From: Harry Armistead [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2008 9:52 AM
To: Norman Saunders
Subject: Ferry Neck, November 17-20, 2008: Golden Eagle, Cackling Goose.

 

FERRY NECK-RIGBY'S FOLLY, NOVEMBER 17-20, 2008.  Liz & Harry Armistead.

 

Monday, November 17, 2008.

 

Coming down on Route 301, MD:  a d.o.r. Barred Owl at mile 112.8 plus a very
live Woodchuck in a field west of the highway at mile 112.2.  That's the 2nd
dead Barred Owl along this road in the past month.

 

At Rigby, 3-5 P.M. only.  Overcast, SW 5-10, 50-46 degrees F., low tide.
Occasional light sprinkles.  Somewhat raw.  Over the course of several days
around last weekend c. 2.5" of rain has fallen, mercifully.  Our 3 small
ponds are now nearly full for the first time in months.  Lake Olszewski and
the Wool Sedge Depression are still nearly dry.

 

235 Tundra Swans in 8 flocks plus 2 other flocks heard but not seen -
screened out by forest.  260 Cedar Waxwings in 9 flocks, a funny time of day
for a flight, but they are moving through to the south w/o stopping.  1
juvenile Bald Eagle over the dock (the Mallards flush but not the Canada
Geese).  35 American Goldfinches.  45 robins.  200 or so gulls, Laughing
Gulls probably, working fish c. 5-6 miles out in the Choptank River mouth.
1 Pileated Woodpecker.  35 Buffleheads.  55 Surf Scoters.  5 Common Loons (3
of them flyovers).  6 deer.  

 

Tuesday, November 18.  Fair, NW 20-30 (40-45 in late P.M.; scary gale-force
winds), 38-44-37 degrees F., cold, low tide extends out past the end of the
dock 10'.  Many dramatic, gray, whispy virga trailing down from dark clouds,
occasional very light snow flurries.  41 species.

 

2 Northern Gannets (1 adult and 1 subadult, the latter unusual here)
accompanying a pod of 70 Laughing Gulls over fish.  1 juvenile GOLDEN EAGLE
soaring over Field 2, well seen through the 32X scope, a beauty.  475
American Robins and 425 Cedar Waxwings, some present all day, a lot of
milling around but these estimates I bet are probably low.  Only 2 Common
Loons, these passing over high.  0 Tundra Swans - unbelievable.  4 Killdeer.
3 Forster's Terns.  1 Fox Sparrow.  12 bluebirds.  29 Dark-eyed Juncos
foraging in one group on tiny seeds on the driveway turning circle.  90
American Goldfinches with a few siskins mixed in.   

 

OTHER RAPTORS:  10 Turkey Vultures, 5 Sharp-shinned, 1 Red-shouldered and 7
Red-tailed hawks, and 6 Bald Eagles.  Missed Black Vulture and Cooper's
Hawk.

 

1 Gray Squirrel feeding on Hawthorn fruit by the Waterthrush Pond.  5 deer
incl. a 6-point buck and an almost pure white buck with one spikey, c. 5"
antler (the right one), has a very few dark spots and some brown on the head
but otherwise a striking white deer; I've not seen this animal before.

 

Wednesday, November 19.  Clear, 29-40 degrees, NW 20-WNW 10-5. 46 species.

 

1 female Wood Duck flying with a flock of Canada Geese (seen doing this on
Nov. 20 also).  1 CACKLING GOOSE, close and right overhead, so I hear its
high-pitched, yelping honk, so different from the 11 big boy Canada Geese
this little dude is flying with.  2 Horned Larks, low, flybys, seldom seen
here.  1 Hermit Thrush (a good fall for them).  When I wander off from my
observation point and chair on the lawn a male Eastern Bluebird alights on
the optic lens element of my Leica scope.  26 White-throated Sparrows.  Not
nearly as many waxwings and robins today.  3 adult Bald Eagles in sight
simultaneously.  1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet.  1 Eastern Towhee.  115 Ruddy Ducks
strung out in the center of Irish Creek.  5 Northern Gannets in the distance
over towards Cook's Point, some plunge-diving.  450 Canada Geese, really not
many this visit.  2 Black Vultures.  1 black duck.  2 Red-breasted
Mergansers.  

 

Find 2 old bottles including a small, dark blue bromo seltzer one, also a
5-point antler.  There is a small dead doe (yearling) in the NE corner of
Field 6.  4 live deer.  The Varmint Pool and the Waterthrush Pond are frozen
but other areas are not, except for some of the standing water in the
fields.  There's even a small fringe of salty ice along the muddy margins of
the cove.

 

Thursday, November 20.  Present only until 10 A.M.  Overcast, raw,
penetratsio, 41-42 degrees F., W 5-10.  

 

1 3rd-year Bald Eagle.  2 Sharp-shinned Hawks.  28 Buffleheads in the cove.


 

Headin' home.  1.5 mi. S. of the intersection of Rt. 481 and Ruthsburg Road
(Queen Annes County) in a big field to the west:  110 Ring-billed Gulls, 85
Canada and 40 Snow geese, 20 Tundra Swans, and 20 Killdeer.  West of Route
301 at mile 118.2 thousands of Snow Geese (Kent County).  Something spooks
them and when they fly we only see c. 20 Blue Geese.  

 

Best to all. - Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.

 

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