With all the talk of Rumbly Point Road, we drove down there this
afternoon, arriving about 1 PM. Many people are not aware that all
of the property along the marsh portion of the road, except for the
part from the woods edge to the first culvert on the east side,
belongs to either MOS or MOS members. If the road were to be closed
at the marsh edge, not only would we lose a good birding spot, but
the partying spot for the local kids would likely move from the
parking lot at the end of the road to our driveway at Irish
Grove. It would also make things pretty difficult for our neighbors
who have the house at the end of the road, recently rebuilt after
arson last year. Also, the water flow in the marsh is strongly
influenced by the culverts and ditches on the road side. Unless
maintained as they are now, the marsh may erode far more severely
than it is eroding now. So, my opinion is that it would be good to
keep the road open as long as possible. Many of the paved roads in
the area are actually lower in elevation than the sand part of Rumbly
Point Road, but they can't be raised because they are paved. The
house at Irish Grove was thoroughly washed on the fall workday and
looks just great now. We left around 3 PM. Birds seen on the
sanctuary or in the immediate area are:
Double-crested Cormorant - 3
Great Blue Heron - 5
Great Egret - 1
Snowy Egret - 1
Turkey Vulture - 5
American Black Duck - 19
Mallard - 2
Northern Harrier - 5 (1 gray, 4 brown)
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Greater Yellowlegs - 1
Least Sandpiper - 37
Dunlin - 11
Snipe - 1
Ring-billed Gull - 2
Herring Gull - 4
Great Black-backed Gull - 1
Mourning Dove - 14
Belted Kingfisher - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Yellow-shafted Flicker - 2
American Crow - 4
Tree Swallow - 17
Carolina Chickadee - 9
Brown-headed Nuthatch - 3
Carolina Wren - 2
Eastern Bluebird - 15
American Robin - 12
Northern Mockingbird - 1
European Starling - 2
Myrtle Warbler - 43
Savannah Sparrow - 7
Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow - 3
Song Sparrow - 4
Swamp Sparrow - 19
White-throated Sparrow - 4
Northern Cardinal - 2
Red-winged Blackbird - 118
Eastern Meadowlark - 6
Boat-tailed Grackle - 17
American Goldfinch - 3
Paul Bystrak
3709 Devonshire Drive
Salisbury, MD 21804
410-572-9950
443-783-1268 (cell)
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