JULY 16-21, 2009: Rigby’s Folly/Ferry Neck, MD; Elliott Island Road & Blackwater N.W.R.; Reedy Island, Ocean City, MD; South Marsh Point & Peach Orchard Point, Accomack County, VA, just south of Smith Island, MD; Poplar Island, Talbot County, MD.
Abbreviation: YCNH = Yellow-crowned Night Heron.
JULY 16, THURSDAY. A d.o.r. Woodchuck 2 mi. n. of Cordova, MD. Late afternoon only at Rigby’s Folly, fair, hazy, humid, SW5, 91-84, hot. The Horned Grebe, present since at least May, is now in our cove, but left at dusk, swimming towards the Choptank River, as its congeners and some waterfowl usually due in the winter. 3 Green Herons. 5 Diamondback Terrapin. 6 Ospreys, and the piling nest at the head of the cove shows no sign of young. I’ve heard from Melanie Lynch that Ospreys on the Patuxent River have not done well this year due to the spring rains and coolness. 2 Brown Thrashers. 7 robins in the yard, where they have not bred this year. More Fireflies than the last time but still not many. 21 deer, incl. 7 bucks, 4 of them with big racks. See the 1st fall arrival ad. Ring-billed Gull.
JULY 17, FRIDAY. Rigby’s Folly, leave at 9:35 A.M., going out the driveway see 7 Common Wood Nymphs, an imm. Bald Eagle, and an ad. Red-tailed Hawk, the latter in full cry.
Egypt Road. 9 Killdeer and a hen Mallard with 8 large young in the newly created ponds. No sign of the Dickcissels but their field is a beauty with a lot of thistles, small trees, and other rank growth.
Sewards, Blackwater N.W.R. The American White Pelican, present since winter, is still here and must be disabled. Since the species catches food in its bill by swimming this bird may be O.K., until the Little Blackwater River freezes. 14 Forster’s Terns. 12 Ring-billed Gulls, “fall” arrivals.
Blackwater N.W.R., Wildlife Drive. As one goes in on the right by the sheds the Purple Martin house is loaded with martins. See the disabled Tundra Swan. 1 Spotted Sandpiper, a migrant. Marsh Hibiscus has been in bloom for a couple of weeks now, one of the greatest sights of summer in these low areas.
Bucktown: a male American Kestrel, a post-breeding “fall” arrival.
Bestpitch Ferry Bridge-Transquaking River: a Belted Kingfisher, another sign of fall coming. 3 Bald Eagles. 3 Snowy & 1 Great egret. A Red Fox right out in the open on the road at 1:37 P.M.
Brown-headed Cowbirds: starting to group up already with flocks of 35, 35, and c. 255 seen in s. Dorchester County this afternoon (total of 325).
Drawbridge, a favorite staging area for swallows in mid-summer. There are 7 Bank, 82 Tree, and 20 Barn swallows plus 6 Purple Martins on the wires plus a Bald Eagle and Yellow-billed Cuckoo nearby.
Elliott Island Road, 2-5:30 P.M., overcast, hazy, SW5, humid, 93 degrees F. (at 2:43 P.M.) falling to 85 by 5:30. No audiolures used. Somewhat bleak. No Black-necked Stilts, Willets, or Mute Swans. 1 Glossy Ibis, 5 Snowy & 3 Great egrets, 1 Least Bittern (seen flying), 8 Seaside (incl. 2 juveniles) and 3 Saltmarsh sparrows, 6 Bald Eagles, 3 Marsh Wrens (still singing), 9 Boat-tailed Grackles, only 2 black ducks (0 Mallards), 4 Northern Harriers, 3 Common Moorhens, 1 Greater Yellowlegs, 3 Royal Terns, and 2 meadowlarks. Out at the end of the road, at McCready’s Creek, the Osprey nest at the end of the north bulkhead, where human disturbance couldn’t be greater, nevertheless has 3 hulking young plus an active House Sparrow nest. Non-avian taxa: 1 Muskrat, 1 Diamondback Terrapin, 2 Monarchs, 1 Tiger Swallowtail, 1 Common Wood Nymph, 1 Eastern Cottontail, and 1 deer, the latter right in Elliott village.
Drive to Crisfield for the night at the Pines Motel, quiet, clean, nice Loblollies, ½ mi. off the main road, rooms have small fridges, swimming pool, and … there are Gray Squirrels.
JULY 18, SATURDAY. 8 of us launch from Crisfield and go to South Point Marsh, Accomack County, VA, just s. of Smith I., MD, on the Chesapeake Bay side of the marsh, where there are 2 small pelican colonies. 8:15A.M.-1:45P.M. We band 326 pelican chicks plus 30 Double-crested Cormorant young (one of my fingers still [Aug. 24] bears the scar from a young cormorant’s bill). Here the north colony is very small, the south one substantial. Personnel: John Weske (bander in charge), Julie Kacmarcik, Liz Carracino-Reynolds, et al. I choose to be a bander for this and the following 2 days, finally acquiring some confidence and competence in this regard.
