From: Harry Armistead [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 8:55 PM
To: Norman Saunders
Subject: Ferry Neck, Talbot County, March 21-24, 2009.



MARCH 21-24, 2009.  FERRY NECK/RIGBY'S FOLLY & ENVIRONS.  Cold, breezy,
early spring days.  It's getting really dry again.  Easily able to drive
across the fields w/o 4WD.



MARCH 21, Saturday.  Mostly overcast, NW5 becoming calm, 50 degrees F.
dropping to 46 at 8 P.M.  Present at Rigby's Folly only from 2 P.M. until
dark.



ON THE WAY DOWN:  35 Wild Turkeys to the south side of Route 329 2 mi. E. of
St. Michaels, when we are on our way in to Graul's to get some shad roe and
turkey bacon.  1 Wild Turkey (not the source of the bacon) along Bellevue
Road opposite John Swaine's place.



At Rigby's Folly:  95 Canvasbacks, 60 Lesser Scaup, 1 Common Loon in, if
you'll forgive the expression, full breeding plumage (it's more politically
correct to say alternate plumage), feeding on a Hogchoker.  4 Horned Grebes.
40 Buffleheads.  1 Sharp-shinned Hawk.  1 American Black Duck.  16 Tundra
Swans.  A Hairy Woodpecker drumming in Woods 2.  An Eastern Screech-Owl
calling spontaneously at 6:24 P.M. from Woods 8.  A Great Horned Owl
likewise at 8:02 P.M. from Woods 7.  I suspect breeding is underway for both
owl species.  5 deer,  1 Gray Squirrel.



I cut down 94 Loblolly Pines, all terribly bent and disfigured by the recent
heavy, wet snow.  Most of the pines are spindly, wimpy little things but a
few have a diameter of as much as 6 inches.  They overhung the Olszewski
Trails, would never straighten up (and fly right), and their absence will
increase the amount of sun; this will benefit the oaks and Black Gums as
well as the grassy vegetation and mosses growing right on the trails, or on
the sides of the trails (esp. Wool Sedge), help diversify this area . he
said.



MARCH 22, Sunday.  Clear, NW 5+ becoming SW 5 then calm, 41-60-54, a cold
day.  The Talbot Bird Club, 17 strong, visits Ferry Neck, incl. Les Coble
(trip leader), Jean Crump, Austin Farley, Vince de Sanctis, Gordon Jennings,
Thomas Baumann, Cathy Cooper, Terry Allen, Jan Reese, Les Roslund, Danny
Poet, Liz A. & myself.  Some of the birds listed below are not seen at
Rigby's Folly, are seen by me at Rigby after the field trip, or else are on
the field trip list but I did not see them.  Great breakfast afterwards at
Paul and Priscilla Thut's.  Liz wins 2 jars of Swiss preserves for guessing
the exact number of species seen by the group (57).  Later in the day I trim
a lot of dead wood from the big Red Mulberry by the garage, which results in
a lot of branches that will make excellent kindling.  8 deer and 2 Gray
Squirrels, one of the latter up late at 7:45 P.M. feeding on corn.  I grill
out-of-doors 8 hamburgers and 2 kinds of Hebrew national hot dogs (11
doggies in toto, might as well count them as well as the birds and mammals .
and felled trees).  One of the Sharp-shinned Hawks makes a very acrobatic
transit of the area where we put out corn for the wildlife but fails to
catch anything.



2 Common Loons,  7 Horned Grebes.  2 Double-crested Cormorants.  1 Northern
Gannet.  1 ad. & 1 imm. Bald Eagle.  2 Sharp-shinned Hawks.  31 Tundra
Swans.  a Black Vultures.  205 Lesser Scaup.  60 Canvasbacks.  6 Common
Goldeneyes.  500 Surf Scoters.  450 Long-tailed Ducks.  1 Red-breasted
Merganser.  1 Osprey.  1 Ruddy Duck.  200 Buffleheads.  1 Killdeer.  1
Eastern Screech-Owl (calling spontaneously off and on from 5 P.M. - 7:30
P.M.).  1 Great Horned Owl (6:55 P.M.).  1 Pileated Woodpecker.  1 Eastern
Phoebe.  1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet.  2 Pine Warblers (probably a pair, in Woods
7, the male singing).  90 Fish Crows.  1 Brown Thrasher.



MARCH 23, Monday.  Clear, NW 10-5, 39-50, cold.  We FINALLY see our first
Osprey here, which is tangling with an adult Bald Eagle.  Two motionless
Garter Snakes, seldom seen at Rigby, are at the beginning of the Olszewski
Trails, entwined and basking in the sun.  I step over them and they do not
move.  One is c. 2.5' long with nice, clearly-demarcated markings, the other
c. 2' and very slender and mostly without markings.  Return to the Olszewski
Trails to dispose of the 94 pines cut on Saturday, dragging them away from
the trails back into the woods, or else just heaving them there, making for
some nice brush piles, then do some spadework filling in a dozen holes on
the trails.  Kelsey Frey (from Lancaster, PA, naturalist at Pickering Creek
Audubon Center) and Thomas Baumann (from Heidelberg, Germany, a marine
engineer) visit late in the day and we examine near-walnut-sized, globular,
gelatinous egg masses in various ponds as well as turn over some old logs
looking for whatever animal life they may harbor (a big black beetle, some
grubs, etc.).  I'm betting the gelatinous masses belong to Southern Leopard
Frogs but don't know anything about such matters.  We watch the sunset at
Lucy Point and hear 2 Great Horned Owls.



MARCH 24, Tuesday.  Clear, NW10+, 33 degrees at the start, cold, some ice in
the ditches and ponds.  HEADIN' HOME.  Near the intersection of Routes 404 X
309 350 Ring-billed Gulls are following the plow and 35 Tundra Swans are
getting chased out of a winter wheat field by a presumed farmer.  A couple
of miles up the road from there and just N. of Routes 309 X 481 by the
little pond c. 650 Snow Geese are flushed by 2 immature Bald Eagles and a
juvenile GOLDEN EAGLE, while there are 22 Green-winged Teal and a Wilson's
Snipe at the Pond.  Danny Poet is right to caution parking near this pond as
there is no shoulder and it is near a curve.  Eight Snow and a Blue Goose
are at mile 98.1 on R 301.  At mile 114 are a group of 9 deer exactly at
noon.



I have yet to see a Laughing Gull this year.



Best to all. - Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.



  _____

Express your personality in color! Preview and select themes for HotmailR.
See how.
<http://www.windowslive-hotmail.com/LearnMore/personalize.aspx?ocid=TXT_MSGT
X_WL_HM_express_032009#colortheme>