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

Friday, May 25, 2007.  Arrive c. 10:15 P.M.  Fireflies by the scores all
over and over all the fields.  A distant Green Tree Frog.

Saturday, May 26.  Mary, Rachel Zuckerman & Ryan Row arrive just after
midnight, see an Opossum and 2 Red Fox kits on the driveway.  Later they go
swimming and a Hogchoker gloms onto Rachel's calf.  Never heard of that
before.

Butterflies: first Silver-spotted Skippers of the year.  Tiger
Swallowtails, Cabbage Whites, a Red-spotted Purple, and a Pearlcrescent. 

1 Snowy Egret.  A Green Heron carrying a stick.  1 Northern Watersnake.  7
deer, 2 Eastern Cottontails.  Fish Crow patrolling the yard area all day,
poised to inflict its depredations.  Single Green Tree Frogs heard both in
the Magnolia again and, for the first time, at Lucy Point.

Mowed the boat ramp and overgrown drive near the house some, parts of it so
green now that it's hard to see the stones.  Good.  Trimmed overhanging
branches in the yard.  Went swimming briefly.  The guests spent a lot of
time in the cove with their various inflatable floats.
    
Green Tree Frog chorus over by Tranquility after dusk.  Another great
Firefly show.  Melanie Lynch joins us for supper, bearing salads.

Sunday, May 27.  The stay-behinds find a Box Turtle on the edge of the lawn
laying eggs.  Let's hear it for the Slowskis.  Feeding in the Red Mulberry
by the garage, which is greatly burdened with white, red, and black
berries:  starling, grackle, mockingbird, robin, Carolina Wren, thrasher,
and probably other species.

Monday, May 28, Memorial Day.  8 Surf Scoters lingering off Wooden Point. 
An adult Bald Eagle flies over and is harrassed by 2 Ospreys. 
Yellow-billed Cuckoo calling in Woods 2.  A large pod of Cow-nosed Rays
frolicking off of Lucy Point.  I put up 3 new bluebird houses, 2 of them
gifts from Bruce Olszewski, in the yard area.  A Gray Squirrel, 2 Eastern
Cottontails, and 4 deer, including the leucistic buck.  As I am washing off
'the Mudhen' a robin comes in twice, attracted by the splashing water.  The
Olszewski trails mowed this week by Kennedy Lawn Service.  It has to be
very dry for them to get in there w/o getting bogged down. 

BLOODSWORTH ISLAND ARCHIPELAGO AND VICINITY.  Sunday, May 27, 2007.
Jared Sparks (GPS, anchors), Melanie Lynch (photography) and myself.  A
32.6 statute mile boat trip, averaging c. 5.1 m.p.g.  Fair with distant
haze, 70-low 80s, SW 5-10 but closer to 10 most of the time, high tide c.
11:30, water temperatures 70-75 variously.  High tide not all that high.  8
A.M. - 5:45 P.M.  

It didn't occur to me at the time but last year was the 40th anniversary of
my first trip to these islands, with my old friend, Van Hubbard (Cortlandt
van Dyke Hubbard, Jr.), trapper, hunter, geologist, and splendid renegade,
creator of memorable phrases such as being able to "transcend your destiny"
(which transcends being an oxymoron).  I miss you ... still. 

WINGATE.  7 Wild Turkeys.  A Sika Elk with its small fawn.

BLOODSWORTH ISLAND.  Fin Creek and NE Bloodsworth.  8:15-9:45 A.M.  38
species.  c. 105 active Great Blue Heron nests, close to 90% on the nesting
platforms built by the U. S. Navy.  Other herons seen, some of which may be
nesting on Fin Creek Ridge (especially those asterisked *):  2 Green*, 2
Little Blue, 5 Tricolored, 1 ad. Yellow-crowned Night* & 28 Black-crowned
Night herons*, 3 Glossy Ibis, 7 Snowy & 10 Great Egrets*.

Also here:  145 Double-crested Cormorants & 16 Brown Pelicans (these 2 spp.
on the pound net stakes), 1 imm. Bald Eagle, 3 Northern Harriers, 10
Clapper Rails, 4 Willets, 4 Spotted (migrants) & 4 Semipalmated sandpipers,
10 Semipalmated Plovers, 2 Eastern Kingbirds*, 1 House Wren*, 40 Seaside, 3
Song* & 1 Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed sparrow, 20 Boat-tailed Grackles, 2
yellowthroats*, 2 Tree Swallows*?, 1 oystercatcher, 7 black ducks & 1
catbird*.  A Green Tree Frog calling, first I've ever heard here.  5 Mute
Swans.  

