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FW: Ferry Neck & Blackwater N.W.R., December 6-7, 2008; Black Rail report.

From:

Norm Saunders

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Date:

Mon, 8 Dec 2008 20:36:19 -0500

 

 

From: Harry Armistead [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Monday, December 08, 2008 6:58 PM
To: Norman Saunders
Subject: Ferry Neck & Blackwater N.W.R., December 6-7, 2008; Black Rail
report.

 

FERRY NECK & BLACKWATER N.W.R., DECEMBER 6-7, 2008.

 

CORRECTIONs.  1:  My last post: for "Saturday, November 30" that should be
Saturday, November 29.  2:  I now believe the Brewer's Blackbird seen on
November 30 at the Blackwater HQ area was an imm. male on the basis of its
eye color, which was pale witeish but not markedly so.  According to Alvaro
Jaramillo's excellent Blackbirds (Princeton, 1999) it takes a while in male
BRBLs for that gleaming white eye color to build in in the fall.  That
bird's apparent lack of glossiness or iridescence may have been due to the
overcast, dark, rainy weather, or its immaturity, or both.

 

Rigby's Folly, Armistead digs, Talbot County:

 

Friday, December 5, clear, 37, calm, 2 deer . 5:30 P.M.  

 

Saturday, December 6.  Clear becoming fair then overcast, sprinkles from 4
P.M., 27-40 degrees F., NE5-SE5-WSW5-calm.  36 species.

 

A House Wren in the undergrowth along the drive in front of the house is the
latest ever, the previous record-holder being one on Nov. 11 once.  7 Field
Sparrows.  Only 2 Common Loons and 13 tundra Swans.  260 Canada Geese in the
cove.  1 black duck.  Out on the Choptank River mouth calm conditions
allowed good scoping with 235 Surf Scoters, 65 Long-tailed Ducks, and 200
Buffleheads.  6 Bald Eagles (3 adults, 3 immatures; different markings
permit easy differentiation of the 3 juvies).  Ran into a nice little mixed
species foraging guild on the Olszewski Trails with: Tufted Titmouse,
Yellow-rumped Warbler, Ruby-crowned & Golden-crowned kinglets, and a Brown
Creeper.  10 cardinals.

 

Missed: Common Goldeneye, Horned Grebe, Fish Crow, American Goldfinch(!),
Mourning Dove, Cedar Waxwing.  Haven't seen a Horned Grebe all fall.

 

14 does foraging at Holland Point.  1 Gray Squirrel that had been at the
corn-dispensing barrel on the Olszewski Trails, in flagrante delicto.  As it
hitches up a Sweet Gum after each hitch it regards me and whisks and flicks
its tail furiously; frisky, fussy, furry, and fat; that's the way I like
'em.  Did some brush work and cleanup, slept in.  

 

BRUSHPILES.  Many of these have been in development and are small.  There
are  9 around the yard, 3 along the periphery of Field 1, and 15 small ones
next to the Olszewski Trails.  These are all manmade and a conscious effort
is made to build them up, sometimes walking a distance to throw on branches
and vines.  Good Winter Wren and small rodent habitat.     

 

SHORELINE.  Soon Tyler Contracting Company will be repairing the rip rap
along c. 2/3 of our shoreline.  This should result in numerous new
brushpiles.

 

GONE are the several pilings out from Holland point, the remnants of the
Spring Blind that for decades have been obliquely projecting from the
water's surface at low tide, but was often submerged at high tides.  They
were a navigation hazard but I will miss the odd cormorant, gull, tern, or
Osprey that favored them as perches.

 

UVA.  Lots of this Sea Lettuce has been wafted in by the strong winds and
lower-than-normal tides in the past few weeks, one more sign of the
semi-maritime nature of this area.

 

Sunday, December 7.  Napped in the afternoon from c. 3-5.  At 5:03 there's 8
deer right on the edge of the yard feeding on a bucket's worth of corn put
out yesterday for the squirrels.  Among the deer is the ghostly albino buck,
looking like an apparition as seen in the twilight.  Jimmy Olszewski has
observed its pink eyes.  Looking west to the sunset, beautiful yet severe in
the 25 knot winds and 33 degree temperature, there's a red glow from the
failing light that comes through the distant, open Loblolly Pine forest on
the south edge of Field 1, the after-sunset, lingering spectacle making for
a sort of clerestory effect as the warm colors radiate in from among the
tree boles and underneath the solid pine needle canopy.    

