From: Harry Armistead [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 9:06 PM
To: Norman Saunders
Subject: Ferry Neck, Indiantown Road & Poplar Island, March 7-10, 2009.

 

FERRY NECK, INDIANTOWN ROAD & POPLAR ISLAND, March 7-10, 2009 (all sightings
are at Rigby's Folly on Ferry Neck unless otherwise noted).

 

Prelude: a major winter northeast storm, for here, on March 1/2
precipitating 10-11 inches of snow, with winds of 30-40 m.p.h. (fide John
Swaine).  Our east-west "snowfence" driveway had drifts of 2-3 feet which
John plowed.  Spend much of this weekend replacing ploughed gravel on the
drive with rake and spade and picking up downed limbs, including 5 sizeable
branches of the Magnolia grandiflora and a large Tulip Poplar limb that just
barely missed hitting the house.  Chainsawed a major Black Locust log that
had fallen a couple of months ago.

 

March 7, Saturday.  An adult Bald Eagle at milepost 107 of Route 301.  37
Tundra Swans to the west of Route 481 near Hope.  A flock of Snow Geese
landing near the pond close to the intersection of Routes 309 and 481, an
ad. male Northern Harrier and a Horned Lark nearby.  First Woodchuck of the
season for me on the shoulder of the Route 1 turnoff for Middletown,
Delaware; nice to see this February icon on the cover of the March issue of
Tidewater times.

 

At Rigby's Folly, 3 P.M. until dark:  a Sharp-shinned Hawk 3 times (same
bird probably) but not the same one seen March 10.  124 Fish Crows in trees
on the other side of the cove, permitting an exact count (a cawcus of
nay-saying crows, uh-uh).  A flicker.  1 Common Loon.  3 Tundra Swans
heading north at dusk (6:10 P.M.).  A Great Horned Owl calling at 5:10
E.S.T. from Woods 7.  A White-footed Mouse trapped in the downstairs
bedroom.

 

March 8, Sunday.  Mostly overcast, 57 - high 60s, S5.  The start of Daylight
Saving Time; the end of Daylight Wasting Time.  35 Canvasbacks.  1 Bald
Eagle.  1 Horned Grebe.  This may be the only day here when I have heard
Surf Scoters but not seen them.  At the corn strewn along the driveway in
front of the house: Common Grackles (dozens), chickadee, titmouse, 2
Red-bellied Woodpeckers, cardinals, a Song, numerous White-throated & 2
House sparrows.  Feeding on corn below the dock: Canada Geese, a pair of
Mute Swans, and a few Mallards.   1 Mud Turtle in the Waterthrush Pond.

 

North of Trappe:  21 Wild Turkeys west of Route 50.  Cambridge (Malkus
Bridge): 20 Surf Scoters on the Talbot side, 10 on the Dorchester side.

 

DORCHESTER COUNTY, Indiantown Road from Vienna to Brookview including the
Hog Farm, Chicone Creek, the Brookview Pit, and the Route 50 Borrow Pit.
2:30-5 P.M.  I decide, against all logic, to try to find the Lapland
Longspur Jim Brighton had seen a few days ago, when he took advantage of the
snow concentrating field birds along the road shoulders.  The snow is gone
today making it hard to find a little brown job somewhere in square miles of
vast fields.  The longspur is probably gone anyway with the advent of
unseasonably mild weather and south winds.  The fields here have a bit of a
roll to them, some relief.  In the vicinity of the Hog Farm are 2 big truck
trailers, one with "GULLS SOAR" in large letters, another with a big Yin
Yang symbol.  70-80 degrees F. (!), fair but hazy becoming mostly cloudy,
tide very high, backed up into Chicone Creek, SW10:

 

1 Savannah & 1 Song sparrow (plus a d.o.r. Song).  10 Horned Larks.  4
Killdeer.  1 Eastern Meadowlark.  That's about it for "field birds."

 

Also:  4 American Wigeon (2 pairs in the borrow pit).  3 Wild Turkeys.  8
Wood & 9 American Black ducks.  A Barred Owl calls 3 times at 3:37 P.M.  4
bluebirds.  45 Tundra Swans.  305 Canada Geese.  475 starlings.  115 robins.
Only 1 Fish Crow.  125 Ring-billed (and no Laughing) gulls.  0 American
Kestrels.  78 Mourning Doves.  20 Mallards.    

 

"sky birds":  7 Red-tailed Hawks (5 in sight simultaneously = I.S.S.).  145
Turkey (44 I.S.S.) and 58 Black vultures.  3 Ospreys.  7 Bald Eagles.

 

Non-avian taxa:  an unID'd lady (butterfly).  4 big Red-bellied Sliders
sunning along Chicone Creek.  A healthy Beaver lodge just upstream from the
Chicone Creek bridge.

