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FW: Blackwater N.W.R., Oxford (SNOWY OWL), Cambridge, Ferry Neck, Feb. 13-16, 2009.

From:

Norm Saunders

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Date:

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:27:30 -0500

 

 

From: Harry Armistead [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Monday, February 16, 2009 5:00 PM
To: Norman Saunders
Subject: Blackwater N.W.R., Oxford (SNOWY OWL), Cambridge, Ferry Neck, Feb.
13-16, 2009.

 

FERRY NECK, CAMBRIDGE & BLACKWATER N.W.R., February 13-16, 2009.

 

Fri., Feb. 13, 2009, Rigby's Folly, Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD.  Fair
becoming clear, 53-46, NW 20-5.  Arrive at 1:15 P.M.  3 Red-tailed Hawks in
sight simultaneously.  13 Turkey Vultures.  Irish Creek rather barren: 35
Buffleheads.  A Great Horned Owl calling, probably from Deep Neck, at 7:41
P.M.  Lower than normal tide after the strong west winds.  In January a low
temperature of 8 degrees F. was recorded here.  

 

Sat., Feb. 14.  Rigby's Folly, A.M., mostly sunny, calm, 44.  830 Surf
Scoters on the dead calm Choptank River mouth and Irish Creek along with 1
Common Loon, 2 Horned Grebes, 85 Canvasbacks, 35 Ruddy Ducks, 1 male
Red-breasted Merganser, 6 Lesser Scaup, 25 Common Goldeneyes, 100
Buffleheads, 10 Long-tailed Ducks, and 10 Tundra Swans.  An imm. Bald Eagle
flies over.  5 males are courting one female Bufflehead, pumping their heads
up and down, landing and coasting after making a "big splash."  3 Eastern
Bluebirds.  A Sharp-shinned Hawk flushes from the driveway hedgerow at 7:25
P.M.

 

Cambridge.  No rare ducks but 625 Canvasbacks, 400 Lesser Scaup, 25 American
Wigeon, 1,100 Snow Geese (resting in the Choptank along the north
shore-Talbot County), 3 male Redheads, 70 Common Goldeneyes, 25 Long-tailed
Ducks, 15 Surf Scoters, 45 Buffleheads, 2 Common Loons, 1 Pied-billed Grebe
(within the marina enclosed by the concrete pier), and 30 Tundra Swans.  An
adult Bald Eagle is feeding on something on the shore of the Hambrooks bar.
Out in the middle of the Choptank  a female Hooded Merganser seems really
out of place.

 

Blackwater N.W.R., late afternoon.  6 Forster's Terns at Seward's, resting
on the mud and then diving for minnows, about a month earlier than I expect
to see them.  7 immature White-crowned Sparrows foraging at the base of the
Visitor Center feeders.  1 American White Pelican preening at Seward's.  16
Bald Eagles, 2 Wilson's Snipe, 7 Killdeer, 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk, 5 Northern
Harriers, and 40 Common Mergansers.  At sunset and Julie Lagoey and I see 2
Short-eared Owls south of the last hammock before Shorter's Wharf landing.

 

Egypt Road.  A pair of Wood Ducks at the Prothonotary spot.

 

Sunday, Feb. 15.  A field trip with Hugh & Cheryl Sargent, Langhorne &
Marilyn Smith, Keith Johnson, Elise Boeger, Ruth Ann Stolk, Liz and myself.
Fair, NW 15, 36-45, tidal water very low, impoundments full. 

 

Cambridge, no fancy ducks but I put out 10 lbs. of corn and there are 70
American Robins around High Street.

 

Egypt Road.  5 Horned Larks and a flyover Pileated Woodpecker.

 

Blackwater N.W.R.  4 imm.White-crowned Sparrows at the feeders.  A flock of
10 American White Pelicans in majestic flight, circling over the Blackwater
River plus another indisposed one resting at Sewards = 11 of thse humongous
birds.  Other goodies: 20 Chipping and a Savannah sparrow, 30 Bald Eagles
(at least), 1 Greater Yellowlegs, 45 pintails, only 2 Green-winged Teal, 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a Hermit Thrush, 8 Tree Swallows, 6 Red-tailed Hawks,
a Hairy Woodpecker (watched it while it drummed), 12 bluebirds, 215 Tundra
Swans, 2 Pileated Woodpeckers, 7 Killdeer, 3 Northern Harriers, 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk, 2 Black Vultures, 1 kestrel, 55 Dunlin, and 6 shovelers.
Elise, Keith, Liz, and I linger later than the others and see 3 Fox
Squirrels together near the Woods Trail, where the ditch on the landward
side (non-tidal) of the drive throngs with minnows.  Greg Inskipp has seen a
Golden Eagle toward the end of Wildlife Drive a couple of times today, which
we just miss, and a Merlin somewhere east of the refuge.   

 

Oxford.  Liz and I go to Oxford.  Tipped off by a young couple from D.C.,
who are looking for birders to tell, we go to West Pier Street and from the
center of the parking lot there look east a couple of 100 yards and there's
the Snowy Owl, at home on a rooftop snug against a chimney of a yellow
house.  Watch it for 15 minutes during which it yawns 3 times (or is it
perhaps working up to disgorging a pellet?), scratch with its left foot (a
very "furry," cat-like foot), and preen with its bill its breast feathers.
Several times it turns its head.  Yellow eyes well-seen as is its Tusky the
Walrus "moustache."  Nearby in the Tred Avon River are some very close
Long-tailed Ducks and 2 Horned Grebes

 

Trippe Creek: a Belted Kingfisher. 

 

Mon., Feb. 16.  Fair, 38, NW 10.  A male Sharp-shinned Hawk hunting sparrows
as we go out the driveway at Rigby.  Along Route 301 at mile 118.1 there are
c. 3,000 Snow and 20 or so Blue Geese in a field to the west and 4 Bald
Eagles high overhead but much farther away than the geese.

 

Best to all.-  Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.

 

  _____  

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