Friday-Monday, December 14-17, 2007. A 4-day field trip with Jared W.
Sparks to various places on the lower Eastern Shore of MD & VA.
ATTN: Bird Records Committees & CBC editors/compilers: please consider
this posting as my documentation in its entirety for the Cave Swallows and
Yellow Rail.
Friday, December 14:
MARYLAND:
A couple of mi. N. of Ocean Pines: several 1000 Snow Geese in the fields
along the roadsides.
Ocean City inlet. Tide high and still rising. Not much going on. Fog and
haze starting to lift. 30 gannets, many of them plunge-diving. 15
Red-throated Loons flying down the coast. 60 unID'd scoters well offshore,
also moving out. 2 Long-tailed Ducks. 30 Purple Sandpipers sitting it out
on the S. jetty. 1 turnstone. 2 Laughing and 7 Bonaparte's gulls. No
peregrine on the water tower. Tremendous power, surge, of the incoming
tide through the inlet.
Skimmer Island: 2 oystercatchers, 2 Common Loons, 7 Buffleheads, 10 Brant,
4 Great Blue Herons, 3 Turkey Vulture (ON the island), 3 Double-crested
Cormorants, and 9 Boat-tailed Grackles.
West Ocean City Pond. Low water as expected with much weedy vegetation -
effects of this summer's great drought. 1 female Hooded Merganser, 5
Black-crowned Night Herons in the willows, 6 Gadwall, 15 pintails, 40
Green-winged Teal, 68 black ducks, 15 Tundra Swans, 10 shovelers, a
Red-tailed Hawk, 220 Mallards, and 26 Canada Geese.
Eagles Nest Campground/Golf Course area, MD. 2 CAVE SWALLOWS, swooping and
dipping over the main pond in company with 20 Tree Swallows. Well-seen to
our N. in good light, sun starting to emerge, winds calm. Tails squared
off, buffy rump patches easy to see. Warm, light buffy, on the upper
breast and throat. Rest of underparts not gleaming white as with the
TRSWs. Colored area above the eye not visible. Squat, rather chunky
swallows About all we could see. Distance c. 100 yards. Only present for
a minute or so. Previously I've seen CASWs 7-8 times at Kiptopeke, VA, and
once at our property near Bellevue, MD, as well as in Texas. Binocular
look only here (10X42 Swarovski EL). Jared saw most of this also.
Also here: on the main pond - 155 American Wigeon (but no Eurasian Wigeon),
1 Ruddy Duck, 40 shovelers, 4 Gadwalls, 7 Common Loons, 20 Mallards, 8
black ducks, and a female Bufflehead. Friendly folks on a golf cart,
groundskeepers?
A little further out, on Sinepuxent Bay: 52 Brant, 9 oystercatchers, 1530
Dunlin, 10 black ducks, 6 Red-breasted Mergansers, and 22 Buffleheads.
Lots of obnoxious heavy equipment at work. The already flat ground is
being made even flatter, but, fortunately, the Loblolly Pines are
apparently being left alone.
VIRGINIA:
Causeway to Chincoteague, VA. 2 HARLEQUIN DUCKS, a sub-adult male and a
female, right IN the launching area, between the 2 bulkheads, c. 30 feet
from us, at Queen Sound launching ramp. Also: 46 Marbled Godwits (on the
flats N. of the causeway and just W. of town), 20 Forster's Terns, 11
Common Loons, 25 Black-bellied Plovers, 40 Willets, 8 Greater Yellowlegs, 5
Great Egrets, 30 oystercatchers, 12 Boat-tailed Grackles, and 600 Dunlin.
Nice, low waters with lots of exposed mud.
Chincoteague N.W.R. Stayed here until after sunset. 19 Great Egrets.
Watch an ad. Bald Eagle (probably a male) chase an ad. Snow Goose for
several minutes, getting closer and closer, approaching UNDERNEATH the
goose to flip over and try to grab it while upside down. These 2 disappear
behind a big bank of pines so the outcome is not determined. Saw well an
apparent Snow X Ross' Goose hybrid, the right size for a Ross' with a
short, stocky, swollen neck, but the bill was just like a Snow Goose bill,
elongate compared to Ross' and with a fully-developed grinning patch.
Saturday, December 15. Wachapreague, VA, Christmas Bird Count (CBC). As
part of this count Jared and I spent the day on Cedar Island, as I have
most years since 1977. Jack Carroll joined us. Ruth Boettcher and Carissa
Smith took us there in a nice Parker with a 115 H.P. outboard.