Also seen here: 1 Saltmarsh & 13 Seaside sparrows, a Spotted Sandpiper, 12 oystercatchers incl. 1 big juvenile (of 6 AMOY seen well none are banded), 3 Mallards, 2 Little Blue Herons, 2 ea. of Great & Snowy egret, 1 YCNH, 1 Glossy Ibis, and 3 Black-bellied Plovers. My favorite sight today is a kettle of 12 Brown Pelicans circling high and majestically up over the adjacent Peach Orchard Point colony as we motor by there in John’s Privateer. Find various Diamondback Terrapin eggs that look as if they hatched successfully.
Pelican nests with young too small to band and/or eggs: 4 nests with 1 egg, 13 with 2 eggs, 11 with 3 eggs, 1 with 1 young, 1 with 2 young, 1 with 3 young, 1 with 1 egg and 1 young = 33 such nests.
Ewell, Smith I., MD: an ad. Bald Eagle right over town plus a harrier nearby and 1 Willet. 1 Buckeye and a YCNH.
JULY 19, SUNDAY - Peach Orchard Point e. of South Point Marsh, Accomack County, VA, just s. of Smith I., MD. From c. 8:30-12:30 27 of us, arriving in 4 boats from Somers Cove Marina in Crisfield, band 983 Brown Pelican chicks. I do not make note of any nests with eggs or young too small to band; if there are any such there there are very, very few. Most of the hundreds of Double-crested Cormorant chicks have fledged, most can fly, and swim very well. As Harry Kalas would have said, they are “Outta here.”
Dramatis personae: Harry “the Swamp Rat” Armistead, Gerry & Lisa Balmert, Dave Brinker (project director and bander), Liz Carracino-Reynolds, Nina Fascione, Steve Kendrot, Alicia Love, Bryant & Kim Mann, Suzanne Miller, Tami Pearl, Tony Quezon, Matt Rogosky, Amelia Savage, Steve Schwartz, Lisa “Buffalo Annie” Selner, John Weske (main bander), et alii. (there are 9 others, whose names I don’t make note of).
Agency/Organizational Representation: U. S. Dept. of Agriculture (esp. the Nutria eradication unit of APHIS, which I think = Animal, Plant and Health Inspection Services). Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources (several units). U. S. Geological Survey (esp. the Bird Banding Laboratory, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center). Defenders of Wildlife. National Park Service (Assateague National Seashore). National Aquarium (Baltimore, MD). Maryland Ornithological Society. Venture Program of Explorer Scouts (I may not have this name correct, but several teens help us today from this organization).
Also of note here: 6 Glossy Ibis, 2 Little Blue Herons, 7 Snowy & 3 Great egrets, 4 Seaside Sparrows, 7 Fish Crows, 2 Forster’s Terns, 1 black duck, 6 Mallards, a YCNH, and a Monarch. The traditional celebratory lunch takes place at Ruke’s in Ewell, Smith I., where for nearly 2 hours we engage in good (at least by my pedestrian standards) eating and conversation. Several group photographs are taken across from Ruke’s on the entrance steps to the Smith Island museum.
A BANDER’S LAMENT. I usually wimp out of being a bander by virtue of my limited strength (grip) and lack of skills manhandling the needle-nose pliers and the big size 8A bands on a bird whose right leg is often thrashing about. This time (and yesterday) I suck it up and banded the entire time, gain confidence and some skill, and feel good about that. In the past I’ve sustained painful blisters on my right palm after banding only a few dozen birds. This time I wear a cheap cotton glove with the finger tips cut off. This works well – not even a sign of a blister - but due to the hours of banding a bird every few minutes an uncomfortable tendonitis develops in my right forearm. As I write this, this is almost gone after only 4 days.
In a big banding operation such as today’s often more people are needed as banders than there are that are actually banding. A lot of banders helps the project go faster, an important consideration for the birds’ comfort. Fortunately all of the banding days this summer have been on days with a refreshing breeze, moderate temperatures, low humidity, and even some overcast skies. So there seems to be minimal discomfort for the birds - not much ululating of their gular pouches as they thermoregulate - and it is better for the banders’ and birdcatchers’ comfort level, too.
PIPING PLOVERS. Talked with Tami Pearl who works with the N.P.S. on Assateague National Seashore, where she says there are 45 pairs of PIPLs this summer with production of 1.5 young per pair, better than average. An expanded effort has been made to control Red Foxes here.
Afterwards John, Liz and I head to Rigby’s Folly for the night. My son-in-law, Mike Solomonov and his friend and colleague, Pervais Shallwani, have been spending the weekend there with others and they prepare a fast but delicious (exquisite, in fact) meal for us.
JULY 20, MONDAY. A boat trip of 26 statute miles to Dorchester County’s islands, 2-6 P.M. only, using c. 6.569 gallons of gas, with Liz Carracino-Reynolds to keep me company. John Weske is sidelined at Rigby’s Folly for the day with both outboard and boat trailer issues, otherwise he would have joined us. This is a truly ad hoc trip devoted to simply banding all bandable pelicans on Holland Island. From Dave Brinker’s assessment done last Friday we knew ahead of time there would not be many. Water temperature 76-78. Overcast, winds 15-20+ m.p.h., making for a rough return trip.
