MAY 25-27, 2009, FERRY NECK/RIGBY’S FOLLY, DORCHESTER COUNTY, OCEAN CITY (MD), DELAWARE BAY (Delaware) AREAS.
A lively Northeaster on May 26 and its hangover forced me to cancel plans for a Big Day on Wroten Island, Dorchester County, on May 27.
MONDAY, MAY 25. A Cattle Egret following the plow west of Route 301 in MD near the border with DE. Route 481 pond just n. of Route 309: 7 Semipalmated Plovers, 8 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 1 Killdeer, 1 Mallard, and 1 very late WILSON’S SNIPE. Several impressive deluges on the way down interspersed with many areas that are bone dry. At Rigby’s Folly some winter waterbirds still lingering: 12 Surf Scoters, 1 male Long-tailed Duck, a Horned Grebe, and a Common Loon plus 2 Bald Eagles, 2 Wild Turkeys and 5 deer (4 of them bucks). A pod of Cow-nosed Rays actively foraging at Lucy Point, some only 4’-5’ offshore. 13 Diamondback Terrapin. George, coming up the drive late in the day, sees 14 deer and hears 3 singing Indigo Buntings. He’s fresh from co-leading a 10-day tour with Jesse Fagan in coastal NC (see below under OFF TOPIC 2). Tyler Contracting Co. has dumped 6 truckloads of earth in preparation for work on controlling shoreline erosion and left 25 cut branches (which when hanging over the drive had interfered with movements of their trucks) along the driveway shoulders.
TUESDAY, MAY 26. Decide to wend and wander today. Overcast, NE 20-35 m.p.h., rain early. Grasses and trees lashed by the high winds. See 1 Wild Turkey & 2 deer s I go out Rigby’s driveway. Look for the Egypt Road Dickcissels to no avail.
Blackwater N.W.R. Noon-1:30 P.M. 5 Glossy Ibis, 23 Bald Eagles, 17 Great Egrets. The American White Pelican and Tundra Swan still present on this unusual date, probably signifyng that both are sick and/or injured. 2 American Black Ducks. 47 Canada Geese. There’s a very sluggish baby Woodchuck about the size of an eggplant (but much furrier) on Wildlife Drive opposite Pool 3B. Nudge it with my shoe and it barely responds. On Key Wallace Drive there’s a roadkill Eastern Cottontail with 1 each of Black & Turkey vulture plus an ad. Bald Eagle vying for the honors. Water levels low, some of the impoundments having been lowered.
DeCoursey Bridge Road: 4 active Osprey nests, 1 Bald Eagle, 2 Great Egrets, 2 Least Terns, 3 Red-tailed Hawks. 2 P.M.
Draw Bridge (Drawbridge Road, spelled variously), Chicamacomico River: 2 adult Canada Geese swimming adjacent to each other with broods of 2 and 4 downy young respectively. 2:15 P.M.
Route 50, Milepost 123: a d.o.r. Gray Fox.
Ocean City Inlet, 3:30-4:30: No petrels, shearwaters or fancy terns but 7 Northern Gannets, 3 Purple Sandpipers, 1 Brant, and 13 Ruddy Turnstones.
Skimmer Island, Ocean City, as seen from 4th Street, 4:35-5:10 P.M.: 1 GLAUCOUS GULL (a nearly all white bird with no barring, long bill with pink base, black tip, moderate primary extension beyond tail; darn- I thought this would be my discovery but I see the May Big Day boys saw it on Sunday; good for them.), 8 oystercatchers, 115 cormorants, 30 Dunlin. Herons nesting in the center of the island include the 3 egrets, Little Blue and Black-crowned Night herons, and Glossy Ibis.
Hooper’s Restaurant, Ocean City, 5:20-5:35: 18 Red Knots, 5 Short-billed Dowitchers, 9 Semipalmated Plovers, 2 oystercatchers, 20 Semipalmated Sandpipers, and a Boat-tailed Grackle on its nest in a Bayberry bush. Able to see the Glaucous Gull from here, too.
West Ocean City Pond, 5:45 P.M. Water is low and there’s an abundant growth of aquatic vegetation. Not much here: 1 male Wood Duck, a female Mallard with 6 downy young, 3 Great Egrets, and a Forster’s Tern hunting.
Night at the Francis Scott Key. $60 not bad for this area. Comfortable and with a nice traditional, semi-retro atmosphere. Eat at Mexican restaurant. Watch great TV documentary, Ocean Animal Emergency, on rescuing California Sea Lions, Elephant Seals, and Harbor Seal, the latter way world class cute.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 27. Bedeviled by FOG. Spent most of 5:30 A.M. – noon at Ocean City inlet hoping the fog would clear. It didn’t. Visibility only c. 100 feet most of the time. NE winds 10-15 m.p.h. Nothing of consequence seen.
Reedy Island, Ocean City, from 52nd and 56th streets. Nice marshy island close offshore on the bayside where Royal Terns have bred the last few years. There are dozens of them here now, on this small island’s west end. Hoards of Laughing Gulls (180 in sight simultaneously) flying around gathering Spartina alterniflora wrack and various “seaweeds” for their new nests. This is the only spot on MD where they and the royals nested last year. Also present: loads of Forster’s and some Common terns, 2 oystercatchers, 2 Willets, 2 Mallards, Barn Swallows, Red-winged Blackbirds, Boat-tailed Grackles, starlings, a Great Egret, and 2 turnstones. There’s a dead, baby Diamondback Terrapin roadkill on the west end of 56th Street.
