From: Harry Armistead [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Friday, March 20, 2009 2:38 PM
To: Norman Saunders
Subject: Dorchester islands, Blackwater N.W.R., Ferry Neck, March 17-19,
2009. George Adams, R.I.P.

 

MARCH 17-19, 2009: Ferry Neck, Blackwater & Dorchester islands.

 

TUESDAY, MARCH 17:

 

On the way down.  2 d.o.r. Woodchucks S. of Wilmington.  7-8 dead Snow Geese
at Rts. 301 X 481 are still there since c. 10 days ago, when several
vultures and an ad. Bald Eagle were feeding on them.  Pond SE of  Hope, Rt.
481: 2 Gadwalls, 4 black ducks, 15 Hooded Mergansers.  Low area with small
pond just NE of Rts. 481 X 309: 8 Wilson’s Snipe, 1 Greater Yellowlegs & 21
Green-winged Teal.

 

At Rigby’s Folly in the afternoon.  Calm, 47-51-46 degrees F., overcast
gradually clearing from the NE.  1,860 Surf Scoters, 400 Long-tailed Ducks,
225 Buffleheads, 130 Herring Gulls, 8 Red-breasted Mergansers - these all in
the mouth of the Choptank River.  In Irish Creek: 65 Canvasbacks, 40 Lesser
Scaup, 12 Common Goldeneyes, 1 Common Loon, 30 Ruddy Ducks, 7 Horned Grebes.
Also: 450 Canada Geese in Fields 4 and 2.  2 Great Blue Herons.  2 Mute
Swans (that now swim up to as close as 10 feet expecting handouts after
feasting on corn put out for the geese).  40 Fish Crows.  No gannets.  An
Eastern Screech-Owl calling gently, unsolicited, at 6:19 & 6:5 P.M. from
Woods 8 near the house.  9 deer.  I’ve yet to see an Osprey or Laughing Gull
here.   A White-footed Mouse in the downstairs bedroom traps.  

 

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18 (dense fog but clears by 10 A.M.), DORCHESTER COUNTY:

 

Crapo: 15 Black Vultures feeding on something in a ditch.

 

Crocheron: Flying over high, headed north – 80 Snow and 4 Blue geese.  1
Bald Eagle.  1 ad. male Northern Harrier.  Water temperature 42.9 F. at the
start, 10:50 A.M., 47 at the end, 4:30 P.M.

 

BOAT TRIP, a 27.8 mile ride using 7.378 gallons to the greater Bloodsworth
Island area.  Increasingly windy and rough through the course of the day
with water temperatures ranging from 41-47.  Rather bleak.  The islands are
still in winter mode.  Unseen today: any egrets, Common Loon, Osprey,
Laughing Gull, Fiddler Crabs, Diamondback Terrapin, ibis, Little Blue Heron,
and Brown Pelicans.  Only 2 Double-crested Cormorants.  Clear, nice and
sunny, SW, cool winds 15-20+ m.p.h., temperatures in the 50s, tide low most
of the time, rising towards the end.  

 

Bloodsworth Island: SE side, a huge immature Bald Eagle.

 

Spring Island (a unit of Blackwater N.W.R.):  11:45 A.M. – 12:15 P.M.  Water
temperature 42.9.  A pair of Peregrine Falcons at the hacking tower, which,
I am happy to say, did not flush.  2 oystercatchers.  There’s dense beds of
mussels rather high on the east banks of Spring Island that the
oystercatchers must avail themselves of.  2 Canvasbacks, 8 Herring & 2 Great
Black-backed Gulls, 1 ad. female Northern Harrier, 25 Buffleheads, 2 black
ducks, 2 Long-tailed Ducks, 1 Seaside Sparrow (an early spring arrival, I
suspect), 1 unID’d sharp-tailed sparrow, 1 other sparrow unID’d.  Lots of
Winter Jellyfish.  Most odd are the remains, mostly just the attached wings,
of a GREAT HORNED OWL, at this extremely isolated place, miles from any
substantial woodlands.

 

Holland Island, south segment.  12:30-2 P.M.  Low tide and a substantial SW
wind make a landing on the SE side inadvisable.  I land instead on the NE
side of a little sod tump on the NW side of this S. segment.  A walk through
of last year’s Brown Pelican colony shows this site has been slammed this
winter.  Most of the bushes are broken off or gone.  There is a lot of
overwash.  Very unlikely the colony, a ripsnorter last summer, will
reconstitute here to any extent.  Find one dead Herring Gull and one pelican
skull.  2 ad. Bald Eagles present and there’s their nest in the odd-shaped
Loblolly Pine on the extreme S. end of the island.  The old house, against
all odds - it’s almost IN the water - still persists on the N. end of the
middle segment of Holland.  Hundreds of pale, reddish-orange bricks line the
west shoreline along with a few glass and ceramic shards.

