AUGUST 9-13, 2009: Mostly Rigby’s Folly/Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, (unless specified otherwise) but also, on August 10, Holland Island and Blackwater N.W.R.
SHOREBIRDS: During this stretch 7 species seen, unprecedented, and NONE of them flyovers. The aseasonal Horned Grebe present the entire time, beginning to get very pale from presumed feather wear plus exposure to the scorching sun in recent days.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 9. Liz and I are here from 2:45 P.M. on only. Shorebirds in Field 1: 37 Killdeer, 14 Lesser Yellowlegs, 9 Pectoral Sandpipers, and 2 Semipalmated Plovers. Later in the day the shorebirds shift to Field 4. Also 65 starlings with the shorebirds. A young Red Fox. Deer: 4 does, 2 bucks, and a small fawn. 1 Black Vulture. Herps: 1 Diamondback Terrapin and a big male Five-lined Skink and a 2” young one. A Great Horned Owl calls at 7:45 P.M. Fair, 91-85 degrees F. (85 at 9:20 P.M.), SW 10. John Weske and Liz Carracino-Reynolds overnight here.
MONDAY, AUGUST 10. Am elsewhere (see below) from 5:15 A.M. – 5 P.M. 95 degrees F. at 5 P.M., 88 at 7 P.M., 87 at 9 P.M. Hottest day of the year. A Great Horned Owl calls from Woods 7. Liz Carracino-Reynolds spots a Five-lined Skink on the front porch, where we see them most often. 3 does & 1 buck. 1 Monarch, 1 Tiger Swallowtail. A Fowler’s Toad near the front porch.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 11. A red letter day thanks to the shorebirds. In the Big Field (Field 1): 26 Pectoral Sandpipers and 21 Lesser Yellowlegs blow away previous yard high counts, plus there are 3 Least Sandpipers, 6 Semipalmated Plovers, and 17 Killdeer. 65 starlings, 10 Red-winged Blackbirds, and 2 kingbirds joined the shorebirds on the ground there. A bit of fall migration movement in addition to the waders with a Cooper’s Hawk and a male American Kestrel, the latter chased by a kingbird. Also: 3 Snowy Egrets, 2 hummingbirds, 2 Black Vultures, 1 Royal & 1 Forster’s tern, a female Blue Grosbeak, 106 Canada Geese, and a Spotted Sandpiper on the rocks by the dock.
NON-AVIAN TAXA. A large female Box Turtle with big, orange markings, a fine-looking creature. 6 Diamondback Terrapin. 2 Gray Squirrels in the yard. And these butterflies: 1 Tiger Swallowtail, 1 Variegated Fritillary, 3 Cabbage Whites, 6 Orange Sulphurs, 4 presumed Sachem Skippers, 3 Monarchs, 1 Pearlcrescent, 1 Red Admiral, and 2 Red-spotted Purples. 1 fawn.
Thunder, lightning, wind, and rain last night as well as at 8:30 P.M. today. 82 degrees F. at 8:30 P.M., 72 45 minutes later. But generally fair, 78-85 early on, calm-NW10-SW5-calm again.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12. 76-87, hot, mostly overcast becoming fair then overcast again, winds calm-NW5-E10-15. Perhaps as much as an inch of rain fell last night. See a big male Five-lined Skink on the front porch, very unconcerned with my presence.
Birds not seen on this visit until today: 1 Baltimore Oriole (first of year; misses tying earliest date here by a day), Solitary Sandpiper (also first of the year, in Field 4, has bad left leg that dangles in flight), 1 Pileated and 1 Red-bellied woodpecker, Eastern Bluebird (3 juveniles and a female on the pole in Field 4), 2 Carolina Chickadees, 1 Fish Crow. Only 1 Common Wood Nymph. 6 Lesser Yellowlegs still in the fields but the Pectoral Sandpipers have blasted off for Argentina. 1 adult Bald Eagle. 3 Wild Turkeys in Field 4. 7 deer: 1 buck, 4 does, and 2 small fawns. 4 Diamondback Terrapin. 30 Killdeer in Field 1. 3 Snowy Egrets. 20 Canada Geese present in Field 1 all day, oblivious to our walking around the field circumference several times, and also very silent except when in flight coming and going. Bob Ringler overnights.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, until 9:30 A.M. only: 13 Ospreys in sight simultaneously, and then 15 a few minutes latter. A Spotted Sandpiper flies up to the head of the cove. 1 adult Bald Eagle. 1 Snowy Egret. 7 Purple Martins. Fair becoming overcast, 74-78, N5+.
DORCHESTER COUNTY, Monday, August 10:
A c. 27-mile boat trip from Crocheron to Holland I, going south of Bloodsworth and Spring islands on the way out, returning by Adam Island and the west and north sides of Bloodsworth so we could see the mostly submerged Sherman tank off Okahanikan Point. Personnel: John, Liz C.-R., Carol McCollough, Dave Brinker and his daughter Laurel, and 13 others, many of them Boy and Girl Scouts, part of Venture Crew 202 from Westminster, MD, along with several adult chaperones. Our quarry: pelican chicks big enough to band. A nice breeze, and, it’s cooler on the water anyway, makes this terribly hot day bearable out there, for us and the pelicans.
