------------ Forwarded message ------------
From: Harry Armistead <>
Date: Apr 20, 2009
Subject: Ferry Neck & Fort Smallwood Park, April 18-20, 2009.
To: Norman Saunders <>

 


APRIL 18-20, 2009:  FERRY NECK, FORT SMALLWOOD PARK.

            Saturday, April 18.  Fort Smallwood Park, Anne Arundel County, MD, 11:15 A.M. – 3:15 P.M.  Liz and I get here just as the productive west wind dies and the counterproductive east winds pick up a little later.  Still there’s lots to see.  My own unofficial raptor totals are for 13 species, including: 14 Turkey & 6 Black vultures, 6 Sharp-shinned, 2 Cooper’s, 1 Red-shouldered, 5 Broad-winged & 3 Red-tailed hawks, 3 adult Bald Eagles, 2 Northern Harriers, 1 male Merlin, 5 American Kestrels, 7 Ospreys, and, best of all, one GOLDEN EAGLE, only, I think the 3rd ever seen here during the spring hawk count.  The golden is missing one of its right primaries, about the 4th or 5th feather in from the wingtip.   

            On or around the pond are several dozen turtles (mostly Painted Turtles), 2 female Hooded Mergansers, 6 Gadwalls, a Canada Goose on her nest very close to the counters, 2 Mute Swans, 2 Savannah Sparrows, and a Caspian Tern or two which catch a couple of small fish there.  Another Caspian is flying around with a small crab in its bill.  Offshore are 8 Bonaparte’s Gulls, 2-3 Pied-billed Grebes, 4 Horned Grebes, and 4 Buffleheads.  Passing through is a small flight of goldfinches, gnatcatchers, swifts, and Tree & Northern Rough-winged swallows.  A Least Terns seem quite early. 

            Clear, mid-70s to low 70s, west <5 to near calm to E or ESE 5-15.

            It seems to me that Ft. Smallwood Park is still not appreciated enough locally as a prime spring North American raptor count location.  It has been designated an Important Bird Area.  F.S.P. is the only Maryland location where Mississippi Kites appear annually.  One sits on a narrow strip of land with the Chesapeake Bay a few feet to the east, a lovely freshwater pond a few feet to the west, and woodlands to the north and south, and with good company, too.  I wish I lived closer to it.  Lots to see in addition to raptors.  

            Sue Ricciardi’s excellent 2008 summary shows a raptor total of 11,588 individuals in 89 days of counting.  Compare this with Hawk Mountain Sanctuary’s 2008 fall total of 12,219 in approximately 134 days of counting.  However, H.M.S.’s ten-year average (previous ten years?) IS 19,633 per season (Hawk Mountain news, Spring 2009, pp. 6-17, by Laurie Goodrich).    
            Annapolis Bay Bridge.  9 Ospreys in sight around Sandy Point State Park as we motor across the bridge. 

            Routes 329 X 33 east of St. Michaels: 30 Wild Turkeys in a field to the south, where they seem to be almost every time we go past here.

            Rigby’s Folly:  5:30 P.M. until dark, only.  Near calm, 75-63 (sunset) – 65 at 9:41 P.M., fair or clear, with a lower than normal low tide.  460 Surf Scoters, 59 Ruddy Ducks, 1 Field Sparrow, 1 imm. Bald Eagle, 20 Fish Crows, 55 Buffleheads, 9 Ospreys (incl. a pair copulating, yes, doing “it,” on top of the cove nesting platform).

            NON-AVIAN OBSERVATIONS.  61 Diamondback Terrapin loafing in the warmth on the surface at the mouth of the cove late in the day at 7:35 P.M.  A few Fowler’s Toads call after dark (9:41 P.M.).  These little dudes have had a rough time because of the terrible droughts during the summers of 2007 and 2008.  I hope they rebound.  One can only aestivate for so long.  4 deer.  1 Gray Squirrel.  The yard Dogwood that seemed to be dead last summer is budding but with few blossoms.  I suppose some plants go into a torpor in the face of severe drought.  Money Plants have been blooming for several weeks.  Cascades of Hawthorn blossoms and seeds from the seed balls of the Sycamore I planted c. 35 years ago fill the air.    