 

"I leant upon a coppice gate

  When Frost was spectre-gray,

And Winter's dregs made desolate

  The weakening eye of day."

-Thomas Hardy, 'The Darkling Thrush'.

 

Sunday, December 7.

 

WAWA, Cambridge, 6:25 A.M., a flock of 16 House Sparrows, up early, feeding
on spilled corn kernels.  Wawa now packages their Sizzli breakfast
sandwiches in boxes; a good thing just got better.  Gas is $1.58.  

 

BLACKWATER N.W.R., 6:30 A.M. - 2 P.M. (refuge birdwalk 8-noon).  7 on the
walk:  Larry Hush, Kate Murphy, Nancy Roisum, Arnold Simon, Mary Templin,
Levin Willey, and me.  47 species.

 

Gale force winds, 5 m.p.h. at start but quickly rising to sustained 30-35
m.p.h.  37-low 40s, clear becoming fair.  Winds make use of binoculars
difficult, scopes out of the question.   Water levels low, esp. in tidal
areas.  Out on the exposed dike we often choose to remain in the cars to
stay (somewhat) warm.

 

6 AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS; we see them lift off, circle, then go lumbering
away far to the east and out-of-sight.  35 black ducks.  70 pintails.  4
female Common Mergansers.  1 Cooper's 1 Sharp-shinned & 3 Red-tailed Hawks.
1 kestrel.  4 harriers.  1 Greater Yellowlegs.  35 Dunlin.  3 Brown-headed
Nuthatches.  2 meadowlarks.  Only 2 Tundra Swans.  7 Pine Siskins.  2 Hermit
Thrushes.   1 Fox Sparrow.    

 

BALD EAGLES.  Best count of birds in sight simultaneously is 18 but probably
could see at least 10 more with a scope.  30 total today, at least.  Once
Kate, Arnold & I see an adult tangle with a Great Blue Heron.  I suspect the
eagle kleptoparasitized it of a c. 10" carp, then we see it fly off with the
fish.  A minute later, as we get ready to leave, we then see this same bird
on the Visitor Center Eagle Cam tearing up the fish and eating it in its
nest while its mate rearranges some nest sticks, the video cam show almost a
case of art imitating life.

 

BLACK RAIL report.  On October 30 Mario Eusi of the Nutria control team
reported a Black Rail in "Blackwater Marsh," at 11:30 A.M.  I plan to
followup on this for more detail.

 

NO juncos, or Blue or Snow Geese.  Hard to believe.  No mammals.

 

The GREAT BLACKWATER REFUGE BIRDING SHOOTOUT OF 2008.  Terry Allen and his
crew aced us on his birdwalk Saturday.  We did not see their Cackling Goose,
ruddies, hoodies, quail, and many other species.  The gale force winds on
Sunday didn't help the Sunday team, the Magnificent 7; we were Yul Brynner
to his Eli Wallach.  But, as in the standoff when Gregory Peck and Charlton
Heston go mano a mano in "Big Country" the Magnificent 7 will be back next
year.  I'll have my hearing aids cranked up full to pick up kinglets,
kreepers, and khickadees, and will cut loose with my 12-gauge Parker
side-by-side with scare cartridges (Schrechtpatronen) to flush out 4 or 5
rail species from the reconstituted marsh opposite Pool 3.  As if you didn't
know already . just kidding.

 

HEADIN' HOME.  Up 301 there's so much wind, supposed to gust at 45, that
navigating the car is somewhat like driving a boat, with frequent small
adjustments to the helm necessary.

 

No one captures the sort of mild dread that accompanies the early dark of
the winter solstice quite like, in my view, Emily Dickinson:

 

"There's a certain slant of light,

On winter afternoons .

 

When it comes, the landscape listens,

Shadows hold their breath;

When it goes, 'tis like the distance

On the look of death."

 

Best to all. - Harry Armistead, Philadelphia. 

 

  _____  

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