Holland Island, south segment: We band 99 Brown Pelican chicks. I note 1 nest each with 1, 2 & 3 eggs respectively, and these nests with young too small to band: 2 nests with 2 young, 3 nests with 3 young, and a nest with 1 egg and 1 young. There are others nests with eggs and small young I do not tabulate, so a return banding trip may transpire, although that seems unlikely and awfully labor-intensive considering the presumed meagre results.
Also here: a Peregrine Falcon that lands on the house at the north end of Holland’s middle segment, 1 Willet, 4 Killdeer (uncommon on the Bay islands), only 1 oystercatcher, a migrant Yellow Warbler, 1 Seaside Sparrow, 3 Boat-tailed Grackles, 8 Barn Swallows, 4 Fish Crows, 1 Semipalmated Plover, a Royal Tern, 4 Tricolored Herons, 1 Yellow-crowned and 3 Black-crowned night herons, and 1 unID’d duck (a dabbler). Since I do banding here today, which requires a lot of concentration for me to get it right, I did not have beaucoup spare time to goof off birding. 2 Monarchs. 1 Diamondback Terrapin.
Holland Island, middle segment. Dozens of apparently abandoned and empty pelican nests. We band just one additional chick to make it an even 100 for the day. 310 capable-of-flight pelicans in sight simultaneously. A young Osprey is in the nest on the south end. Good growths of SAV, Ruppia maritima I think, lie east of this segment. 1 Royal Tern, 8 Barn Swallows, 3 Fish Crows. Also: 3 Diamondback Terrapin, 1 Monarch. A few pathetic clumps of Spartina cynosuroides remain in the central part of the island, but that is mostly barren. Offshore Dave points out a Shadow Darner, which he says is Maryland’s largest dragonfly. We are on Holland Island’s various components from c. 8:30-10:15 A.M. only.
North Bloodsworth Island. 2 Royal Tern flybys.
Crocheron: 1 ad. Bald Eagle.
Blackwater N.W.R.: Dave, Liz C.-R., Carol and I spend some time here on Wildlife Drive: the American White –Pelican is still hanging in at Sewards. Out on mud by the Observation Spur road are19 Semipalmated Plovers, a Lesser & a Greater yellowlegs, 12 Least & 2 Semipalmated sandpipers. Run into a small mixed species foraging guild with 3 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, 2 Brown-headed Nuhatches, a Pine Warbler, and a hummer. Also: 1 Caspian and 55 Forster’s terns, a kestrel, 1 Summer Tanager, 2 Red-tailed Hawks, 5 pewees. In the general area are 8 Blue Grosbeaks and 4 Indigo Buntings. At the end of Wildlife Drive we watch an imm. Bald Eagle chase an Osprey that is carrying a fish while an adult eagle higher up watches the spectacle. 3 Monarchs and a Black Swallowtail.
Egypt Road: a few Bank Swallows on the wires along with Barn and Tree swallows.
Cambridge: Milkshakes all around at the DQ, which hasn’t changed since I first started enjoying them there in the mid-1950s. 96 degrees F. at 4:15 P.M.
AUGUST 13, HEADIN’ HOME: Along Route 481 - 3 American Kestrels at Ruthsburg, another at Hope.
GENERAL STUFF: After only a lapse of just 2 weeks or so between mowings many Black Locusts sprout from the lawn and are 1’ or more high. This happens every summer. Kennedy Lawn Care arrives in one truck with 3 big, yellow sit-down mowers plus a 4th person does the weedwhacking 7:07-7:41 A.M. on Wednesday; they mow the lawn, trails, and driveway. They do a very good job, have never failed to respond to all of my special requests. Out on Irish Creek the USS Herndon and Aquaholic are running their trot lines each day. This is the first year I can remember that I have seen no Bluets (damselflies). Usually they haunt the tidal areas around the dock. As in past summers there is a clear Osprey flightline from the Choptank River mouth NE to their nests on Irish Creek. On Wednesday I see 13 carrying fish along this flightline, often coming in high.
LABRADOR DUCK BOOK. You’re thinking: “Oh, NO. Not ANOTHER Labrador Duck book!” The curse of the Labrador Duck: my obsessive quest to the edge of extinction by Glen Chilton (Simon & Schuster, September 2009, c. 305 pages, $25.00). I have the advanced proofs, am reviewing it for Library journal. Since the review won’t be published for a while I can’t say TOO much except that it is, surprisingly, very entertaining - glib, flip, irreverent, and witty - yet mixed in are pathos, poignancy, and some science, some travelogue. Chilton examines all 50+ extant specimens. Eggs held to be those of Labrador Duck (this will spoil it for those who don’t want to yet know [some] of the plot) turn out to be, following DNA analysis, those of Common Eider, Mallard, and Red-breasted Merganser. Chilton wrote the B.N.A. (The birds of North America) Labrador Duck account (B.N.A. 307, 12 pages, 1997).
Best to all. – Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.
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