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

Saturday, July 7, 2007.

Clear or fair, 73-93, calm or SW 5-10, humidity building, hot.

36 species.  

An Eastern Kingbird brings smoke on an Osprey carrying a fish.  2 Blue
Grosbeaks, 2 Indigo Butings, 2 Yellow-billed Cuckoos (not as much calling
as last weekend), 1 Least Tern, 5 Forster's Terns, 12 Ospreys, 2 Orchard
Orioles, 2 Bald Eagles, 12 Barn Swallows.  6 Ospreys soaring together in a
rather tight grouping.  One of the Bald Eagles, an immature, snags a fish
off of Holland Point.

A Pileated Woodpecker calling at Gunners Range Road, 7:15 P.M.

Signs of fall migration, sort of.  The first post-breeding Tree Swallows
(2) and adult Ring-billed Gulls (3).  Another sign of the passing season is
a group of 24 Laughing and 3 Ring-billed Gulls hawking insects 100 yards or
so up over the house, something I'm more used to seeing in September or
October.

American Crow news.  A presumed family of 5 carrying on on the lawn, very
tame, and very vocal, but I'd had no hint of a nest anywhere nearby
previously.  Loud and raucous, a group of crows cut loose on a Great Horned
Owl in Woods 7, enough to make me want to break out the Parker 12
side-by-side and open up on them with some double aught.  Leave that
magnificent raptor alone!  Evidently the crows seen on the dock last
weekend did NOT hit on the Barn Swallow nest there because it still has 3
eggs.

NON-AVIAN TAXA.  11 butterfly species, incl.:  Red Admirals still going
gangbusters, everywhere, at least 18, 2 American Ladies, 2 Monarchs (the
first fall ones?), 1 Variegated Fritillary & 4 Common Wood Nymphs.  Bluets
favoring as always the cove edge.  Common Whitetails along the driveway.  A
Five-lined Skink on the back porch, a first, indicative perhaps of their
own take on "Drang nach Osten", the back porch being on the east end of the
house, the front porch, their usual locale, on the west end.  Bull, Green &
Southern Leopard frogs at The Pond, which is almost dried up.  17
Diamondback Terrapin in the cove and a few minutes later 103 off Lucy Point
(= 120), easy to count as they lolled in the calm waters in the large SAV
beds offshore.  3 fawns, 2 (in Woods 8) probably the same as seen last
weekend, but one very small one as well (in Field 4), plus 7 adult deer,
incl. the small, leucistic buck.  An Eastern Cottontail & 2 Gray Squirrels.
    

So many Red Admirals this and last weekend I'm wondering if there is now a
great regionwide influx similar to that of 2001.

80 degrees F. at 11:45 P.M.

Sunday, July 8.  Fair, 76-96, SW<5, more humid but still not as unbearably
humid as it sometimes gets (and probably will get soon).  Took a walk at
the peak of today's heat just for the heck of it but with not much to show
save the terrapin.  

Birds not seen yesterday:  a hen Wild Turkey in Woods 5 at Noon, a House
Finch, 4 Purple Martins, a Red-bellied Woodpecker, a Blue Jay & 3 Chimney
Swifts.  

Terrapin again under same conditions as yesterday:  10 in the cove, 93 off
Lucy Point = 103.

An 8-point buck with antlers so in velvet it reminded me of a reindeer,
12:15 P.M.  

Japanese Beetles are thick, reducing the leaves on Wild Roses and Wild
Grape to a browned-out lacy filigree, feeding on the Magnolia grandiflora
blossoms, and even infiltrating the house.  

IRISH CREEK RESEARCH STRUCTURES.  I just talked with Dr. Laura Murray of
Horn Point (University of Maryland Center for Environmental & Estuarine
Studies) about the 3 structures recently erected off the mouth of Irish
Creek.  They will be for monitoring water quality.  They each consist of 2
c. 2" X 4" posts driven into the bottom with a small platform on top.  When
I first noticed them they had the platforms with multiple surveyor's flags
(to discourage birds from landing?).  Later they had what looked like
upside down conical baskets on the platform.  This weekend they now have
"scare owls" on them.  The innermost 2 closest to shore are within the
large SAV bed, the outermost is beyond the SAV bed.  Probably best to give
them a wide berth.

A bad year for ticks.  Several huge welts in spite of changing clothes
after every outing and spraying before it.  Doctor is concerned enough so
that he prescribes a 21-day regimen of antibiotics (doxycyline).

One often hears the phrase "winter's icy grip."  Now more appropriate is:
"the arid grip of summer's drought."  Tried any digging lately?  Our fields
are still unplanted, full of flowers and grasses to our delight, but the
ground is like concrete.

Headin' home:  6:30 P.M.  4 squirreleepoos and an eastern cottontailed
bunny wabbit, all in Royal Oak.  The temperature has plunged to 92 but it
can't be much fun to be this furry.  Nevertheless plotting some relevancy
ratio matrix coordinates on the Royal Oak Coefficient of Variation
Perkiness Index Rating Scale (ROCOVPIRS, version 2.1) determines that these
furballs put up good numbers.  Long may they scamper and perk.  l'envoi.

Best to all (such as it is).-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 ....)