            April 19, Sunday, at Rigby’s Folly.  Mostly overcast to completely overcast, 61-65-55, calm becoming NE 5-15-25 m.p.h.  Do a “sea watch” for several hours in mid-morning = 61 Common Loons, a new spring high for here by about 20.  Includes a pod of 19 and several much smaller pods way out on the Choptank River mouth, but most of the birds seen at great distance through a scope as they migrate up the Bay.  

            1,360 Surf Scoters, very few of them diving.  3 Bonaparte’s Gulls. 1 Royal and 1 Forster’s tern.  A small flight of swallows crossing the Choptank: 3 Barn, 7 Tree, and 2 Northern Rough-wingeds along with 1 American Kestrel.  A flock of 22 Canada Geese also seen crossing the “ ‘tank”, in obvious and somewhat late migration.  

            Also: 2 Cooper’s Hawks, 40 Herring Gulls, 65 Buffleheads, 1 ad. Northern Gannet (sitting on the water), 3 Black Vultures (suspected to be nesting in the undergrowth just north of Lucy Point), only 1 Horned Grebe, 2 ad. & 1 imm. Bald Eagle, only 7 Laughing Gulls, 39 Fish Crows (which become active and very vocal just before sunset), 2 Lesser Yellowlegs (one of few property records).  The Field Sparrow again plus 2 chippies.  A pair of Mute Swans may be nesting west of our dock.  I think Mute Swans have been overvilified.  

            NON-AVIAN TAXA.  A male Box Tutle way out in the middle of Field 1, hundreds of feet from the nearest cover.  2 Painted Turtles sunning (or at least soaking up the rays that get through the cloud cover) in Woods 4.  4 deer at Holland Point and Liz sees 5 in our fields.  No terrapin on this rather cool day.  Work on trimming blackberries, honeysuckle, wax myrtle, Phragmites, and other vege overhanging the Warbler Trail plus chainsaw a fallen Red Cedar there.

            April 20, Monday.  Steady rain since last night.  52 degrees.  NE wind at 20.  Just plain nasty.  It’s March again.  1 Wild Turkey at Rigby.

            HEADIN’ HOME.  2 Bald Eagles engage in a chase in the steady rain over the Easton Bypass by Glebe Road.  At the little wet area just east of Rt. 481 north of the Rts. 481 X 309 T-junction are 26 Green-winged and 6 Blue-winged teal in sprucey breeding plumage.  The 3 (wounded?) Snow and 1 Blue goose are still at mile 98.2 on Route 301.

            VARIABLE VISIBILITY.  On Sunday at Lucy Point as I scope the scoters and other birds, within 10 minutes the visibility deteriorates (due to increasing “heat” haze) so much that it goes from having 1,360 Surf Scoters and some 45 Common Loons in sight simultaneously to just a few hundred and 3 respectively, an object lesson in how meteorological conditions affect counting birds.  I got out there just in time to make an optimal count.

            U-HAUL TRUCK ART.  At the 301 Plaza in Middletown, Delaware, where we often have brunch, there is a nice assemblage of U-Haul trucks.  I am very fond of the striking art that adorns the sides of these vehicles, usually with a short explanatory note next to what is illustrated.  Each truck showcases something interesting for a particular state or province.  Most of the paintings are of unusual phenomena and not what you would expect for the states and provinces in question, not the Chamber of Commerce sort of schmaltz you might think would be there.  Virginia displays the great Chesapeake Meteor Crater.  Manitoba a seething mass of Garter Snakes in their hibernaculum.  Maine, of all things, a Walrus.  Washington state a salamander.  Nice going, U-Haul!  

            Best to all. – Harry Armistead, Philadelphia (for the time being, at least).