Liz and I may head to Garrett County in early July.  I've never seen
Maryland's mountains.  Anyone know a good place to stay there near or in
them?  If so please reply offline to: harryarmistead at hotmail dot com

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

Not much.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  Slack tide.  No migration.

Fri., June 8, 2007.  Arrive 10:15 P.M.  Chorus of Green Tree Frogs over
towards Tranquility.  I think they can TELL when rain is coming.  It comes.
 Liz and I sit on the front porch and enjoy the thunder, lightning, and not
enough rain.  When things calm down, rather soon, the storm passes to the S
and the froggies are still at it.

Sat., June 9.  Fair, 76-87, wind NW 25 dropping to 15, high tide at 10 A.M.


Feel sick, lethargic, wiped out,  Sleep much of the day.  Don't even feel
like reading.  But even sitting on a lawn chair there's things to see.  

Orchard Oriole.  chickadee.  flicker.  Snowy Egret.  Hairy Woodpecker in
the yard.  9 Ospreys in sight simultaneously in a loose aggregation,
possibly my best such count here, one doing the skydance while clutching a
Mehhaden.  1 adult Red-tailed Hawk.  2 Black Vultures.  a Green Heron. 
crested flycatcher.  a male Blue Grosbeak.  a pair of Indigo Buntings.

Mammals.  1 Gray Squirrel.  a big Woodchuck near the house; for the past 5+
years these "Field Seals" (Ground Round) are not seen nearly as often as in
the 1980s.  But when I was a boy they were not seen at all hereabouts.  2
Eastern Cottontails.

Full-grown Fowler's Toads for the first time this year.  Liz sees a 4'
Black Rat Snake in the yard. 

Butterflies:  Least Skipper, Tiger Swallowtail, Cabbage White, and 4 Little
Wood Satyrs.    

Remove, carefully, a c. 15-pound Snapping Turtle from the road at Frog
Hollow.  Biggest I've ever seen here.  1 Northern Water Snake.  

Sunday, June 10.  Mostly overcast, winds E at 5 m.p.h., 71-81.  

Bruce Olszewski and his 2 companions, who come to run a trot line at c. 5
A.M., surprise 3 Red Foxes feeding on a small fawn.  They catch a bushel of
Blue Crabs.  

a Northern Water Snake.

The Mute Swan nest, formerly with 6 eggs (then 5), is now empty and the
adults are consorting with feral Mallards at the head of the cove.  The
Barn Swallow nest under the dock catwalk has at least 4 sizeable young.  It
held 5 eggs.  There may very well be 5 youngsters but I didn't feel like
giving them the grope.  A Pileated Woodpcker in the yard.  1 Gray Squirrel.

Headin' home.  Woodchuck news:  As with recent U. S. Supreme Court
decisions, a 5-4 split:  5 D.O.R - requiescat in pavement, and 4 (not yet)
dead-on-the-road.  Low S.A.T. scores but I find them very appealing (at
least when alive).  

Trimmed the Irish Creek and Beach trails.  Mowed on the N side of the
garage.

Nothing but trouble from the Weber grill.  Has for months come apart even
when carefully moved from garage to lawn.  A pleasure to demolish it today
with a 12-lb. sledge hammer (the 8-pounder wouldn't do).  If provoked
sufficiently my latent Germanic temperament comes to life.  An earlier
model we used for decades with no trouble.  

Tuesday, June 5.  At the storm drain of the Cambridge Royal Farms, a tiny,
triangular area surrounded by a hurricane fence and a substrate of nothing
but concrete with adjacent roads, gas stations, and stores, a Least Tern is
plunge-diving.  Good fishing, LIttle Guy!

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 ....)