Rigby's Folly, Armistead property on Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, West
Ferry Neck Road near Royal Oak but nearer still to Bellevue. February
9-10, 2008. Liz & Harry Armistead.
Saturday, February 9. overcast to fair to clear. 42-60. SE 5 to almost
calm to S 10+ to almost calm late in the day. tide low to above average
high, falling at dusk. 52 degrees at 6 P.M., 56 degrees at 8 P.M.
beautiful crescent moon at dusk 45 degrees up in the western sky. at 5:26
P.M. the red hot-looking sun still over the horizon a bit. an A-10
Wharthog at dusk flies right over the dock at low elevation, quite a sight.
40 species (not counting the Wharthog).
1 adult Northern Gannet, the only property record between January 14 and
March 5, roughly half-way between those 2 dates, but not surprising in view
of their burgeoning presence on the Bay. 2 Sharp-shinned Hawks. 940
Ring-billed Gulls at sunset going to roost out on the Choptank River mouth,
2nd highest property count. 2 Great Horned Owls calling at dusk. 5
Carolina Wrens, much singing. 45 robins. 4 bluebirds. 1 Ruby-crowned
Kinglet. 60 Common Grackles acting as they do in early spring (low level
flights through yards, going from cedar to cedar with tails flared
sometimes). 1 Fox Sparrow.
Waterfowl way down from January 26 (totals for then in parentheses) for
reasons I cannot even guess: Canada Goose 975 (800), Mute Swan 13 (68),
Tundra Swan 0 (117), American Black Duck 2 (0), Mallard 12 (6), Canvasback
7 (810), Common Goldeneye 6 (4), Bufflehead 45 (120), Lesser Scaup 0 (25),
Long-tailed Duck 4 (1120), Surf Scoter 12 (45), White-winged Scoter 0 (2),
Red-breasted Merganser 0 (26), Ruddy Duck 0 (410). In the case of the
LTDUs the Choptank is very choppy, one reason few seen today.
MAMMALS: 4 deer in Field 4. 2 Gray Squirrels. 2 Red Foxes with some sort
of prey item in Field 2.
Sunday, February 10. fair to overcast to clear. wind W 15 building in
mid-afternoon to 30 with gusts to 40. 43-53 degrees. The gale force winds
with a rising tide means we'll lose some shoreline.
Not much birding today but do see 2 adult Bald Eagles. A group of 95
Lesser with a few Greater scaup has 10 American Wigeon mixed in with them,
foraging for scraps of SAV the scaup drop. This flock is very tightly
massed, actively diving (except for the wigeon) and feeding. A Great Blue
Heron apparently hunting at the diminutive Waterthrush Pond, where I've
never seen one before. 8 Killdeer in Field 1, where they've been all
winter.
CORRECTION. I saw 20 Northern Shovelers at Blackwater N.W.R. on January
28, NOT 320.
OFF TOPIC but possibly of interest:
CHIPMUNK. One scampering across the road at Militia Hill (Ft. Washington
State Park), PA, on Feb. 2, seen by Liz and me. Out early this year,
perhaps inspired by Punxatawney Phil.
VINES. On Saturday I measure various vines and tree circumferences in
Woods 1, an area I describe at length in my post for January 21. Woods 1
is a strip of woodlands on our north boundary c. 100 feet by 900 feet. A
few additional, large Trumpet Creepers, not in the table below, are dead.
I believe I found and measured all of the large Trumpet Creeper vines here.
The table proceeds down, or, roughly the equivalent of from west to east
in Woods 1.
In the table below, left to right:
1st number is circumference of the vine (Trumpet Creeper unless otherwise
indicated) in inches.
2nd number is the horizontal distance from the base of the vine to the base
of its host tree in feet.
3rd number is the circumference of the host tree in inches at circa chest
high level.
4th number is the vertical distance in feet from the base of the host tree
(Loblolly Pine unless otherwise indicated) to where the vine first engages
the tree (this measurement, an eyeball estimate, only made in 12 cases).
5th column has random notes and commentary.
a hyphen, -, means measurement not taken. 0 indicates no trumpet creeper
present.
These vines help to diversify a rather uniform piney woods, give it a
little deciduous component. In no case do the vines seem to adversely
effect the host trees. High up in the trees the vines sprout branches as
well as bear leaves in the warm months, develop into a sort of morass that
is attractive to a few squirrels and birds.
Note that 2 of the vines have woodpecker workings, as if they are trees,
something I also noticed in my ivorybill searches in Arkansas and Florida.
The largest Trumpet Creeper has a circumference of 23 inches, about the
size, if you must know, of one of my thighs at its maximum girth, one of
the reasons, perhaps, I was never any good at football. Let someone else
be Thunder Thighs.
0 0 49" -
23" 13' 60" -
14" 2' 60" -
13" 4' 45" -
9" 3' 45" -
12" 7' 45" - same tree as above, i.e., has 2 vines
0 0 66" -
10" 1' 40" -
10" 2' 52" - vine has woodpecker workings
10" 3' 53" -
9" 0.5' 59" -
11" 4' 49" - vine has woodpecker workings
14" 4' 52" -
17" 5' 74" 15'
19" 12' 73" 18' also has 8" circumference grape vine
17" 2' 53" -
16" 2' 50" 4'
10" 2' 50" - also has 3 poison ivy vines
0 0 55" - has 4 poison ivy vines (only)
15" 1' 36" 3'
0 0 55" - has 3 poison ivy vines
10" 20' 55" 25' grape vine, same tree as above
15" 1' 60" - poison ivy vine
11" 4' 80" 8'
13" 4' 80" 13' same tree as above
11" 4' 80" 13' same tree as above, again
16" 1' 70" - poison ivy vine
16" 0.5' 72" 18'
10" 11' 56" 15' grapevine
8" 11' 56" 15' same tree as above (2nd grapevine)
12" 2.5' 83" 13' tree also with 2 grapevines
- - 34" - red maple with 4 small grapevines
0 0 51" - old apple tree, dead for 2-3 years.
0 0 89" - perhaps the biggest loblolly here
AD HOC ACTIVITIES. Liz and I remove dead areas of the SWernmost boxwood at
the house entrance pathway. We spend close to 1.5 hours filling in holes
along the Olszewski Trails and removing pine limbs I cut a few weeks ago.
CATASTROPHIC AMPHIBIAN DECLINE. From "Birds, beasts & bureaucrats" by
Herbert A. Raffaele (Cold Tree Press, 2007, p. 254-255): ... "in 2004 a
Global Amphibian Assessment was published with input from 500 scientists
representing 60 countries. The assessment found that an alarming 1,856
species of amphibians are threatened with extinction, 32.5 percent of all
amphibians known. Of these, 435 are in rapid decline. No fewer than 113
species have gone unrecorded in recent years and may already be extinct
joining nine others considered extinct since 1980. A fungal disease,
chytridiomycosis, has recently become a threat to many high elevation and
streamside frogs ... Clearly the amphibians of the world could be facing
the greatest decline of any group of animals ... The mystery facing the
world's amphibians continues to be sorted out ... "
TRIPLE EXTENSION SAW. My triple extension saw extends to 16 feet 1.5
inches. Thus when my arms are fully extended over my head, it can cut
branches 20 feet up, or even slightly higher, 24 feet or higher if used
from a step ladder.
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 ....) |