RIGBY’S FOLLY, August 23, 2008. Saturday, 1:30 P.M. – dark only. Mostly overcast, SE5, 83-79 degrees F. Tide low but rising. Extremely dry. A useless 10 minute sprinkle at 7:20.
45 species. 17 Wood Ducks, my highest-ever summer count. 3 American Redstarts. 4 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. 1 Orchard Oriole. The 4 Mallard ducklings, present for weeks, are now c. ½ grown. 7 Wild Turkeys, one ½ grown young bird taking off from the top of a big Sweet Gum, rocketing off over the treetops. 2 each of Great & Snowy egrets, Green & Great Blue herons. 10 Ospreys, one soaring very high with a fish. 2 Black Vultures. 12 Purple Martins. A female kingfisher. 7 Chimney Swifts. 6 mockingbirds, one a juvenile. 2 Blue Grosbeaks, a suspected late breeding pair. 1 Yellow-billed Cuckoo gives its full call, just once.
An Eastern Screech-Owl, responds to spishing at 4:30, only the 2nd time I’ve had that happen. Lying in bed at 9 with the geothermal cooling system whoofing on – it pulses off and on every few minutes as it achieves a sort of thermoregulatory homeostasis, trying to maintain a steady temperature at the 74 degree setting – I think I hear, given my poor hearing, something wrong with it but realize another screech-owl is calling just outside the window from the big Willow Oak. When the geothermal system whoofs off I can now hear it well and the little charmer continues for a few more minutes, mostly giving the descending whinny call but uttering the flat call twice.
Other signs of life. 51 frogs at The Pond, that still has some water, including Southern Leopard, Green, and Bull frogs. Butterflies: 4 Common Wood Nymphs, 1 Tiger Swallowtail, 2 Red-spotted Purples, 4 Monarchs, a Cabbage White, and an Orange Sulphur. 1 Diamondback Terrapin. 1 unID’d bat. Our one cluster of Marsh Hibiscus is still blooming.
Bruce Olszewski gives me a big basket full of large, succulent peaches. I put out 16 for the squirrels, take the rest home. He has seen an adult and an immature Bald Eagle, as well as the turkeys, plus a doe, a fawn, and a buck.
August 24, Sunday. Greater, central BLACKWATER N.W.R. area, but also including Shorter’s Wharf Road as far S as Robbins, Route 335 to Golden Hill & Gootee’s, Hip Roof Road, Egypt Road, and (in the early morning darkness) Maple Dam Road.
Not as compulsive as some other outings this summer, concentrating on marshy areas - landbirds get short shrift - but nevertheless a good effort, 5:15 A.M. – 3:15 P.M., 61 miles by car. Forego the last 5 hours of daylight to get home in time for dinner.
84 species, the missing: Green Heron, Great Horned Owl, Chimney Swift, Amelia Earhart, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, American Robin (!!), Indigo Bunting, and Eastern Meadowlark.
Anomalous: The Trumpeter Swan of dubious provenance continues to soldier on at Robbins.
WEATHER: Clear or fair variously, winds calm to ENE 5-10+ m.p.h., 68-82 degrees F., a splendid day with big, puffy, heroic white clouds, refuge water levels low, elsewhere tide above normal high to below normal low. Nice little shower noon-12:30.
Of most interest, at least to me: Nice influx of herons just before sunrise, mostly to Pool 5B: 55 Great, 1 Cattle & 40 Snowy egrets. A Least Bittern perched atop Juncus roemerianus near Hickory Point Gut, star-gazing, apparently in the belief that it is camouflaged, the first one I’ve encountered this year. 141 Blue-winged Teal, a nice count, mostly in the Blackwater River opposite Pool 3C.
22 Ospreys. 26 Bald Eagles. 3 Northern Harriers. 1 Cooper’s Hawk. 1 bobwhite “singing.” Good RAILS: 9 Clapper, 4 King Rail (at 3 sites; 1 well-seen), and 11 Virginias.
SHOREBIRDS: Almost all individuals, and all 9 species, in Pool 5B – 3 Semipalmated Plovers, 9 Killdeer, 28 Great & 11 Lesser yellowlegs, 3 Semipalmated, 1 Stilt, 8 Pectoral & 245 Least sandpipers, and 9 Short-billed Dowitchers.
18 Caspian (widespread) and 54 Forster’s terns, most of the latter at the Christmas tree reef at Sewards. 2 Barred Owls. 29 Rock Pigeons. 10 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (at least) at the constantly-patronized Visitor Center feeder. 6 Red-headed Woodpeckers (1 a flying juvenile) along Hip Roof Road.
7 Horned Larks, a group flying west of Egypt Road. 7 Bank Swallows. 9 Brown-headed Nuthatches, including a band of 7 of very inquisitive little sprites at Robbins. 4 Marsh Wrens (none singing). 1 gnatcatcher. 9 Blue Grosbeaks. 10 Seaside Sparrows (none singing).
STILL SOME SONG, from: bobwhite, pewee, Blue Grosbeak, White-eyed Vireo, Pine Warbler.
NON-BIRDS: 1 Muskrat, the only mammal, other than 2 Woodchucks on the outskirts of Philadelphia on my arrival near home late. 1 Painted Turtle. 2 Mud Turtles basking on the road, one of these scarab-shaped dudes – I should have stopped to remove it – I see the car behind me, inadvertently, hit a glancing blow, flipping it end over end, tiddlywinks style, so that it makes a high arc into the ditch. It just might have survived O.K. 1 Diamondback Terrapin. Butterflies, not a lot: 6 Monarchs, 1 Cabbage White, 28 Orange Sulphurs, 7 Cloudless Sulphurs, 2 Spicebush Swallowtails, and 2 Buckeyes.
SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI. “Development” has finally started along Egypt Road, the fields scoured in places, heavy equipment at the ready. The Horned Larks and Eastern Meadowlarks will need to look elsewhere next summer.
HEADIN’ HOME: 3 American Kestrels along Route 481, a sign, along with the 2 on the Egypt Road wires and the Cooper’s Hawk at Robbins, that the fall raptor flight is starting.
Best to all. – Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.
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