From: Harry Armistead [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Monday, May 11, 2009 11:50 AM
To: Norman Saunders
Subject: 84th Dorchester County May Bird Count (in part), May 9, 2009; Ferry
Neck May 7-10, 2009.

 

            84th DORCHESTER COUNTY MAY BIRD COUNT (in part), May 9, 2009.  I
hope in a few days to have a complete summary and list of all species with
grand totals from the other parties.

            Will Russell & Harry Armistead. Brendan Klick joined us until
3:45 A.M.  193 mi. by car, 3 on foot, Midnight-8:30 P.M.

            150 species, higher than average.  MAJOR GROUPS: warblers 18,
shorebirds 16, waterfowl 12, raptors 8, owls 3, rallids 6, sparrows (not
counting towhee) 9, flycatchers 4, swallows 4, woodpeckers 5, terns 5, heron
types 6 (poor), gulls 4.  Those totals are mostly merely fairly good or
O.K., but 18 warblers is good for here.  In most cases some regular species
are missing from each of the "major groups."  For example, with waterfowl we
miss the 2 teal and Ruddy Duck, with woodpeckers we lack Hairy Woodpecker.
Screech-owl is a bad, and hard-to-believe, miss, esp. since we tried for
them 7 times. 

            ABBREVIATIONS:  BNWR, Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge;  EIR,
Elliott Island Road;  HI, Hooper's Island;  SH, Swan Harbor;  SWR, Shorter's
Wharf Road.

            NIGHT LIST:  25 species by 2 A.M.  35 by 5 A.M., well above
average, thanks primarily to Will's in great acuity of hearing.  

            HIGHLIGHTS:  pied-billed grebe 1 (EIR).  American white pelican
1 (BNWR).  least bittern 2 (EIR & SWR).  Canada goose 55 incl. a pair with 5
small goslings at SH.  American wigeon 2 (BNWR, seen by many).  canvasback 1
male (EIR in Fishing Bay).  bufflehead 2 at Cambridge.  red-breasted
merganser 4 (SH).  bald eagle 36.  sharp-shinned hawk 1 (Kraft Neck Road).
peregrine falcon 2 (Cambridge & BNWR).

            RALLIDS:  3 BLACK (please note: unsolicited, as usual), 6
clapper, 3 king and 49 Virginia rails, 3 soras & 3 common moorhens.

            black-bellied plover 36.  black-necked stilt 4 (EIR).  solitary
sandpiper 12.  spotted sandpiper 8.  dunlin 300.  royal tern 18.
chuck-will's-widow 14, incl. 2 at EIR that sat on the road in the car
headlights at close ranging, continuing to call.  red-headed woodpecker 6
(SWR, BNWR & Moneystump Swamp).  Acadian flycatcher 2.  warbling vireo 1
(BNWR).  brown-headed nuthatch 30.  Swainson's thrush 3.  chestnut-sided
warbler 1.  bay-breasted warbler 2 (BNWR).  northern waterthrush 1.  hooded
warbler 1 (Lewis Wharf Road).  saltmarsh sharp-tailed sparrow 4.  bobolink
4.  boat-tailed grackle 7.     

            NON-AVIAN TAXA.  Batrachians very vocal in the hours of
darkness, esp. Fowler's Toads, Green Tree Frogs, and Gray Tree Frogs but
also some Bullfrogs, Green, Southern Leopard, and a Carpenter frog (EIR).
Cricket Frogs heard at several spots in Moneystump Swamp.  See c. 22 Sika
Deer and 8 White-tailed Deer, 4 Muskrats, and a Woodchuck (Lewis Wharf
Road).  Roadkills include a Red Fox, 2 Virginia Opossums, and a Woodchuck,
the latter at the Prothonotary Place on Egypt Road.  A few Red-bellied
Sliders and Painted Turtles seen plus a big Snapping Turtle lumbering across
the road at Moneystump Swamp.  Few butterflies but a Spicebush Swallowtail
at BNWR.      

            WEATHER.  Varied.  Warm & breezy.  Rain, sometimes heavy,
1:45-2:45 A.M.  Winds mostly SW, 5-25 m.p.h., but c. 15 most of the time
dropping to SW 5 or near calm at dusk.  Mostly overcast in early A.M. but
with high haze and the full moon showing through.  Fair in morning and
afternoon becoming mostly overcast in late P.M.  Several thunder and
lightning cells visible from Elliott Island passing from southwest to
northeast c. 7 P.M. including one impressive storm with tremendous
cloud-to-ground lightning bolts and heavy rain which passes to our north
several miles.  Later we drive through where it had gone and the roadway
there is covered with pine needles, leaves, and oak catkins plus fresh
puddles.  Late and to the Northeast distant clouds, perhaps 30 miles or more
distant, reverberate with thunder and glow incandescent with lightning.  All
of this really sets off the Green Tree Frog chorus, which swells until it
reaches critical mass, seems at times almost threatening.  The sunset is a
beauty with occasional shafts of light emanating from it upwards as well as
soft pastels informing the adjacent cloudscapes.  Winds shifting to west and
northwest late in the day after we quit.  Temperature 65 - 85 - 77 (7:30
P.M.) - 75 (8:30 P.M.).  Tides mostly high.  Water in the impoundments and
ditches high, fields very wet from abundant rain this month.  At McCready's
Creek the seething mass of whitecaps makes scoping for the scoters and Ruddy
Ducks that are undoubtedly out there somewhere impossible. 

