JULY 1-9, 2009: Rigby’s Folly; Cape May-Lewes Ferry; Beach Haven, NJ; Ocean City, MD (Reedy Island); Clump Island (Accomack County, VA); Peach Orchard Point (South Point Marsh, Accomack County, VA). Observations are at Rigby’s Folly, unless indicated otherwise.
JULY 1, WEDNESDAY. Late Afternoon only. Has dried up a lot. 1 Red-tailed Hawk. 1 Great Egret. 2 Forster’s Terns, 1 repeatedly harassed by an Eastern Kingbird as it transits over Field 2. Fair becoming overcast, SW 10, 85-73. Thunder and lighting at night with some rain as a cold front comes in.
JULY 2, THURSDAY. A Horned Grebe out from Tranquility, probably the same one present in May and June. Traditionally such birds are referred to as “cripples,” but in the future may benefit from the kinder “disabled.” 5 Little Wood Satyrs, 1 Red-spotted Purple. 1 Gray Squirrel. Spent an hour clearing a windfall with tree, thorny roses, grape vines, honeysuckle, et al. along the Irish Creek Trail on the west side of Woods 8. Not necessary to use chainsaw but I needed the triple-extension saw, loppers, hedge clippers, and rake. 2 Great Horned Owls calling for a while from Woods 7 beginning at 7:58 P.M. Fair, NW-W 10, 68-80, low humidity. Very few Fireflies here this summer but more than normal in Philadelphia. Clyde Harding and 2 associates visit preliminary to removing several trees from the yard on July 8. 2 deer.
JULY 3, FRIDAY. Rain and wind last night. Clear, NW 10, 67. Liz sees a flock of 12 Least Sandpipers passing through, traditionally one of the first fall migrants in our region. Leave c. 9:15, have a dickens of a time getting to Lewes via Rt. 404, make a wrong turn in Georgetown, DE, and miss our ferry but get on the noon one without paying a penalty.
LEWES-CAPE MAY FERRY, Noon-c. 1:15. Ferry is efficient, fast, steady, and surprisingly quiet. See 5 Wilson’s Storm-Petrels, 3 Brown Pelicans, 1 Common & 5 Forster’s terns, 11 dolphins (in 2 pods). At least 3 active Osprey nests on structures of the massive jetty system near Lewes. A Wild Turkey, the new starling, at mile 7 of the Garden State Parkway. My brother, Gordon, found out today he was honored by being elected to the Real Academia Española (Royal Spanish Academy).
JULY 4, SATURDAY. We are guests of Capt. Carl and Carroll Sheppard in Beach Haven, NJ. Carl slips me on board his fine boat, the Star Fish, to go fishing with his charter party. We head 12 statute miles offshore and catch 36 black Sea Bass (only 6 of them keepers), a skate, 3 flounder (1 keeper), and 3 Sea Robins (good for bait). See no seabirds but there are 2 dolphins. One of the flounder regurgitates a baby lobster about 2.5 inches long. Heading down the bay by Mordecai Island and the Holgate Unit of the Forsythe N.W.R. complex there are 2 early Whimbrels, 45 cormorants, 7 Glossy Ibis, 2 black ducks, a Black-crowned Night Heron, several Osprey nests, an imm. Brown Pelican, c. 110 Black Skimmers (2 apparent colonies on Mordecai I.), 3 Boat-tailed Grackles, 1 Tricolored Heron, 8 Willets, 8 oystercatchers, and 1 flicker. Choppy, mostly overcast becoming fair, 67-84, west winds 10-20. My fresh prescription of Promethazine 25mg in combo with OTC pseudoephedrine keeps mal de mer at bay, but, as in the past, makes me somewhat spacey, dries the mouth, and increases my appetite for both food and drink. Afterwards Liz and I sit on the Beach Haven beach 4:30-6:30 where we see 3 Brown Pelicans, 40 Common and 2 Forster’s terns plus 2 Monarchs. Tides are high early today, low, high again at day’s end. Great fireworks display seen from the Sheppard’s porch on 3rd Street after a dinner of lobsters with champagne.