 

HURLOCK WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT:  Not much at 5:30 P.M.:  3 male
Ring-necked and 40 Ruddy ducks, 7 Lesser Scaup, 29 Tundra Swans, 21
Mallards, 16 juncos, and 5 Red-bellied Sliders.  Didn't get a very good look
into the NE cell.

 

March 9, Monday.  

 

POPLAR ISLAND in the morning, a trip organized by Kevin Graff with Carol
McCollough, George Jett, John Churchill, Dale Murphy, Liz Armistead, Vince
de Sanctis, the couple from Baltimore who are oboists and whose names escape
me, et al.  A morning trip, really just a cameo appearance by us, ergo
somewhat frustrating not to be able to give this interesting place a better
looksee.  Clear, calm becoming NW 20, 60s, low tide but rising.  The
saltmarsh, sandy areas, and tidal flats created here seem to be developing
very nicely.  The miles of rip rap have a rich growth of algae exposed on
the rocks at low tide, almost as if they're maritime jetties on the ocean
front.  We run into Jan Reese who gives us a brief briefing.  He's seen 3
Short-eared Owls which we miss.  These numbers are my own recollection and
what I think I saw, not careful estimates or counts.  Kevin and Jan will
have more complete, accurate, and higher counts.  If conditions are like
this in mid-May there should be THOUSANDS of shorebirds, but, far as the
birds we see today go, this place is still in a winter mode:

 

2 Common Loons.  6 Horned Grebes.  5 Great Blue Herons.  1 adult Bald Eagle
in a dead tree on Jefferson Island (as one leaves Poplar Island heading east
looking at Jefferson there is what looks like a Bald Eagle nest in the 2nd
Loblolly Pine from the right).  1 American Kestrel.  3 Northern Harriers.
85 Tundra Swans.  425 Canada Geese.  25 black ducks.  650 scaup (mostly
Greaters).  6 Redheads.  100 Long-tailed Ducks.  70 goldeneyes.  95 Surf
Scoters.  6 Red-breasted Mergansers.  2 Ruddy Ducks.  2 White-winged
Scoters.  110 Bufleheads.  1 junco.  1 Savannah Sparrow.  2 shovelers.  A
Gadwall.  12 Tree Swallows (breeding birds; there are nest boxes for them).
40 Dunlin.  6 Sanderlings.  6 Killdeer.  1 Fish Crow.  4 starlings.  65
Red-winged Blackbirds.  1 MUSKRAT.  Unimpressive numbers of Great
Black-backed, Herring & Ring-billed gulls, although ring-bills seem to be on
the move to the north today.  No Ospreys or Laughing Gulls.    

 

Back at Rigby's Folly:  13 Black Vultures in one group (close to the
property record high count).  2 Red-tailed Hawks.  1 ad. Bald Eagle.  9
deer.  2 Gray Squirrels.  A flock of blackbirds with 400 Common Grackles, 60
Red-winged Blackbirds, and 55 starlings.  1 Painted Turtle sunning in Woods
4 in the little low spot they favor there.  A Great Horned Owl calling from
Woods 8 at 7:46 P.M. and again at 8:46 P.M.  Still 55 degrees F. at the
latter time.

 

St. Michaels: 12 Wild Turkeys.  Near Sherwood: 16 Wild Turkeys.

 

March 10, Tuesday.  Going out our driveway there's an adult female
Sharp-shinned Hawk in the middle of Field 4 hopping around somewhat as a
robin would.  Then it flies and lands in the hedgerow between Fields 3 and
4.  A furry Red Fox runs for cover from the SE corner of Field 2 into the
hedgerow adjacent to the Waterthrush Pond.  A White-footed Mouse in a trap
in the kitchen.  The big Red Maple by the garage, which lost all of its
leaves in the great droughts of the summers of both 2007 and 2008, to my
surprise is still alive, is starting to bud out.  Liz hears a Pine Warbler
singing in the yard today.

 

Headin' home.  0.1 mile N. of Routes 309 X 481 just to the E. of 481 is a
favorite low area, a pond (when there's enough rain) of < 1 acre.  Today
there are 12 Green-winged Teal, a pair of Hooded Mergansers, and 4 Wilson's
Snipe there.  Nothing seen here on March 7. 

 

Left out of my previous posting:

 

February 27:  Wild Turkeys - 26 just west of Royal Oak to the south of
Bellevue Road, 35 just north of the intersection of Bellevue and Ferry Neck
roads, and, finally, 2 at Rigby's Folly.  An adult Bald Eagle over Route 33
at the Calhoun MEBA facility.  Another in a tree at the above-mentioned
intersection.  Wild Turkeys continue their bid to take over the world.

 

Best regards to all. - Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.

 

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