From: Harry Armistead [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 11:47 AM
To: Norman Saunders
Subject: Dorchester County & Ferry Neck, Jan. 31-Feb. 1 (Barrow's & Tufted
... yes); Arabia trip report available soon.

 

1.  SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 2009.

 

Route 301, milepost 101, a herd of 14 deer.  

 

Cordova.  A roadkill adult Red-tailed Hawk, unbanded.

 

Trappe, north side, 6 big Wild Turkeys - bronzed, burnished, and imposing -
in a field off to the west.

 

Cambridge.  On the 3rd try finally a great view of the female Barrow's
Goldeneye, right in the marina of the concrete pier at the foot of High
Street.  The male Tufted Duck is also there.  Unusual is a male Ring-necked
Duck, frozen out of its preferred freshwater domain.  With 470 Canvasbacks,
200 Lesser and 1 Greater Scaup, and 3 Redheads the tufted and the
ring-necked make for 6 pochard species seen in the space of a few minutes.
Also here:  4 Surf Scoters, 3 Long-tailed Ducks, 35 American Wigeon, 2 black
ducks, 75 Mallards, 10 Common Goldeneyes, 8 Buffleheads, and 60 Ruddy Ducks.
18 waterfowl species present.  

 

Egypt Road.  c. 870 Tundra Swans in 1 field 2 fields over to the west.  An
adult Red-shouldered Hawk on a roadside doesn't even flush as I motor by. 

 

Blackwater N.W.R.  Tidal water is very low and mostly frozen.  Water in the
impoundments is high.  13 American White Pelicans.  The c. 3,000 Snow Geese
are a great spectacle in one corn field west of the Visitor Center.  Bald
Eagles flush them every few minutes and the geese wheel around, calling
wildly, right over us.  Also:  10 Bald Eagles, 1 ad. male harrier, 2
meadowlarks, 30 pintails, 1K+ Mallards, 100 Tundra Swans, 12 Great Blue
Herons, a Red-tailed Hawk, 2 flickers, 30 robins.  Talk with the MacDonalds
and the Inskips at the refuge.  The Bald Eagle cam pair produced their 1st
egg on Jan. 23, their 2nd on Jan. 25 . I think I got that right.
Spectacular sunset, worth the trip in itself.    

 

Dinner at Millie's.  A big Raccoon scrambling across Bellevue Road at 7:30
P.M.  Clear, extremely starry, NW 15-5 m.p.h., 32 degrees at Rigby soon
afterwards.                              

 

2.  SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 1.

 

Blackwater N.W.R.  Quick visit just at sunrise.  There are the 13 American
White Pelicans, right where they were yesterday.  Don't know where my
eyeballs were then . there are 100s of pintails here today.

 

Hooper's Island-Swan Harbor Road, 7:30-10:30.  Clear, SW 20, 34 degrees F.
High tide.

 

Tremendous flock of 1,170 REDHEADS, as seen from Creighton Road.  Thanks to
Levin Willey for putting me onto them.  Mixed in are 45 American Wigeon, 22
Gadwalls, 10 Canvasbacks, and 20 Lesser Scaup.  Over towards Barren Island,
mostly, are 1,350 Tundra Swans.  From Swan Harbor: 40 Sanderlings and 45
Dunlin.  Also at Hooper's: 23 Savannah Sparrows (feeding in one, loose group
on the big lawn expanse at Hoopersville), 20 cowbirds, 11 Bald Eagles (one
of which flushes the Redheads several times), 2 Mute Swans, 2 Hooded and 8
Red-breasted mergansers, a Horned Grebe, 17 bluebirds, 7 Fish Crows, 3
Northern Harriers, 3 Great Blue Herons, 3 Belted Kingfishers, and 7
Killdeer.   

 

Redheads often make extremely dense, concentrated flocks that in the
distance look like islands.  At the Pea I. N.W.R. last Dec. 28 there were an
estimated 4,000+ on the Christmas count there, all on North Pond! 

 

Cambridge.  11 A.M.  Fail to find any of the rarities but run into Jim
Brighton, who has seen the Eurasian Wigeon.

 

Oxford.  Look for the Snowy Owl c. noonish to no avail.

 

Rigby's Folly-Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD.  Clear, SW 5, 53 degrees F.
warm:

After arriving well after sunset last night and leaving long before sunrise
today I am anxious to see the place, however briefly, in daylight and stop
by 12:50-1:25 P.M.  In the mouth of the cove are 710 Canvasbacks, a pair of
Gadwalls (only 4th or 5th yard record), 8 Lesser Scaup, 12 Ruddy Ducks, 12
Tundra and 6 Mute swans plus an adult Bald Eagle sitting nearby on the ice,
and presumably hungry.  850 Canada Geese are grazing in Fields 1 & 2.  A
Sharp-shinned Hawk as I go out the drive, arriving home just in time for
Evensong at St-Martin-in-the-Fields and then watch the Superbowl at Joan
Menocal's.

 

Our east-west driveway, on the north side of a long, dense hedgerow, gets
little sun.  It acts as a snow fence.  This weekend it is covered with a
glazed mixture of snow and ice, somewhat crunchy under the tires and rather
slippery.  The cove is about two-thirds frozen.  Put out 2 buckets of corn
for the fowl.

 

3. ARABIA TRIP SUMMARY.  Will finish writeup in a couple of weeks.
LISTSERVE subscribers: let me know OFFLINE if you'd like to see it.  OMAN &
the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, January 6-23, 2009.  A tour with Phil Gregory and
George Armistead as leaders to the southeast Arabian Peninsula.  HIGHLIGHTS.
37 shorebirds, 16 heron types (herons, egrets, ibis, storks, spoonbills,
flamingos), 14 waterfowl, 4 rallids, 16 raptors (including 8 eagle species,
7 in one day), 10 terns, 6 gulls, 5 doves, 3 kingfishers, 4 wagtails, 10
warblers, 3 shrikes, 3 sunbirds, 7 larks, 6 wheatears, and 4 gallinaceous
species (of which the partridge was NOT in a pear tree).  People often ask:
why this part of the world?  The above totals are answer enough.  Others,
spectacular scenery, food, and culture.

 

4.  Plans are afoot to build a series of large, high powerlines across
Dorchester county's marshes stretching from Taylor's Island to Vienna.  Be
prepared to let the authorities know what you think of this.

  

Best to all. - Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.   

 

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