JULY 5, SUNDAY. 203.7 miles today. A Gray Squirrel, the FURst I’ve seen on Long Beach Island, investigates the Sheppards’ Carpathian Walnut trees and makes off with a nut. Cape May-Lewes Ferry, noon-c. 1:15. Beautiful adult Bald Eagle right over the Cape May ferry slip being harassed, somewhat, by Herring Gulls, a Great Black-backed Gull, and 2 Fish Crows, all of which it shrugs off with regal disdain. On the crossing 5 Wilson’s Storm-Petrels, a Brown Pelican, and pods of 10, 4 and 3 dolphins. Fair or mostly overcast, SE5, 70s.
Fenwick Island, Delaware. 6 Brown Pelicans over Route 1 s. of Rehoboth. Arrive at the Catch 54 restaurant just n. of the MD/DE line and find the ROSEATE SPOONBILL in less than a minute, then watch it 3-3:30 P.M. as we dine on mussels. The spoonbill is in the saltmarsh c. 100 yards n. of Catch 54 foraging/feeding, preening, seemingly asleep or at rest until some Schweinhund in a kayak deliberately flushes it. As a result it flies, strongly, several 100 yards to the east, then turns back and lands out of sight in the marsh several hundred yards north of where it was originally. It’s a 2nd year bird (as illustrated in Sibley) with nice pink upperparts but not as intensely pink as those of an adult and its head is white. A beauty. Repeated good views of the long, spatulate bill. Delaware’s first spoonbill apparently. Also here: 70 Canada Geese, 3 Great Egrets, 3 Ospreys, a Great Blue Heron, 2 Willets, 8 Mallards, 30 Laughing Gulls, 5 Forster’s and 10 Royal terns. Overcast, SE5, 77.
Back at Rigby’s Folly. 4 Barn Swallows have fledged from the nest under our dock catwalk and are sitting on it waiting to be served. Daughter Anne and Derek Ayres spent the weekend here and left us a 40” Black Rat Snake shed as well as figs and scallops, the latter wrapped in bacon. 4 bucks are in Field 4. Lot of bucks this spring/summer.
JULY 6, MONDAY. Clear or fair, NW 5-10, 71-85. Another Canadian summer day with low humidity. 4 HORNED LARKS fly over the cove headed north. Don’t see them here even annually. They do not breed nearby. Odd. Previous property high count: 3 on February 10, 1973. Today’s are the only summer record ever. 1 Pileated Woodpecker drumming from Woods 8. Caught 2 mice last night in the downstairs bedroom. 1 Great & 1 Snowy egret. 1 imm. Bald Eagle. 1 Brown Thrasher. 2 juvenile American Robins, flyers, must have hatched elsewhere. A female Pine Warbler carrying food (thus a confirmed breeding record) in Woods 7. First Common Wood Nymph of the year plus a Monarch. Jared’s fig bush has 7 figs developing. Trimmed the Warbler Trail, the driveway on the s. side of Field 2, and the Beach Trail.
JULY 7, TUESDAY. A Red Fox at 5:55 A.M. canters down the drive for 0.1 miles ahead of my car, going 12 m.p.h. A Raccoon at 6 A.M. 6 Wild Turkeys 4 mi. e. of Cambridge seen just south of Route 50. Arrive at the West Ocean City launching area at 8:20 A.M. Hook up with Diane Cole, John Weske, Mario Eusi, Steve Kendrot, Roman Jesion et al. to band Royal Terns. Also on hand is Renee Marie Laffite from Honduras. 11 of us in toto.
REEDY ISLAND Royal Tern colony, Ocean City, MD. 10:30-11:30 A.M. Under John’s direction we band 135 Royal Tern chicks, way fewer than in 2008. There are also 55 unhatched eggs and 6 chicks too small to band. Hundreds of Laughing Gulls are nesting on this small marsh island that is perilously close to the mainland and surrounded by numerous jetskiers. The many Common and Forster’s terns I saw here on May 27 are mostly absent now. A single Sandwich Tern is flying with the royals but we do not see its egg or young, if there are any. A pair of oystercatchers is present with their one, capable-of-flight young. Just s. of here there are 25 Brown Pelicans on Skimmer Island. Then the long haul across the Delmarva Peninsula to Crisfield. See a Yellow-billed Cuckoo fly across the road at Marion.
