From: Harry Armistead [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Monday, June 09, 2008 3:00 PM
To: Norman Saunders
Subject: Bloodsworth Island, Blackwater N.W.R. & Ferry Neck, June 6-8, 2008.

 

Norm, Can you please post this on MDOSPREY (see below)?  Thanks. - Harry.
 
Caveat reador.  Since my computer is on the fritz for a while I'll write
these postings in public libraries, where time is limited.  Consequently my
ranking on the blowhard-longwindedness index is bound to drop, mercifully,
you will say...
 
1.  HARLEQUIN DUCK, a male on the west jetty at Crocheron, probably visible
through a scope, if he stays around, from the launching ramp.  I think this
is the 3rd Dorchester County record.  He seemed healthy and active, slipped
into the water from the rocks when I got too close, climbed back out again
when I retreated, wagging his tail.
 
Rt. 309 just N. of the Easton airport, a Snapping Turtke, d.o.r.
 
2.  Rigby's Folly, Armistead place on West Ferry Neck Road near Royal Oak:
 
June 4, Wed., late, a great deluge here with violent thunder storms and
winds locally estimated at 50-70 m.p.h. resulted in a lot of downed, big
limbs, some tree blowovers, and ablizzards of pine cones in some spots.
 
Fri., June 6.  Afternoon only.  Huge amounts of standing water.  Wood Thrush
singing near the Waterthrush Pond.  A male bobwhite calling from the SE
corner of the Big Field.  Nice, since sometimes an entire year goes by w/o
us hearing or seeing one.  a male Blue Grosbeak.  Great Horned Owl calling
at 8:45 P.M., softly.  a kingbird chases, buit good, an American Crow.
 
10 deer, 1 cottontail, 1 Gray Squirrel.  Butterflies" Little Wood Satyr,
Red-spotted Purple, American Lady, Cabbage White.  a very fat, well-fed 5'
Black Rat Snake.  A tiny young Fowler's Toad, the size of a pea. 
 
Sat., June 7, a hen Wild Turkey right out on the driveway in front of the
house with at least 3 starling-sized checks).  
 
Sun., June 8.  I redeploy a sizeable Black Rat Snake shed in hopes the yard
Great Crested Flycatchers will use it in their nest.  They never seem to
utilize the sheds I provide for them.
 
DORCHESTER COUNTY, MARYLAND (items 3-7), June 7, Saturday (run into Kevin
Graff at the Cambridge Wawa):
 
3.  Gootee's to Crocheron, 16.4 miles.  2 Sika Elk, 2 Diamondback Terrapin,
1 Mud Turtle, and a quail calling plus these d.o.r.: Turkey & Black vulkture
plus Gray Squirrel.
 
4.  Crocheron: an Osprey bringing smoke on an imm. Bald Eagle.
 
5.  Bloodsworth Island, Fin Creek and Okahanikan Cove in particular.
Intended to be a short trip to run the boat after a filter that can deal
with Ethanol was installed.  Boat engine not working well at all, smokes,
hard to start, and then lurches back and forth between high rpms and low
ones, so trip cut short, only out there 9:45 A.M. - 2 P.M., less than 10
miles motored.  Plus fog at the start, and, overconfidant, I blasted through
it only to get lost and not be able to find land.  When fog finally clears,
I'm about 1 mile NNW of where I wanted to be.  I've misplaced my GPS and my
boat unit does not give me mileage travelled.  I'd hopes to revisit Holland
and South Marsh islands today biut it was not to be.
 
Still, see several species not found May 25: a pair of Green Herons and a
pair of Snowy Egrets going in and out of the bushes, no doubt breeders.
Common Loon in basic plumage.  Of interest is a Great Crested Flycatcher,
probably not a breeder, but I did see one here once in early Sept.  Over Fin
Creek Ridge are countless 1000s of Seaside Dragonlets and plenty of
Greenhead Flies, so flycatching birds have some possibilities, and I hope
the regular marshbirds, sparrows, wren,s etc., feed on these.
 