            SOLITARY SANDPIPERS, a good day for them, at least 12.  At
sunset we see one in a little wet area right next to the car, having seized
a worm longer than its bill.  Let's hope it leaves, full of Dorchester
invertebrates, for a successful breeding season, perhaps in last year's
Rusty Blackbird nest in northern Quebec.

            A FIRST: For the first time I have a companion on a Big
Day-marathon who reads the New York Times in between stops.  Will likes to
keep on top of things, and not just birds.

            GRATEFUL APPRECIATION is extended to Blackwater National
Wildlife Refuge for granting access to a restricted area (Moneystump Swamp).
And congratulations to Tom Miller for his promotion.

            ELSEWHERE, OTHER DAYS:

            THURSDAY, MAY 7.  Rt. 481 pondlet:  Water is up high =
shorebirds are desaparecido although there is a Greater Yellowlegs plus 1
Killdeer and 2 Mallards.  At Rigby's Folly Bob Ringler comes in and we see
23 Surf Scoters, a female Pine Warbler, a Greater Yellowlegs, a Least Tern,
and the 2 Ospreys on the piling nest are copulating.  2 Chuck-will's-widows
call at dusk.  Hear Green Tree Frogs here for the first time this year plus
a minor chorus of Fowler's Toads, see 17 Diamondback Terrapin, and a
Northern Watersnake.  20 deer and a Red Fox.  The nearly full moon rising
over the head of the cove makes for an enchanted scene.  A Great Horned Owl
calls 3 times c. 10 P.M.  Mostly overcast, some light rain, we're here from
5:30 P.M. until dark only, calm, low tide.  Torrential rain on the way down
at the Delaware-Chesapeake Canal and Middletown, Delaware, then spectacular
cumulus clouds set off, contrasted, with brilliant blue skies.

            FRIDAY, MAY 8.  Rigby's Folly.  Spring at its best.  Perfect
spring weather, the day when tomorrow's official bird count should have been
held.  Fair, warm, winds SW5 or else calm, 66-80 degrees F.  With Bob
Ringler and Will Russell on hand under such conditions a good bird list is
inevitable, even w/o anyone making much of an effort.  75 species, including
33 Surf Scoters, 2 pairs of Long-tailed Ducks (a new late date by weeks), a
female Bufflehead, Indigo Buntings, hummingbird, an adult Bonaparte's Gull,
2 Common & 3 Least terns, waxwings, 5 Common Loons, Cooper's Hawk, Hairy
Woodpecker, White-eyed & Red-eyed vireos, Rose-breasted & Blue grosbeaks, a
pewee in the yard, Baltimore Oriole, Wood Duck, Spotted Sandpiper,
gnatcatcher, and a Great Horned Owl that flushes and flies low across the
Big Field.  Also these 12 warbler species:  Pine, Chestnut-sided,
Blue-winged, Yellow, Yellow-rumped, Hooded (2), Black-and-white &
Black-throated Green warblers, Common Yellowhroat, Northern Waterthrush,
redstart, and Northern Parula.

            NON-AVIAN TAXA:  Butterflies - American Lady (8 or 9), Tiger
Swallowtail, Pearlcrescent (3), Cabbage White, Variegated Fritillary, Orange
Sulphur, Eastern Tailed Blue, and Monarch.  Diamondback Terrapin enjoy
basking on the surface in the warm sun; I come up with 92 at Lucy Point plus
16 at the mouth of the cove = 108 total.  9 deer.  

            SUNDAY, MAY 10.  6 Painted Turtles sunning in Rigby's Woods 4
vernal pool.  A roadkill Snapping Turtle west of Carroll's Market.  At the
Rt. 481 pondlet which is just n. of Rt. 309 the water level has sunk since
Thursday and the shorebirds are back: 109 Least, 2 Semipalmated, and 4
Solitary sandpipers plus a Greater Yellowlegs, 2 Mallards, and 4 hauled-out
Painted Turtles.  The 4 Snow Geese are gone from the mile 98.2 Route 301
pond so maybe they were free-ranging after all and are on their way to
Nunavut.

            Best regards to all. - Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.

 

  _____  

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