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FW: Dorchester County fall bird count, September 20; Ferry Neck, September 19-22.

From:

Norm Saunders

Reply-To:

Norm Saunders

Date:

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:03:40 -0400

 

 

From: Harry Armistead [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2008 12:07 PM
To: Norman Saunders
Subject: Dorchester County fall bird count, September 20; Ferry Neck,
September 19-22.

 

1.  13th DORCHESTER COUNTY, MARYLAND, FALL BIRD COUNT, Saturday, September
20, 2008.

 

146 species, number of individual birds to be totaled later.  Highest ever
species total.

 

COVERAGE.  11 observers in 6 parties, the best coverage ever for a spring or
fall count in this county.  Central East: Steve Ford;  Extreme South: Diane
Cole;  Neck District: Colin and Stephanie McAllister;  Taylor's Island:
Wayne Bell, Amanda Spears, Paul Spitzer, and Margie Steffens;  North of
Route 50: Bob Ringler and Jared Sparks;  the Glory Road (Hooper's Island,
Swan Harbor, Meekins Neck, Blackwater N.W.R., and Elliott Island Road in
that sequence): Harry Armistead (compiler). 

 

ABBREVIATIONS:  Derived from above observers' names and place names.        

 

Canada goose 1066.  mute swan 20 (incl. 2 ad. with their 8 cygnets, DC).
wood duck 35.  American wigeon 8.  American black duck 20.  mallard 425.
blue-winged teal 14.  northern shoveler 45.  northern pintail 6.
green-winged teal 293.  ruddy duck 6 (at Hurlock by BR,JS).  wild turkey 46
(3 parties).  pied-billed grebe 1 (SF).  brown pelican 4 (HI; strange how
hard they are to find here often when you consider 3,331 young were banded
this summer in the central Chesapeake Bay).  double-crested cormorant 466.  

 

great blue heron 43.  great egret 77.  snowy egret 29.  tricolored heron 2
(EIR).  green heron 4.  black-crowned night heron 2 (BNWR).  black vulture
17.  turkey vulture 233.  osprey 2 (1 each by 2 parties; scarce here this
time of year).  bald eagle 121 (from 6-42 seen by all 6 parties).  northern
harrier 4.  sharp-shinned hawk 9.  Cooper's hawk 4 (1 each by 4 parties).
red-shouldered hawk 1 (TI).  broad-winged hawk 1 (TI).  red-tailed hawk 21.
American kestrel 50 (34 by SF in CE party).  merlin 1 (TI party).  peregrine
falcon 1 (BNWR).

 

clapper rail 7.  king rail 4 (BNWR).  Virginia rail 10.  sora 1 (BNWR).
common moorhen 4 (EIR).  black-bellied plover 2 (SH).  semipalmated plover
1.  killdeer 23.  greater yellowlegs 23.  lesser yellowlegs 8.  spotted
sandpiper 4 (1 each by 4 parties).  sanderling 65 (SH; a good total for
Dorchester).  semipalmated sandpiper 5.  western sandpiper 32.  least
sandpiper 14.  pectoral sandpiper 2 (H).  Wilson's snipe 1 (EIR).

 

laughing gull 2923.  ring-billed gull 132.  herring gull 378.  great
black-backed gull 127 (80 of these on the experimental jetties on Middle
HI).  unID'd gull 66.  Caspian tern 93.  royal tern 72 (4 parties).  common
tern 1 (SH).  Forster's tern 391.  rock pigeon 31.  mourning dove 138.

 

yellow-billed cuckoo 1.  eastern screech-owl 8 (5 parties).  great horned
owl 5.  barred owl 5.  chimney swift 36.  ruby-throated hummingbird 5.
belted kingfisher 9.  red-headed woodpecker 3.  red-bellied woodpecker 28.
yellow-bellied sapsucker 1 (an imm. female at SH).  downy woodpecker 43.
hairy woodpecker 5.  northern flicker 60.  pileated woodpecker 10 (4
parties).  eastern wood-pewee 8.  unID'd empidonax 2 (1 each by 2 parties).
eastern phoebe 5 (4 parties).  great crested flycatcher 1 (DC). 

 

white-eyed vireo 15.  red-eyed vireo 18.  blue jay 113.  American crow 136.
fish crow 31.  horned lark 4.  purple martin 1.  tree swallow 971.  bank
swallow 3.  savings and loan swallow 1.  barn swallow 3.  Carolina chickadee
124.  tufted titmouse 46.  red-breasted nuthatch 1.  white-breasted nuthatch
1.  brown-headed nuthatch 115 (all 6 parties; huge count by TI party).

 

Carolina wren 132.  house wren 20.  marsh wren 1.  ruby-crowned kinglet 1
(SH).  blue-gray gnatcatcher 10 (4 parties).  eastern bluebird 130.
American robin 110.  gray catbird 39.  northern mockingbird 95.  brown
thrasher 20.  European starling 4402.  cedar waxwing 26.  

 

blue-winged warbler 2.  ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER 1 (TI by WB & AS; good
description).  northern parula 12.  yellow-warbler 2.  chestnut-sided
warbler 1.  magnolia warbler 22 (4 parties).  black-throated blue warbler 3.
black-throated green warbler 1.  Blackburnian warbler 1.  pine warbler 49.
prairie warbler 1.  palm warbler 12.  black-and-white warbler 23 (5
parties).  American redstart 67 (5 parties).  ovenbird 14.  unID'd warbler
30 (mostly flyovers).  common yellowthroat 58 (all 6 parties).
yellow-breasted chat 1.  