Other Fin Creek species:  Seaside Sparrow 8, oystercatcher 2, Brown Pelican
11, Red-winged Blackbird 8, cormorant 10, Osprey 8, Great Egret 4,
Tricolored Heron 3, Little Blue Heron 2, Herring Gull 6, Laughing Gull 2,
Boat-tailed Grackle 12 (nesting in the Red Cedars), Willet 2, Song Sparrow
at least 4, black duck 1, Marsh Wren 4, Clapper Rail 1, yellowthroat 2,
Carolina Wren 1.
 
Also:  Salt March Skipper 1 (landing on the center console windshield),
Browd-winged Skipper 1 (ID'd from a dead speciemnt secured floating on Fin
Creek; book syas their flight period doesn't start until July), Orange
Sulphur, and at least 30 Diamondback Terrapin.
 
I did not penetrate Fin Creek far because of the problems with the engine.
hazy, winds NNW 5, then mostly SW 5 or less, 90+ degrees, clear.  Visibility
only 100 yards or so for first 2+ hours on the boat.  Interesting but even
though the tide had been rising for an hour or so, marsh grass and other
debris continued to flow OUT the creek.
 
6.  Blackwater N.W.R., fairly fast drive throughs.  7:15-8:15 A.M.
(visibility no more than 100 yards) and then 3-4:15 P.M.  High water levels
both tidal and in the impoundments.  a Wood Thrush.  1 Fox and 2 Gray
Squirrels, one of the latter lying spreadeagle on a spli rail fench.  1
cottontail.  Many, many carp making their depredations on the bottom of the
Little Blackwater River.  8 Bald Eagles.  The huge eagle nest, visible miles
way, on the south side of the Blackwater River, easily seen from Wildlife
Drive, has apparently blwon down, perhaps in last Wednesday's storm.  3
Brown-headed Nuhatches, one of them a begging but flight-caable juvenile
(wings all aflutter).  2 Mute Swans.  1 Killdeer.  So hot this afternoon I
see a Great Blue Heron, which had not been flying or exerting itself,
ululating. 
 
7.  Egypt Road.  A Sika Elk bull standing in the middle of a field at 4:21
P.M. in the heat with a Horned Lark nearby.
 
8.  LEAPIN' LIZARDS.  June 1 at Rigby"  Daughters Mary & Anne with their
guest, Ryan Rowe.  Kudos to Ryna for carefully observing a Borad-headed
Skink, only the 2nd property record.  Big sucker.  One book I have on
Delmarva reptiles indicates NO Delaware records.  They also saw a Five-lined
Skink.  I saw 2 of these there June 6.  
 
9.  HEROIC WHIMBREL FLIGHT.  A recent message from Dr. Bryan Watts (Wm. &
Mary Ctr. for Conservation Biology) and Barry Truitt (The Nature Conservancy
Virginia Coast Reserve) tells of a female Whimbrel fitted with a 9.5 gram
satellite transmitter this past May 20 on the VA Eastern Shore.  On May 23
she took off and apparentlky flew NONSTOP for 6 days to extreme NW Canada to
the MacKenzie River delta, a flight of 3,200 miles!  It's thought Whimbrels
bulk up here on fiddler crabs as knots do (or at least did) on Horseshow
Crab eggs.  This lady Whimbrel weighes 180 grams more than any other
Whimbrel recorded in the literature.  The VA E. Shore must be a major
staging area for them (cf. an aerial count of 41,623 on May 9, 1995, as
detailed in "Virginia's Birdlife" by Rottenborn and Brinkley).
Contratulations to these researchers for this astounding news. 
 
10.  WOODCHUCKS, a surfeit.  Liz and I counted 10 in just a hundred yards or
so in Delaware in the NW sector of where Routes 299 & 1 conjoin.  That's a
lot of fur.  They were all adults.  The most I've ever seen on our many
trips up and down from Philadelphia.

Best to all. - Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.   



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