 

Bird list for the entire island:  6 oystercatchers (presumed to be 3 pairs;
the 3 of the individuals I can see well-enough are unbanded), 7 Fish Crows,
1 ad. Northern Gannet (quite close to the S. end), 1 Tree Swallow, 11
Dunlin, 20 Tundra Swans, 1 Canada Goose (apparently incubating), 275 Herring
& 6 Great Black-backed gulls, 1 Song Sparrow, 6 Surf Scoters, 7 Gadwalls
(resident birds?), 1 Great Blue Heron, 1 male Mallard consorting with a
female black duck (you know what that means), 39 Buffleheads, 2 male
Red-winged Blackbirds, 2 Common Goldeneyes, 1 male Boat-tailed Grackle, plus
an additional Bald Eagle, an immature. 

 

HARBOR SEAL, Holland’s tiny N. segment.  What first looked like one of those
sod lumps that ice deposits on the top of the banks of the tumps here every
winter, proves, on approach to c. 150 yards, to be a HARBOR SEAL hauled out.
The seal slides off the bank but when I motor past the N. end there s/he is
at closer range, head out of the water, checking me out, the way otters do
sometimes, perhaps similar to whales’ habit of “spyhopping,” or whatever
it’s called.  

 

“So might I, standing on this pleasant lee,

Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn,

Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea,

And hear old Triton blow his wreathéd horn.” – Wordsworth, “the World is too
much with us.” 

 

Paradiso’s “Mammals of Maryland” (1969) lists 5 old records for the Bay,
several, curiously, in the May-August period, one all the way up to Elkton,
where found in a seine net.  I bet they show up every year at Ocean City.  

 

Adam Island.  2-2:35.  Just motor by slowly.  35 Red-breasted Mergansers.
30 Common Goldeneyes.  19 black ducks. 1 ad. Bald Eagle.  20 Herring Gulls.
2 oystercatchers.  3 male Boat-tailed Grackles.  65 Buffleheads.  A Great
Blue Heron is at its nest in a Red Cedar.  Water temperature 42.9.  SW winds
now up to 20 m.p.h.  Air temp. c. 50.

 

Bloodsworth Island, west side, including Pone Island.  2:45-3:15.  An
impressive, and very vocal, assemblage of 860 Tundra Swans resting, mostly
on the sand bars W. of Northeast Island.  1 Red-throated Loon, 1 Tricolored
Heron, 1 harrier, 1 Fish Crow, 8 Horned Grebes (only ones seen all day), 85
Buffleheads, 1 Great Blue Heron, 4 black ducks, 1 male Boat-tailed Grackle,
75 additional Tundra Swans in Okahanikan Cove, 12 Herring Gulls, 1 male
Mallard, 2 Double-crested Cormorants (only ones seen today), and 2 Common
Goldeneyes.  On a beach here there’s a rusted, cube-shaped object, perhaps
8’ on each 3 dimensions, on top of which is an ad. Bald Eagle in an apparent
incubating posture.  In previous years Ospreys have nested on this each
year.   

 

Bloodsworth Island, Fin Creek.  3:25-4.  Tide’s been rising for a while.
Water temperature in the creek 47.3.  Very windy, even in the protected
creek, making steering difficult.  42 nests on the nesting platforms erected
by the U. S. Navy have Great Blue Herons on them.  The platforms have been
deteriorating for a while.  2 harriers.  1 male Boat-tailed Grackle.  Rough
passage over to Bishop’s Head on the way back to the Crocheron launch site
but made easier by following in the wake of a faster boat for a half mile or
so.  The only other boat seen all day near to the islands.  Nice to be out
there in such isolation but also a little scary.

 

Blackwater N.W.R.  Visibility limited to 200-300 feet in fog at 7:30 A.M.
but see a Great Horned Owl fly across Wildlife Drive at Sign 8, that perches
and regards me at 7:33 A.M.  See 3 eagles and 16 shovelers in spite of the
fog and an Eastern Cottontail.  A “victory lap” at 6:45 P.M. is notable for
big numbers of large white birds:  1,610 Snow Geese, 225 Tundra Swans, and
30 AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS, the latter, for once, easy to count exactly at
close range as they preen and rest with c. 150 swans.  Also an ad. male
harrier.        

 

THURSDAY, MARCH 19.  After spending 2 hours washing the mud and salt off of
‘the Mudhen’ (not to mention boating in her all day yesterday), organizing
the gear in the various compartments, then placing her in the sun to dry,
there’s a Black Widow crawling across the seat in front of the center
console.  Caught another White-footed Mouse last night, in the kitchen.
Dumped a bucket of corn and almost immediately it gets patronized by
cardinals and a Gray Squirrel.  The first Daffodils came out yesterday.
Being near the still-cold water Daffodils and Vorsythia are about a week
behind more “inland” areas, such as, for example, Royal Oak.    