 

summer tanager 1.  scarlet tanager 3.  eastern towhee 1 (that's right, just
one).  chipping sparrow 81.  field sparrow 1 (hard to get this time of year,
like the towhee).  Savannah sparrow 10.  unID'd sharp-tailed sparrow 1
(EIR).  seaside sparrow 2.  song sparrow 3 (1 each by 3 parties).  northern
cardinal 125.  rose-breasted grosbeak 2.  blue grosbeak 21.  indigo bunting
24.  

 

bobolink 97.  red-winged blackbird 844.  eastern meadowlark 4.  boat-tailed
grackle 2 (1 at SH, 1 at EIR).  common grackle 2262.  brown-headed cowbird
150.  Baltimore oriole 2.  house finch 26.  American goldfinch 181 (130 or
so at a sunflower field by N party).  house sparrow 98. 

 

EFFORT:  Hours by foot 31, by car 30, owling 4.  Miles by foot 16, by car
430, owling 47.  1:30-2:00 A.M.; 4:45 A.M. - 7:45 P.M.

 

WEATHER:  56-80 degrees F.  Winds NNE mostly 10 or 10+ m.p.h. dropping to 5
late in the day.  Skies fair.  Very comfortable weather.  Tides well above
normal; sequence: high to low to high at day's end when one stretch of EIR
600+ feet was submerged.  Impoundments very low or else dry.  Extremely dry
everywhere else.  A prolonged drought.   

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.  My grateful thanks to Blackwater refuge for permitting
access to the temporarily-closed section (= the majority of) Wildlife Drive.
Special thanks to the 10 other observers.  All parties submitted neat
reports less than 48 hours after the count, a great convenience for the
compiler.  Thanks to Neal and Kate Birchmeier for letting me scope Tar Bay
from the end of their nifty dock.

 

MY OWN DAY.  I was out 4:45 A.M. until 7:45 P.M., drove 108 birding miles,
had good luck with owls and rails.  Had to work REALLY hard to get 107
species.  MAMMALS: 3 rabbits, 5 Sika Elk (4 at BNWR, 1 at EIR), 1
White-tailed Deer, 2 Red Foxes, and a Fox Squirrel (at BNWR).  REPTILES:  1
Northern Watersnake, 2 Diamondback Terrapin, 6 Red-bellied Sliders, and 5
Painted Turtles (the latter 2 species at BNWR).  BUTTERFLIES: 2 Red
Admirals, 1 Spicebush Swallowtail, 1 Red-spotted Purple, 20 Monarchs, 4
Common Wood Nymphs, 12 Orange Sulphurs, 1 Cabbage White, 7 Buckeyes, 1
Eastern-tailed Blue (?), 2 Black Swallowtails, and 10 Cloudless Sulphurs.   

 

GENERAL COMMENTARY.  How sad that 11 of us covering 430 miles found no
Northern Bobwhite.  There was a lackluster warbler-passerine, neotropicals
flight.  No "thrush thrushes" were found.  Missed species:  Cattle Egret,
Glossy Ibis, Gadwall, quail, any nightjar, Eastern Kingbird, Grasshopper
Sparrow, thrushes, and various other scarcer species.

 

FAMILY GROUP REPRESENTATION.  11 waterfowl (so so).  6 heron-ibis-egret
types (poor).  13 raptors (very good).  5 rails/gallinules.  12 shorebirds
(fair).  4 gulls.  4 terns.  3 owls.  7 woodpeckers (good; all possible
species seen).  4 flycatchers (so so).  2 vireos.  4 swallows (not bad for
this time of year).  3 nuthatches (good).  0 thrushes (badiola).  17
warblers (not bad considering the day).  6 sparrows (O.K.).  

 

2.  BLACKWATER refuge, birdwalk on Sunday, September 21.  8 of us including
Paul Hagen and Chuck Nock.  A species not seen yesterday by any of the 11 of
us:  2 Stilt Sandpipers in Pool 5B.  Spectacular was a male Summer Tanager
giving its call note repeatedly from the top of the Sycamore right outside
the Visitor Center, good scope views.  Also, 1 Gray and 1 Fox Squirrel, 2
Red-bellied Sliders.  1 Pectoral Sandpiper, 70 Green-winged Teal, 10 Snowy
Egrets, a Sharp-shinned Hawk, 7 Bobolinks, 2 kingfishers, 6 Savannah
Sparrows, 30 Caspian and 45 Forster's terns, 2 Red-headed and 2 Pileated
woodpeckers, and a nice mixed species foraging guild, at close range and
very vocal, consisting of c. 8 each of Pine Warblers, Eastern Bluebirds, and
Brown-headed Nuthatches plus several other species in smaller numbers.    

 

3.  RIGBY'S FOLLY, Armistead property on Ferry Neck near Royal Oak, Talbot
County, MD.  Preoccupied with various tasks and chores to do much birding
but I do see:  September 19 - 2 Red Foxes, 1 Diamondback Terrapin, 1
Fowler's Toad, and a Painted Lady plus 2 Royal Terns, a big female Cooper's
Hawk, a kestrel, an imm. Bald Eagle, 3 Snowy Egrets and a House Wren.  Bob
Ringler and Jared Sparks spend the night.  September 21 - 4 Bald Eagles, 2
Ospreys, the 3 snowies again, 6 mockingbirds, a Green Heron.  Daughter Mary,
Mike Solomonov, and Mordecai and Ofra Solomonov spend the night.  September
22 - an imm. Bald Eagle, 1 Magnolia Warbler, 1 Blue-gray gnatcatcher, 1
Great Egret, a Royal and a Forster's Tern.

 

4.  BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh:  "That night and the night after
and the night after, wherever she went, always in her own little circle of
intimates, she brought to all whose eyes were open to it a moment of joy,
such as strikes deep to the heart on the river's bank when the kingfisher
suddenly flames across the dappled water."

 

 

Best to all. - Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.

 

  _____  

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