Skimmer Island, Noon. There’s a group of 6 men and 1 woman from a USDA APHIS-Wildlife Services boat with a big 200 H.P. Yamaha outboard installing what look like exclosures, taking notes, and putting something in garbage bags. These folks get a lot of the birds in the air or out in the open including 43 Black-crowned Night Herons and 110+ combo count of the 3 egrets. No sign of the Glaucous Gull.
OFF TOPIC 1 (The rest of May 27 is spent in DELAWARE):
Oyster Rocks Road: 2:15 P.M. Fog. 5 Willets, 4 Black-bellied Plovers, 1 Clapper Rail, 2 Bald Eagles, 3 Black Vultures, 6 Ospreys & Seaside Sparrow. Also a Diamondback Terrapin.
Broadkill Beach Road (Prime Hook N.W.R.), 2:45 P.M., fog, visibility c. 100 feet: 2 Bald Eagles, a bobwhite, a hummingbird, a female Mallard with 8 downy young ducklings, 3 active Osprey nests, a few dowitchers, peep, Snowy Egrets, Dunlin, Semipalmated Plovers, Forster’s Terns & Boat-tailed Grackles. Substantial NE winds blowing the wispy fog here and there. Adjacent inland ploughed fields enjoy bright sunshine and clear skies but low areas of wind-blown misty fog persist right next to the ground, an unusual sight. A lot of the Delaware fields today are planted in potatoes.
Mispillion River (not misspelled)-Slaughter Beach area, 3:30-5:30 P.M., finally clearing off and becoming warm with diminishing winds, this stop is the highpoint of the day with thousands (and thousands) of Semipalmated Sandpipers, c. 125 Red Knots, hundreds each of turnstones, Dunlin, and Short-billed Dowitchers, 2 oystercatchers, 2 Black Skimmers, a Spotted Sandpiper, 1 Least & 8 Forster’s terns, a Clapper Rail, 4 Seaside Sparrows, 20 Boat-tailed Grackles, 22 Willets, 4 Sanderlings, and a few Black-bellied and Semipalmated plovers. As recounted elsewhere by several, this place is a great spectacle, even this late in the spring, with great views from the Nature Center deck at the end of Lighthouse Road. 6 or 7 folks are out in the marsh and in a boat carefully scrutinizing the shorebirds, especially, one assumes, the knots, and gathering data. Off to the north are thousands of stranded Horseshoe Crabs, marooned by the extremely low tide, as low as I have ever seen it on Delaware Bay, and the waters continue to fall all afternoon. An earlier very high tide (from yesterday’s northeaster?) has also left hundreds of the crabs above the normal high tide line so that many shorebirds forage right in the Spartina alterniflora on top of the banks. Look at many hundreds of flying peep but find no White-rumped Sandpipers.
Port Mahon Road, 6-6:45 P.M. Warm, fair, SE 5, 73 degrees F. Another spectacle with thousands of Semipalmated Sandpipers plus hundreds of turnstones, some Willets, a few Seaside Sparrows, but no knots. Much less shorebird variety. The road as it fronts Delaware Bay is a royal mess with windrows of dead Horseshoe Crabs and Spartina alterniflora wrack something of a hazard to drivers plus sand and mud and some standing, salty Bay water. All of these things are also on the landward side of the road indicating a very high tide and winds pushed this stuff across the road and “inland.” Portions of the road have rocks, deteriorated paving, and hazardous potholes. Unlike some other trips I encounter no hostility from persons in other vehicles although a big agency sign at the end of the road is peppered with shotgun blasts. Off to the south are countless thousands of stranded Horseshoe Crabs in the Bay, acres and acres of them, where normally there would be a foot or more of water. I am afraid most of them are dead. There are still some live ones in water on the road. 1 Eastern Cottontail.
Bombay Hook N.W.R., 7-8 P.M. Extremely low tide here, too. Best bird is a BLACK TERN over Shearness Pool. Also good is an American Kestrel on the way in to the refuge. 36 Great Egrets and 67 Glossy Ibis. 1 Bald Eagle. 5 Black-necked Stilts. c. 2,000 Semipalmated Sandpipers but no dowitchers or turnstones. 6 Willets. 0 Canada Geese. Nice to see the white gourds outside he Visitor Center so well patronized by dozens of Purple Martins. 3 Seaside Sparrows. 1 male Boat-tailed Grackle. Only a few Semipalmated and Black-bellied plovers or Dunlin. 4 Lesser Yellowlegs the only yellowlegs I see today. 3 Blue Grosbeaks. Mammals: 3 Red Foxes (incl. a lethargic young one on the dike at Shearness; something is wrong with it), 1 deer, 1 Woodchuck, and 5 Eastern Cottontails.
Dinner at the good old Ches-Del Diner, nice and salty and hot. These last 2 days I have driven 282.1 miles. As Ozymandias might say: “Look on my carbon footprint ye mighty and despair.”
OFF TOPIC 2: George’s tour to coastal NC yielded (asterisk * indicates photographed species): 20-30 South Polar Skuas* one day (new record count for the North Atlantic?), c. 12 Long-tailed Jaegers* one day, numbers of Pomarine* and a few Parasitic jaegers, a Fea’s and a Herald Petrel, a Leach’s Storm-Petrel* right in an inlet, an Arctic Tern*, Swainson’s Warbler* (in Dismal Swamp, VA), Bobcat*, Black Bear*, Copperhead, Bachman’s Sparrow, American Oystercatcher* (at a nest on the C.B.B.T., VA), Red-cockaded Woodpecker*, Black-capped*, Wilson’s Storm* and Band-rumped Storm petrels, King Rail* (plus good looks at Virginia & Clapper rails), and other goodies. Interesting that they saw no migrant warblers or swallows.
Best regards to all. – Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.
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