* Nice to see that some typical island-nesting landbirds persist here on
this diminished but still very substantial and long hammock.  Its
dimensions have not diminished but its vegetation, esp. trees, has.

Only 5 terrapin in the creek.

SPRING ISLAND (part of Blackwater N.W.R.).  No pelicans or cormorants have
nested here for a few years.  15 species.  10:45 A.M.  A Great Black-backed
Gull nest with 3 eggs.  From the boat a female Peregrine Falcon, which did
not flush, visible inside the hacking tower.  A Mute Swan carrying 2
cygnets on her back, her mate nearby.  Also see:  2 Glossy ibis, 1
Forster's Tern, 2 oystercatchers, 2 Barn Swallows, 1 ad. Yellow-crowned
Night & 1 ad. Little Blue Heron, 1 male Boat-tailed Grackle, 1 Great Egret,
2 Brown Pelicans, 1 cormorant and 1 Herring Gull.  We do NOT see or hear: 
Red-winged Blackbird, Clapper Rail, Marsh Wren, Willet, or Seaside Sparrow,
perhaps due to the presence of the falcons, perhaps not; it IS a pretty
small island.  Big patch of Phragmites in the center of its southern
segment.  4 Diamondback Terrapin hauled out.

PRY ISLAND (a satellite of South Marsh Island on its west side; Somerset
County).  11:30 A.M.  A number of years ago pelicans, cormorants, skimmers,
and terns nested here.  Only gulls now but a considerable colony of them. 
Great Black-backed Gull, 6 pairs, a nest with 1 egg.  Herring Gull:  0 eggs
5 nests (i.e., fresh, completed nests with no eggs ... yet); 1 egg 1 nest;
2 eggs 8 nests; 3 eggs 27 nests; 1 egg & 1 young 1 nest = a total of 42
nests (some very few of these may in fact be GBBG nests).  Also here:  2
oystercatchers, 1 Forster's & 1 Common tern, 6 Brown Pelicans.  

Best of all, 6 DOLPHINS working their way south between Pry and South Marsh
islands.  You go, Flipper!  

HOLLAND ISLAND, south segment.  35 species.  Noon - 1:30 P.M.  

Bald Eagle nest not occupied, held 3 young both in 2006 and 2005.  

VERGING ON THE MACABRE:  The old graveyard, much more conspicuous since the
Poison Ivy and Baccharis growing there have largely died out, has 6 Fish
Crows perched on the headstones, perhaps because of the presence of the
Great Horned Owl that flushes out of it, the first I have ever seen on
these islands. 

Over on the west side, a couple of hundred yards west of our walking route,
there is a long strand of Baccharis with a few cedars right next to the
shoreline.  Last year pelicans and cormorants seemed to be "playing house"
there but this year they look as if they are going to following through.  I
estimate 190 pelicans, just those visible from 200 yards or more, in those
bushes plus a few cormorants.  Something causes them to flush and there are
3 AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS.  Later we study the AMWPs from the boat; they
seem to be sub-adults:  when at rest the non-black upperparts of their
wings are suffused with sooty white, their bills are a dull, light
yellow-brown, and the upper mandibles do not have the horny processes
characteristic of breeding birds.

The 2 groves of trees on the east side, mostly Persimmons and big American
Hackberries, are loaded with herons, especially the north hammack.  I'd
estimate in descending order of abundance:  Snowy Egret, Tricolored Heron,
Black-crowned Night Heron, Glossy Ibis (Jared has 45 in sight
simultaneously), Cattle Egret, Little Blue Heron, Great Egret, Great Blue
Heron, and Yellow-crowned Night Heron (only 3 seen; lowest number of YCNHs
I've ever seen here).  No Green Heron seen.

Also here:  1 female Gadwall, 6 oystercatchers, 2 Dunlin, 2 Semipalmated
Plovers, 150 Herring and 15 Great Black-backed gulls (both species no doubt
nesting both here and on Holland Island's middle segment), 13 Fish Crows, 2
Carolina Wrens* (singing away with no clue that their kind is doomed here),
4 Seaside & 4 Song* sparrows , 14 Boat-tailed Grackles, 5 yellowthroats*, 3
catbirds*, 4 Barn Swallows* (nest on middle segment), 1 Chimney Swift & 1
Clapper Rail.  [* = nesting landbirds; I don't consider Seaside Sparrows,
the grackles, Marsh Wrens, redwings, Fish Crows, etc., to be "landbirds"]. 
Curiously, as in 2006, no kingbirds*.

