1.  Ivory-billed Woodpecker search.  I was in the Choctawhatchee River
basin in the panhandle of Florida February 26-March 10 searching for
Ivory-billeds.  My companions were Bob Ake, Gordon Chaplin, Ken Able, and
Marty Daniels with Carl Perry, Paul Sykes, Mel Baughman, and others also
there part of the time.  No luck.  My close friend, Bob Anderson, had
excellent views of single IBWOs in this area this past December 25 and
January 3.  Tyler Hicks a fine look at a female on Dec. 24 (including a
good look at the bill), perhaps the same bird Bob Anderson saw in the same
area the next day.  Others have also had good looks.  One of the leaders of
the Auburn-Windsor universities group we talked with reported seeing IBWOs
10 times.  But the birds are evidently extremely furtive, shy, and jumpy as
well as nomadic.   However, in the face of the lack of an indisputable
photograph or video sequence a certain amount of skepticism is
understandable, and necessary.  But as Bob Anderson wrote to me:  "I have
to chuckle at all these people sitting at their PCs and saying that we're
not seeing ivory-bills ..."  What are the lucky few observers supposed to
do, pretend they didn't see what they saw?  We did 13 straight days of near
all-day field work including much canoeing.  Feb. 23-25 and March 11-13
were travel days (driving).  In the next few weeks I hope to complete a
detailed report on our adventures.    

2.  Dorchester County, Saturday, March 17, 2007.  Clear becoming fair then
mostly overcast, 31-38 degrees F., winds 20-25 m.p.h., at times stronger. 
A very cold, very windy day that made landbirding and effective use of
scopes difficult.  Water levels in the ditches, ponds, refuge impoundments,
and fields extremely high.  Water low along Blackwater River.  Tide high
but falling at Elliott Island Road.  The drive down last night took 1 hour
longer than the usual 3 in the snow, ice, and sleet, the ground snow ending
c. 10 mi. S. of the defunct Howard Johnson's on Rt. 301.  

A:  Blackwater N.W.R.  7:30 - noon.  The official refuge bird walk
participants (Norm Saunders, leader, and Levin Willey) combined forces with
the Audubon Society of Northern Virginia (Jack & Sue Carroll, Ray & Anne
Smith, and myself as leader).  During the course of the day we also ran
into Sean McCandless, Kevin Graff, and 3 others, part of the, I believe,
Cecil County Bird Club.  Norm kept the official list; if my numbers differ
use his.

6 Double-crested Cormorants in migration.  12 Ring-necked Ducks (Pool 1,
mostly males).  4 Common Mergansers.  10 AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS in
spectacular, circling flight, then hunkered down amidst Tundra Swans.  25
Bald Eagles plus 4 on the Visitor Center videocam, 2 adults feeding the 2
eaglets.  8 Ospreys.  400 Snow Geese (very distant on the Blackwater
River).  1 Cooper's Hawk.  2 coots.  2 Lesser Yellowlegs.  2 Wilson's
Snipe.  20 Forster's Terns.  2 Laughing Gulls.  10 Tree Swallows.  2 Horned
Larks.  10 Chipping Sparrows.     

The Carrolls and Smiths and I carried on for the rest of the day.

B:  Sewards (Little Blackwarer River bridge).  8 Wilson's Snipe.

C:  "Chicken City" (Bestpitch Ferry Road just E. of Bucktown), adjacent to
some big chicken houses, where the road makes a hard right going E.  1
P.M.:  27 Bald Eagles in one field (almost all juveniles; waiting for
chicken corpses?) plus a Horned Lark, 100 starlings, 425 Ring-billed Gulls,
10 American Crows, a Red-tailed Hawk, 8 Tree Swallows, and an ad. male
Northern Harrier.  Often there are good numbers of both vulture species in
this area.

D:  A field on the N. side of the road W. of Bestpitch and across the road
from the Blackwater N.W.R. Kuehnle Tract.  1:30 P.M.  55 Green-winged Teal
and a Northern Harrier.    

E.  Bestpitch bridge area, Transquaking River.  6 Bald Eagles incl. one
carrying beaucoup nesting material.  4 Northern Harriers.  8 Northern
Pintails.

F.  Griffith Neck Road, the "Eurasian Teal Pond" (N. side of the road;
Claudia Wilds saw a Eurasian Teal here once):  35 Green-winged Teal, 1
Great Blue Heron, 2 ad. Bald Eagles.

G.  Lewis Wharf Road.  2:30 P.M.:  7 Bald Eagles, 35 Tundra Swans, 1
Red-tailed Hawk, 1 Northern Harrier, 185 Green-winged Teal, 2 Bonaparte's
Gulls (winter adults), 22 American Black Ducks, 18 Northern Pintails, 1
Killdeer, 3 Greater Yellowlegs.  Also: a Red Fox.  The ducks, shorebirds,
and Bonies were in the field S. of the road. 

H.  Elliott Island Road.  Until c. 5 P.M.  At "Gadwall Bend" 8 Blue-winted
Teal, 6 American Wigeon, and 40 Gadwalls.  1 dark phase and a light phase
Rough-legged Hawk.  35 Green-winged Teal.  10 Bald Eagles.  40 Dunlin.  22
Greater Yellowlegs.  1 kingfisher (only 1 all day).  6 Ruddy Ducks.  60
Canvasbacks.  10 Lesser Scaup.  6 harriers.  4 Mute Swans (getting ready to
nest in interior marsh ponds it would seem).  0 Boat-tailed Grackles.  1
Muskrat.  Fishing Bay no doubt had hundreds of ducks but was a seething
mass of white caps and gray, muddy water.  

I.  32 Wild Turkeys in one group in a field at the T-junction of Fork Neck
and Drawbridge roads.                                      

3.  Sunday, March 18.  A Talbot Bird Club field trip to Bellevue and Rigby
co-led by Lester Coble and myself with Danny Poet, Wayne Bell, Terry Allen,
Jean Crump, Paul Thut et al.  55 species.  Rigby's Folly (mostly),
Armistead property on Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, West Ferry Neck Road
near Royal Oak but nearer still to Bellevue.  Clear and very cold and also
hampered by very strong NW and WNW winds.  31-41 degrees F.  

4 Common Loons.  2 Horned Grebes.  In Frog Hollow: 4 Wood Ducks and 2
Green-winged Teal, a Great Blue Heron, with a Red Fox nearby.  145
Canvasbacks plus perhaps 50 Lesser Scaup and a few Long-tailed Ducks at
Bellevue.  4 goldeneyes.  40 Surf Scoters.  An ad. and an imm. Bald Eagle,
good looks, flew low over the water flushing the waterfowl for our
delectation.  1 Red-tailed & I Sharp-shinned hawk.  1 harrier.  2 Black
Vultures on the blind in Field 1 that I hope are getting ready to breed
there again as they did in 2006.  2 Ospreys.  4 Pine Warblers incl. 2
males.  3 woodpecker species.  chickadees.  titmice.  

Nice to see Dick Kleen and Bill & Myra Novak at the breakfast at the
Novaks.

Later Paul Thut and I saw 25 deer (does) in one group in one of John
Swaine's fields.  Still later there were c. 700 Ring-billed Gulls there.  

4.  Headin' home.  Route 301.  125 Tundra Swans in a field to the E. just
S. of milepost 101.0.  A D.O.R. Woodchuck at milepost 106.6, requiescat in
pavement.  

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 ....)