 

HEADIN’ HOME:  A d.o.r. Muskrat at the intersection of Route 322 and
Marlboro Road (road in to Target) at Easton; need a Muskrat Crossing sign
(?).  12 Tundra Swans near Routes 309 X 404.  Just N. of  the intersection
of Routes 309 & 481 960 Snow and 9 Blue geese foraging and across the road
(481) in my favorite little low area 22 Green-winged Teal.  At the pond near
Hope E. of Route 481 320 Canada and 1 Blue goose, 1 Great Blue Heron, 4
Green-winged Teal, 6 American Wigeon, and 6 Mallards.  Two big plowing rigs
in action just N. of there attract c. 2,530 Ring-billed Gulls (and not a
single Laughing Gull); sure they’re “just” ring-bills but they’re beautiful
and so many are a spectacle.  Route 301 Mile 98.2 (right where the American
Bison herd used to be): 8 Snow and 1 Blue goose grazing right next to those
blue-green ponds.  Another d.o.r. Woodchuck at Middletown , Delaware.  

 

GEORGE W. ADAMS.  1944-2009.  George died on March 2.  We corresponded
several times regarding Black Rails in Dorchester County.  George did some
admirable, highly-structured searches for them, sometimes accompanied by his
brother, often spending the entire night in a small boat in inaccessible
small creeks around Fishing Bay, with success, especially considering this
rail’s rapid decline in the past 10 years or so.  He was an accomplished
photographer of wetlands and coasts.  George lived in Cambridge.  Once we
ran into him in Moneystump Swamp (part of Blackwater) where he was doing a
botanical survey for the refuge.  There will be a memorial reception and
exhibition of his photography on Saturday, March 28, 5-8 P.M. at Gallery
1683, 151 Main Street, Annapolis.

 

PILEATED WOODPECKER WOODWORKINGS AT RIGBY.  Lots of them.  Show up as fresh,
pale rufous pits in the nearly dead Black Locust on the NW side of the
house.  There’s also a new cavity, big enough for a Wood Duck, pileated, or
screech-owl, towards the top of the tree.  Interesting since we haven’t seen
a pileated in the yard for weeks.  There’s also a lot of pileated workings
in a small Willow Oak at Blackwater on Key Wallace Drive.  These are
waist-high or so in a tree just on the other side of the ditch.  I can just
about encompass the tree with my hands.

 

EGYPT ROAD WETLANDS RETORATION.  Wetlands are being developed here.  Mostly
on the E. side of Egypt Road.  Areas around them are beginning to green up
with grasses sprouting.  So far I’ve only seen Canada Geese and Ring-billed
Gulls, and dozens of fluttering surveyors flags, in them.  The massive
development in the rest of the area hasn’t started yet, perhaps a victim of
what I call the Great Depression II.  I am wondering why, if these hundreds
of acres of state lands “restoration” are intended to benefit the Little
Blackwater River drainage, they simply are not left alone and permitted to
grow up into old fields, then scrublands, then forest?  These new wetlands
look as if they would attract shorebirds come May but they are right next to
the road where birds would easily be flushed when cars stop to look them
over.  Unnatural, for this area, knolls and low hills have also been made. 

 

THOREAU.  “Sometimes I rambled to pine groves, standing like temples, or
fleets at sea, full-rigged, with wavy boughs, and rippling with light, so
soft and green and shady that the Druids would have forsaken their oaks to
worship in them; or to the cedar wood beyond Flint’s Pond, where the trees,
covered with hoary blue berries, spiring higher and higher, are fit to stand
before Valhalla …”  from “Walden Pond” (the Baker Farm chapter).

 

LAST BIRD OF THE DAY, MARCH 19.  Stravinsky’s ‘Firebird.’  A first sighting
for me although I’ve heard it several times.  5 horns (therefore not a
unicorn).  5 percussionists.  3 harps.  2 big gongs, one of which gets
hammered with something that looks like a big croquet mallet.  Other
observers: hundreds of them but lacking the optics I had, Swarovski 10X42s,
which were used to scrutinize the exquisite principal harp, Elizabeth
Hainen, who looks like Lisa Kudrow, better actually.  There’s also a
percussionist who looks like Jennifer Aniston, a flautist resembling Alan
Shepard, a horn player who could double as Shirley Knight, and a violinist
who might be ornithologist Steven N. G. Howell’s twin.      

 

Best to all. – Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.

 

  _____  

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