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FW: Ferry Neck, October 17-19, 2008. VIRGINIA RAIL & unofficial Big Sit.

From:

Norm Saunders

Reply-To:

Norm Saunders

Date:

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 05:21:57 -0400

 

 

From: Harry Armistead [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 4:50 PM
To: Norman Saunders
Subject: Ferry Neck, October 17-19, 2008. VIRGINIA RAIL & unofficial Big
Sit.

 

FERRY NECK (Rigby's Folly), Talbot County, Maryland, October 17-19, 2008.

 

FRIDAY, October 17, 2008.  3 P.M. - dark only.  63-61 degrees F.  NW 5.
Overcast.  Light rain late.  44 species.

 

VIRGINIA RAIL.  A new yard bird (267).  After spishing next to the hedgerow
on the NW corner of Field 7 for several minutes the rail suddenly flushed 15
feet from me and landed in a bush, looking at me and flicking its tail up
and down expressively, as rails and gallinules do.  After about a minute it
flew farther back into the hedgerow but still only 30 feet away.  3:30 P.M.
Once we flushed a VARA from a low deciduous woods in Hatteras village on a
Christmas Bird Count.  They DO turn up in weird habitat during migration.  

 

1 adult Snow Goose flying with 5 Canada Geese.  1 Great Egret.  1 imm.
Osprey with a big fish.  1 Great Horned Owl calling at 9:15 P.M.  9 Eastern
Phoebes.  225 Fish Crows at dusk.  17 Palm Warblers (2 Yellows, 15
Westerns).  6 towhees.  Only 5 juncos.

 

SPARROWS:  20 Chipping, 25 Field, 80 Song, 65 Swamp, 155 White-throated, and
10 White-crowned.  Some of these are record property counts.  Surprised not
to find any Savannah Sparrows these 3 days.        

 

Huge influx of sparrows, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and phoebes.  7 deer
including a 4-pt. buck.  Extremely dry.  I haven't been here in 26 days,
most unusual.  Fields 1, 2 and 3 are mowed in their entirety, perhaps a
week+ ago judging from their new growth.  Field 4's entire periphery is
mowed, a 30' swatch except for most of the S side.  Field 7's entire
periphery is mowed.  Fields 5 & 6 have just the N side periphery only mowed.
The rest of the fields unmowed central cores have dense 5-6' high weeds and
grasses loaded with millions of seeds, great for sparrows.  The fields have
been untouched until now from 2007.  The Baccharis halimifolia (a.k.a.
Groundsel Tree or Hightide Bush) is now very gravid and the white seeds are
starting to blow like snow flurries.

 

SATURDAY, October 18.  BIG SIT for 11 hours, 7:45 A.M. - 6:45 P.M.  In a
so-called Big Sit the birders are confined to a circle in an area of their
choosing that is 17' in diameter.  I've never done one at Rigby before -
just one more facet of exploring the potential of the place.  The location
was an open area on the extreme S side of the lawn.  I was very pleased (and
surprised) to note 60 species this way, the result of vigorous scanning and
scopework.  53-61 degrees, NE-NW 10, partly overcast to completely overcast,
no precipitation. 

 

RAPTORS (11 species; ties my record):  4 Black & 22 Turkey Vultures.  9 Bald
Eagles.  1 Northern Harrier.  43 Sharp-shinned, 6 Cooper's, 1
Red-shouldered, and 6 Red-tailed hawks.  2 Ospreys (4 times I saw an
immature with a different fish each time on the pole in Field 2; if this was
the same bird it had very quickly become adept at catching prey and had a
big appetite).  2 American Kestrels.  2 Merlins.  TOTAL - 98 individuals.  A
good flight by local standards.

 

1 Wood Duck.  3 Surf Scoters.  5 Common Loons.  1 Great Egret.  2 Royal & 5
Forster's Terns.  1 Great Horned Owl (last bird of the day).  1 kingfisher.
4 woodpecker species.  12 Eastern Phoebes.  175 Tree Swallows.  1
Red-breasted Nuthatch.  3 Ruby-crowned Kinglets.  85 Myrtle & 9 Palm
warblers. An imm. White-crowned Sparrow.  5 Eastern Meadowlarks.  

 

3 Monarchs and 2 Orange Sulphurs.  Outside of the circle were 2 Green-winged
Teal in the cove and a Winter Wren.  1 Gray Squirrel.  6 deer.

 

SUNDAY, October 19.  Took it easy today.  Clear, NE 15-20, 43-61 degrees.

 

1 Merlin over Field 4 and right overhead.  Along the Olszewski Trails:  12
Golden-crowned and 3 Ruby-crowned kinglets, 3 Carolina Chickadees, a
Sharp-shinned Hawk, some white-throats, and 10 Palm & 3 Myrtle warblers.
Near there: 3 imm. and 2 ad. Bald Eagles (1 of the immies was trailing a c.
3'length of twine; you'd think with its bill it could have removed this), 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, 1 imm. White-crowned Sparrow, a Cooper's Hawk, 3
Hermit Thrushes, 4 phoebes, 100 Tree Swallows, 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch, 1
Osprey, and several Red-tailed Hawks.

 

Liz spots a 2'Garter Snake lying in the shade on the Warbler Trail in 56
degree weather.  When I try to catch it it proves not at all sluggish and
slithers away.  This species is seldom encountered here.  

 

Gray Squirrel - 7 of the little things.  1 fawn.  4 Buckeyes, 2 Orange
Sulphurs.

 

Best to all. - Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.

 

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