Maple Dam Road: at noon a Striped Skunk shambling along the road which we stopped right next to, allowing Liz to get an excellent, close range photograph, which I can forward to anyone interested.
Blackwater N.W.R., Wildlife Drive, a quick drive through: 2 juvenile Pileated Woodpeckers and a bobwhite “singing.”
Crocheron: 1 Royal Tern, 1 Bald Eagle.
Bloodsworth Island, SE corner, 1 Bald Eagle.
Spring island (a part of Blackwater N.W.R.). We circled Spring quickly in the boat finding 5 oystercatchers, 2 Little Blue Herons, 2 Ospreys, and a Great Egret. The Peregrine Falcon hacking tower, present in June, is now gone - only the pilings remain. No peregrines seen.
Holland Island, south segment. 13 choppy miles from Crocheron to here. We band all the bandable young Brown Pelicans - just 5. There are lots of abandoned (?) pelican nests plus the following either with eggs and/or young too small to band: nests with 1 egg – 13, 2 eggs – 31, 3 eggs – 27, 1 young - 8, 2 young – 19, 3 young - 9, 1 young & 1 egg – 5, and 1 egg & 2 young – 1: for a grand total of c. 113 such nests. It can get confusing and I may have counted 1 or 2 nests twice. Also seen here: 4 Willets, 2 ad. and 1 large young oystercatcher, 6 YCNH, 5 Boat-tailed Grackles, 1 Seaside Sparrow, 1 female Mallard, 4 Ospreys, and 4 Fish Crows. Also: a Monarch and a Buckeye.
Holland Island, middle segment. Banded 4 pelican chicks. See a female Gadwall. Only see 1 other active pelican nest, with 2 young too small to band. Lots of very vocal Herring and a few Great Black-backed gulls wheeling overhead protesting our presence. Over 100 abandoned (?) pelican nests.
Bloodsworth Island, north end: 1 Caspian Tern.
Rigby’s Folly: 2 bats at 8:23 P.M. The Horned Grebe seen here in the morning.
PELICANS BANDED SO FAR, 2009, on 4 trips (unofficial totals) 451 (Peach Orchard Point, July 8), 326 (South Point Marsh), 983 (Peach Orchard Point), and 9 (Holland Island) respectively with a P.O.P. grand total of 1,434, overall grand total of 1,769. Probably well over 100 escaped us at P.O.P., big ones that scrambled or swam away. This all compares with 3,331 banded overall in 2008, a record year. With this year’s birds cranked in I believe over 20,000 have now been tagged, 18,300 as of the end of 2008 plus this year’s 1,769 = 20,069 (again, unofficial totals). This is Dave Brinker’s project with a strong assist from main bander John Weske. In the past 2 days 2 pelicans are seen with deformed bills, one of them with a withered wing also. These birds will not survive and are not banded. Another 200 mas o menos should, with any luck, await banders at Holland Island in 3 weeks or so.
PHOTOGRAPHY. Thanks to Diane Cole and Bob & Lisa Johnson I and some others received electronically photographs from our days at Peach Orchard Point (July 20) and Reedy Island, Ocean City, MD (July 7, Royal Tern operation). I’d be glad to forward these. Contact me at: harryarmistead at hotmail dot com
JULY 21, TUESDAY. Field trip to Poplar Island, Talbot County, MD, c. 13 of us led by Jan Reese and including Ron Gutberlet, Les Roslund, Jim Stasz, Stan Arnold, and Bob Ringler. 9A.M.-1P.M. These numbers are mine, not the official count. Excellent shorebirding, several 1000s, a spectacle, with 20 species:
Black-bellied & Semipalmated plovers, Killdeer, oystercatcher 1, Black-necked Stilt 12 (bred again as in 2008), avocet 4 (possibly 7), Greater & Lesser (many 100s) yellowlegs, Willet, Spotted, Stilt (2), Semipalmated, Least (many 100s), Western, and Pectoral (1) sandpipers, Sanderling, Wilson’s Phalarope 1, Dunlin 1, turnstone 1, and Short-billed Dowitcher (100s). Also, the imm. male King Eider continues (photographed), a Bonaparte’s Gull, 100s of Mallards with dozens of ducklings, a Seaside Sparrow, a Caspian and 7 Black and lots of breeding Least and Common terns, 2 Brown Pelicans, and 2 Bald Eagles.
There’s a Purple Martin colony and breeding Bank Swallows plus nesting egrets (all 3 species), hundreds of cormorant nests. Since the May trip dozens of acres have been planted with Spartina alterniflora. The place is an engineering (and wildlife management) marvel. Avocet, phalarope & Seaside Sparrow are new for my Talbot County list.
Rigby’s Folly. A Ø (symbol for either indeterminate immature or adult female plumage) Ruby-throated Hummingbird over the Boxwood in our yard. 2 Monarchs. Head back home at 5 P.M. after a 2 hour nap.
Best to all, ‘til the next time. – Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.
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