incl. a dozen or
so Blue Geese) totalling c. 225 birds.  

Also:  475 Tundra Swans plus 70 in a field west of Egypt Road.  8 American
Wigeon.  400 pintails.  20 Ring-necked Ducks (Pool 1).  30 Common
Mergansers.  9 Wild Turkeys (Egypt Road).  2 American White Pelicans.  32
Great Blue Herons, possibly the best count I've ever had along Wildlife
Drive;  if they can survive another couple of days they should be O.K.  1
Cooper's Hawk perched on the first lamp post on the west side as one enters
Cambridge from the north.  2 American Coots (Pool 1).  4 Killdeer.  1
Greater Yellowlegs.  1 Horned Lark (Egypt Road).  3 Chipping Sparrows (at
the entrance to Wildlife Drive).     

Also:  A Fox Squirrel on Egypt Road.  A Gray Squirrel in Cambridge.

BLACKWATER N.W.R. IN THE NEWS ... AGAIN.  "Philadelphia Inquirer", page N1
(Travel), Sunday, Feb. 18, 2007, an article by Steve Hendrix ("Washington
Post") entitled 'Weekend journey; here, they're everywhere; it's bald-eagle
prime time at Maryland's Blackwater Refuge.'  Nice publicity.  He was
thrilled to see 10 Bald Eagles recently.  I wish these journalists would
get connected on these visits with a birder who has a scope.  Heck, we have
37 in sight simultaneously today from the so-called "Observation Site",
granted that many are distant, even a mile or so away, but nevertheless
easy to see, mostly on the ice, through a scope.

HURRICANE ISABEL VS. BALD EAGLE.  In an issue received last week, "the
Condor", vol. 109, no. 1, February 2007, pp. 206-209, "Impact of Hurricane
Isabel on Bald Eagle nests and reproductive performance in the lower
Chesapeake Bay [i.e., Virginia]" by Bryan D. Watts & Mitchell A. Byrd. 
From their abstract: " ... Approximately 40% of Bald Eagle nest trees (n =
527) were damaged and 127 nests were lost during the storm ... Only 46% of
pairs that lost nests attempted to breed the following season, compared to
85% of pairs that did not lose nests.  Of the pairs that made breeding
attempts, only 69% of pairs that lost nests during the hurricane produced
young compared to 83% of pairs that did not lose nests.  Average brood size
was also reduced for pairs that lost nests.  The disparity in reproductive
performance between the two groups narrowed in the second breeding seson
after the storm ... "  

It is reassuring to find an article such as this which a lay person can
comprehend as compared to some other contributions in this same issue,
including "Cutaneous water loss and lipids of the stratum corneum in Dusky
Antbirds."  In a typical issue most of these profesional ornithological
journals will not have a single photograph or illustration (or even a map)
other than tables and graphs of numbers and data, exceptions being the
cover, or sometimes, a frontispiece.  

Such is the technical world of mathematics, statistics, biochemistry, and
physics that we live in.  Much more readable, and interesting to me, are
the letters, book reviews, occasional editorials, obituaries, awards and
honorees, and sections such as "news and notes."  I admire and appreciate
the scientists who write the technical articles but I am content that I
chose to remain an amateur and a birder. 

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 ....)