CLUMP ISLAND (Fox Islands archipelago, owned by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation), Accomack County, VA, a few miles SSW of Crisfield, MD. A Royal Tern colony found here last year was not visited by banders then. From 2:30-5 7 of us, including Steve Kendrot and Mario Eusi, band 908 Royal Tern chicks, many more than anticipated. One of them has an anomaly, a club left foot, not the result of an injury. There are 27 unhatched eggs and 9 young too small to band. Steve’s big 24-foot, flat-bottomed USDA APHIS-Wildlife Services skiff with a 200h.p. outboard takes us out there easily at 30 m.p.h., even in the considerable white-capped chop. This is a rich beach-saltmarsh venue with great fecundity. We also see 30 Black Skimmers, 2 Black-bellied Plovers, a pair of oystercatchers with their large youngster, 45 Laughing Gulls (which breed here) plus numerous Herring and Great Black-backed gulls, 15 Barn Swallows, 6 Ospreys, 15 pelicans, 6 Common Terns (some carrying food), a Seaside Sparrow, 7 Forster’s Terns, and 4 Red-winged Blackbirds. Clear, 75, SW 15-20, delightful weather. On returning to the Somers Cove marina from my moving car I hear a Virginia Rail nearby giving its kiddick call at 5:30 P.M. John and I overnight at the Pines Motel in Crisfield, a lovely place with a much-appreciated swimming pool, and have dinner in a very good Mexican restaurant where there is a Peruvian chef who has concocted very unusual flan that we savor for dessert.
JULY 8, WEDNESDAY. Peach Orchard Point (South Marsh Point), Accomack County, VA, just s. of Rhodes Point-Smith Island, MD. From 8 A.M. – 12:30 P.M. 6 of us incl. Roman Jesion and others under John Weske’s direction band 451 Brown Pelican chicks, perhaps as little as one third of those present. 2 other sub-colonies of this area are located to the west along the edge of Chesapeake Bay but are much smaller colonies (but in previous years this is where most of the pelicans nested). There are 100s of Double-crested Cormorants nesting here also. I count 215 large young in sight simultaneously once from just one vantage point. John bands 2 of these. Also see: 1 Northern Harrier, 4 Seaside Sparrows, 5 Fish Crows, 3 Glossy Ibis, 2Tricolored Herons, 2 oystercatchers, 2 Great Egrets, and lots of Seaside Dragonlets (dragonflies). One of the pelican chicks is anomalous, has an abnormally small, withered right wing, perhaps inspired by Kaiser Wilhelm II or Walter Annenberg. Clear, NE-NW 15, 70s. Good weather for banders, and birds. Find 2 old bottles, one a Davis OK baking powder bottle, the commonest find out on these islands in my experience.
The traditional celebratory crab cake lunch with delicious crinkle-cut French fries at Ruke’s in Ewell, Smith I., MD, c. 1:15 P.M. In MD in the Ewell area there are 2 Mute Swans, a Turkey Vulture (somewhat unusual way out here), 1 ea. of the 2 night heron species, 7 Fish Crows, numerous Barn Swallows, 1 Glossy Ibis, 4 starlings, and a Little Blue Heron. On the way back to Crisfield via the Big Thorofare John inspects 4 Osprey nests and bands 4 young. One of the nests near Ewell on marker 37 has 2 eggs, very late for eggs with just the male Osprey in attendance. One suspects these eggs will not hatch.
Today at Rigby between 8:45 A.M. and 2:30 P.M. various trees around the yard are cut: a Tulip Poplar and a locust, both poised to eventually fall on the house, a medium-sized hackberry, a large almost-dead locust, and dead tree sections threatening the garage are removed from a maple, walnut, and cherry plus an old walnut stump is ground – all by Clyde Harding & co. Liz has seen 2 Northern Watersnakes.
JULY 9, THURSDAY. Until 11 A.M. only. 59 Canada Geese off Lucy Point including an attentive pair with their 3 small, downy goslings (very late in the year for such small young), and 7-8 nearly fully-grown young of the year. The Horned Grebe is still present. 1 Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Talked with John Swaine about this year’s crops. Our fields are disked today. It is starting to become dry … too dry. On the way home we rescue a female Painted Turtle crossing Rt. 481 1.4 mi. s. of Ruthsburg. On July 1 we had rescued another female about a mile farther north.
Best to all. – Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.
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