YELLOW RAIL. About noon one flushes in front of me <25 feet away as I am
walking N. It flies 75 feet to my left or to the SW and alights in a low
patch of Spartina alterniflora that is almost surrounded by sand. I have a
clear view of a dumpy, warm but dirty yellowish-brownish bird bird about
the size of a Fox Sparrow or Bobolink with a short. stocky neck and short,
thick bill, very short tail, and dangling legs. Most striking are the
bright white secondaries or speculum. I have seen 7 YERAs previously at
Anahuac N.W.R. in Texas, similarly flushed from tidal marshlands. Other
than that my experience with them is limited to having heard them twice in
DE, once in MD. The bird is silent. Jared and Jack are > 100 yards
distant. By the time the 3 of us assemble to attempt to flush it again it
has evidently stalked away, as their kind is want to do. If we had all
been closer I think there would have been a good chance to reflush it from
the rather isolated patch of Spartina. During its flight the bird was
always below eye level, providing an excellent view in an overcast
situation = no backlit lighting problems. I did not have time to get my
binoculars on it. My birding highpoint of 2007.
Other highlights of our list of 54 species (approximate numbers): 7,000
Snow Geese including about 1% or 70 Blue Geese. 110 Brant. 1 Tundra Swan.
40 Long-tailed Ducks, more than I expected. 26 Hooded Mergansers. 45
Red-throated Loons. 16 Horned Grebes. 7 Bald Eagles, 1 or more in sight
continuously. 11 Northern Harriers. 2 Peregrine Falcons. only 1 Clapper
Rail.
Complete shorebird list. High tide c. 11:45 A.M. The tide never really
gets very low today so the areas of exposed flats are < normal: 65
Black-bellied Plover & 1 Semipalmated plover. 45 oystercatchers. 15
Greater Yellowlegs. 15 Willets. 3 Marbled Godwits. 30 turnstones. 29
Red Knots. 25 Sanderlings. 15 Western Sandpipers. 7 Least Sandpipers
(foraging together in a high area of exposed mud surrounded by marsh
grasses - just the sort of habitat one expects to see them in, if one sees
them at all). 2000 Dunlin (5 roosting groups at high tide). 12
Short-billed Dowitchers.
2 Bonaparte's Gulls in Wachapreague Inlet, where we've seen them before..
0 Forster's Terns (483 on the count last year). 1 Short-eared Owl that
flushes from the central part of Cedar I. 10 Ipswich, 3 Nelson's
Sharp-tailed, 3 Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed, 1 Seaside & 7 unID'd sharp-tailed
sparrows. a flock of 35 Snow Buntings flies right past us as we are eating
lunch. 11 Boat-tailed Grackles.
The wind shifts from NNE to NE and intensifies during the day, making for
huge quantities of foamy spume on the beach, some of it in big bunches as
large as 30 feet square, and sometimes knee-deep, which shake back and
forth in the winds as jelly does if agitated, occasional clumps breaking
off and abraiding slowly as they slide by in contact with the sands. Some
diffuse, hazy sun in the morning before becoming generally overcast.
Miracle mile, miracle hour: The Snow Buntings, Clapper Rail, Yellow Rail,
Short-eared Owl, and most of the 3 tidal marsh sparrow species all seen
from noon to 1 P.M. and within the space of a mile on the central part of
the island S of the A-frame house. Lots of deer prints.
WE TOLD YOU SO. By now most of the ill-advised beach houses and cabins
have either washed away, been burned down, or remain standing but well out
into the surf. One red 4WD vehcile, operable, is parked close to a tidal
gut that provides good boat access.
The dynamic nature of the barrier islands, so beautifully described by
Orrin H. Pilkey, Jr., and Wallace Kaufman, in "How to read a North Carolina
beach" and "The beaches are moving", is dramatically showcased on Cedar
Island, by, first of all, the fact that the island has migrated west,
leaving most of the beach houses in the surf, and, secondly, by the filling
in in just a few years of an inlet made about 2/3 of the way down the
island c. 10 years ago that was, I think I heard, as much as 10-12 feet
deep when it was new.
Many thanks to Ruth and Carissa for their expert boating skills, especially
welcome in view of the rather wild weather. A big thank you also to George
and Barbara Reiger for their hospitality.