Flush Willets from nests with 1 and 3 eggs, the latter beautifully
concealed in high (elevation) marsh grass in the midst of a small Baccharis
bush complex.  A 3rd Willet flushes but we fail to find the,
without-a-doubt, nest.  For some reason Holland Island is much more likely
than other islands to have loud, vociferous groups of 3-6 Willets and
oystercatchers flying around displaying, always a great sight, and sound.

HOLLAND ISLAND, middle segment.  2 P.M.  Anchor offshore a couple of
hundred feet at a respectable distance.  The old house is still there! 
Long live the old house (and rots of ruck).  Still a burgeoning colony of
Brown Pelicans and cormorants (but no, apparently, small herons as in past
coupla years), with c. 80 cormorants and 195 pelicans in sight
simultaneously in the bushes and on the shore close to the bushes.  Last
year many, many hundreds of pelican chicks were banded here.

HOLLAND ISLAND, north segment.  2:30-2:45 P.M.  A thriving tern colony as
last year.  This is a small, sodbank, tump of an island.  We estimated <5%
of the terns to be Commons, the rest Forster's, many streaming out of the
north carrying minnows.  Here's the breakdown by nest content:  1 egg 25
nests, 2 eggs 43 nests, 3 eggs 199 nests, 4 eggs 2 nests = total of 269
nests.  O.K., I MAY have 2X-counted a few nests, probably offset by those I
may have missed.

Also:  A great Black-backed Gull nest with 1 egg and 2 pudgy, furry-almost,
lintball (but soon to be killers) chicks.  Also present:  2 ad. Laughing
Gulls, looking as if they're thinking of setting up shop.  2 Dunlin.  A
male Mallard.  An ad. Herring Gull.  2 oystercatchers.  For some reason it
has been years since I have found many nests, eggs, or oystercatcher young,
yet used to commonly. 

ADAM ISLAND.  3-3:30 P.M.  27 species.

Walk around the Distichlis spicata meadow where Jared and I had put up a
Wilson's Snipe last year (June 11), which acted as if it had flushed from a
nest, but to no avail.  A most anomalous sighting.  

Usually 3-5 Great Blue Heron nests but this year only 1 suspected one. 
Also hanging around what is left of the small, stringy Red Cedar hammock
are several Tricolored and Little Blue herons plus 10 Black-crowned Night &
2 Yellow-crowned Night herons.  These 4 species may or may not have a nest
or 2 here.  

Also on Adam:  a Song Sparrow, 2 yellowthroats, 3 Willets, 2
oystercatchers, 2 Marsh Wrens, 1 Clapper Rail, 6 Boat-tailed Grackles, 3
Seaside Sparrows, 16 Glossy Ibis, and a male Peregrine Falcon that goes
streaking by, doing its Merlin imitation, probably the mate of the Spring
Island falcon.  Jared sees a Pine Warbler.  One Orange Sulphur, a beauty
... for an Orange Sulphur.  3 active Osprey nests.

PONE ISLAND, which is essentially southwest Bloodsworth Island, the center
of the "Impact Area', formerly heavily shelled.  16 species.  3:45-4:15
P.M.  We anchor a couple of times and study the nice sandbars complex here.
 

This is where George and I found the first county record for Brown
Pelicans, 4 immatures flying over on July 4, 1996.  Ain't no stoppin' 'em
now!!!  They're definitely open for business.

24 Sanderlings, most coming into nice breeding plumage.  105 Mute Swans
(used to see several hundred here in recent years).  175 Herring & 40 Great
Black-backed gulls.  4 oystercatchers.  23 Canada Geese.  5 black ducks. 
145 cormorants.  25 Brown Pelicans.   

Motor slowly through the area north of Pone Island where there are 4
submerged Sherman tanks, one of which I ran into last year.  

BISHOP'S HEAD.  c. 6 P.M.  A Clapper Rail bathing in a roadside ditch by
the 90-degree turn.

In general:  The number of Osprey nests seems about normal,   perhaps a
litle low.  No Saltmarsh Skippers seen.  Few terrapin and not that many
Seaside Dragonlets.  No Cow-nosed Rays.

LEAST TERNS.  Late today Jared found a colony of over 40 leasts breeding on
the roof of the abandoned supermarket adjacent to the Cambridge Walmart. 
This is quite close to the better-known colony farther east on the roof of
Best Value Inn.  

DROUGHT.  Pray for rain.  It is getting VERY dry.  Our 3 little ponds are
about dried up.

WHIMBREL WATCH WEEKEND = Memorial Day Weekend.  Did not see any in spite of
much energetic scanning.  The sicklebills slipped through, under my radar.

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 ....)