During the count, on the mainland, George Armistead found a NASHVILLE
WARBLER. Due to the fact that it was pumping its tail it was apparently
the western race. Eastern birds do not pump their tails.
Sunday, December 16. As part of the Nassawadox CBC Jared and I covered the
area around Red Bank, with Karen Terwilliger, Teta Kain, and Dave Gilespie
just to our N. On this extremely windy day (at least in the afternoon) we
found 68 species in our small area. Red Bank has a nice tidal gut,
saltmarsh, and a fringe of mostly American Hackberries that thronged with
songbirds most of the day: goldfinches, House Finches, Chipping and other
sparrows, bluebirds, and robins.
Highlights: 205 Canada Gsse incl. 1 with very pale primaries. 6 Hooded
Mergansers. 1 Common Loon. 2 Pied-billed Grebes. 2 adult Bald Eagles
tending their nest, easily seen from the end of Rt. 617. 8 harriers. 4
Sharp-shinned Hawks. a Merlin at sunset. An ad. female and an imm. male
Peregrine Falcon. 1 Clapper Rail. 1 screech-owl that responded c. 5 P.M.
in spite of the high winds. 65 Mourning Doves. 1 phoebe. 4 Horned Larks.
12 Brown-headed Nuthatches. both kinglets. 32 bluebirds. 5Pine & 11
Palm warblers (both races). 13 juncos.
At one point the peregrines, a red-tail, a harrier, and an eagle are all in
the same general air space to our S. at Red Bank, almost simultaneously.
Shorebirds at Red Bank: 6 Semipalmated & 13 Black-bellied plovers. 18
Greater Yellowlegs. 50 Willets. 3 Western Sandpipers. 170 Dunlin. 12
Short-billed Dowitchers. 1 woodcock. 0 Killdeer. As the tide rises,
frequent checks reveal shorebirds availing themselves of exposed muddy
areas. A drawback to this and other party areas of Nassawadox C.B.C. is
that, except for the boat party, views of large open bays and the outer
marsh edge are not to be had. Because of this we saw no oystercatchers or
brant and but one Great Black-backed Gull and 4 Buffleheads. 5 Tundra
Swans that are probably 3 or 4 miles distant, seen through the scope, are
the only ones seen on the count.
Mammals: A large, very furry Red Fox resting at mid-day in the middle of a
big, open field, grooming itself. 2 Gray Squirrels. 6 deer.
On this same CBC George Armistead and Jesse Fagan found a BLACK-AND-WHITE
WARBLER. Jesse is a colleague of George and Ned Brinkley's at Field
Guides, Inc., all of them tour leaders. He is at work on a book on the
birds of El Salvador.
Monday, December 17. Sleep in, a little. Breakfast with Jesse and George
at the charming Exmore Diner at 7 A.M. Only 1.5 mi. to Willis Wharf so I
go there. There are 83 Marbled Godwits on the flats right in front of the
post office, along with 12 Willets.
Exmore: 8 Black Vultures right over the town, 2 Bald Eagles on its N edge.
Onley. A Bald Eagle over Route 13.
Tyson chicken plant a few miles S of the MD/VA line: yet another Bald
Eagle.
Deal Island W.M.A., MD (marsh areas only; we do not go out to the Bay): 10
A.M. - Noon. Clear, cold, winds 25 m.p.h. out of the NW, temps in high 30s
- low 40s. Ice in protected area such as roadside standing water and
puddles.
A Short-eared Owl up in the air c. 200 feet in bright sunlight at 11:13
A.M., perhaps jumped by hunters. A Forster's Tern diving into the marsh
ponds W. of Riley Roberts Road. An adult Little Blue Heron settling into
the marsh S. of the end of R.R.Rd.
Also: 2 ad. Bald Eagles, 16 black ducks, 3 Greater Yellowlegs, 1 unID'd
peep, only 15 Canada Geese, only 6 Tundra Swans, 2 coots (end of Dumpster
Road), 5 great blues, 2 Hooded Mergansers, 1 meadowlark, 10 shovelers, 2
male Boat-tailed Grackles, 11 Northern Harriers, and 45 Green-winged Teal.
As it is most times I visit here lately, the area inside the impoundment is
nearly dead, with high water levels.
In these 4 days I look at 1000s of Snow Geese but am unable to sort out a
Ross' Goose, a species I usually have very good luck with. As I frequently
tell my children: "Never take anything for granted."
'tis NOT the season: a Woodchuck roadkill somewhere in southern Delaware.
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 ....) |