FERRY NECK & BLACKWATER N.W.R., November 28-30 & December 1, 2009.
Hey! It’s been a while. Was in Antarctica Oct. 31-Nov. 24 with George A., Mel Baughman, Rob Harting and others. See last paragraph below.
BLACKWATER N.W.R., Sunday, November 29, 7:30 A.M. – 1:15 P.M. Fair, calm or SW <5, 44-64, a beauty. 62 species. Birdwalk participants: Liz Armistead, Tom Cimino, Kate Murphy & Arnold Simon. Tidal waters mercifully low, but the impounded areas about as high as they ever get.
American White Pelican 2. Snow Goose 400. Gadwall 1 female. American Wigeon 5. Northern Shoveler 8. Ring-necked Duck 115 (Pool 1; a really good count for here). Hooded Merganser 3. Ruddy Duck 24. Northern Pintail 35. Northern Harrier 7. Bald Eagle 14. American Coot 21. Killdeer 27. Black-bellied Plover 1. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1. Tree Swallow 45 (carefully scrutinized for Cave Swallows, to no effect). Fish Crow 12. Brown-headed Nuthatch 5. Marsh Wren 1. American Kestrel 3. Tundra Swan 65. Golden-crowned Kinglet 1. Brown Creeper 2. Palm Warbler 1.
Also: 3 Gray Squirrels. 1 Eastern Tailed Blue. 2 Clouded Sulphurs. 1 Sulphur unID’d. 0 Monarchs. Six Great Blue Herons, one of them catching and dispatching a big eel.
Roadkill. Liz and I found 2 freshly d.o.r. American Woodcock on Egypt Road just north of its T-junction with Old Field Road. They were right next to each other. I believe they’d been attracted to earthworms crossing the road (to show the armadillo that it CAN be done) in the predawn period. One had a worm protruding from its bloody bill. We gave them to the refuge for whatever use they might be able to make of them.
Misses: surprising goose eggs for Greater Yellowlegs, Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler (!), cowbird, grackle, Laughing Gull, Forster’s Tern, and Dunlin.
FERRY NECK/RIGBYS FOLLY. November 28, Saturday. 100 Turkey Vultures on the way down … exact count. Helps melt the miles away. 20 Black Vultures, migrants, right over Graul’s in St. Michaels, presumed late migrants, not indicative of Graul’s food quality.
Ferry Neck: Not much birding. Focused on policing up fallen limbs and branches and checking up on things:
November 28, 3 P.M. until dark only. Fair, WNW 15-10, 53 degrees F.: 3 Ruddy Ducks, 1 Common Loon. Soy beans still unharvested. A neighbor told me there has been 15” of rainfall here in the 1st half of November, mostly due to a big Nor’easter. Tyler Contacting Company has been hampered by this plus the endless permitting process but has nevertheless done c. 50’ of bank riprapping on either side of the 100’ they’d done earlier. Today the Olszewskis shot 4 does and a 9-point buck. The more conscientious deer hunters such as they feel more hunters should shoot more does. George and his lady friend, Laura, and the multitudes see and photograph the immature Cape May Ivory Gull today, a 1st for Cape May County, 4th for NJ. 3 deer (does).
November 29, Sunday. Away most of the day. 2 Common Loons in the cove hunting at 4:50 P.M. A bat, also hunting, at the bend of the drive at 5 P.M. Take a 1 hour nap in the afternoon. 2 deer (does). 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk.
November 30, Monday. Overcast, 55-63-49, SW5 switching to NW20, rain from 11:30 A.M. until past darkness, at first a light rain then substantial. 1 Pileated Woodpecker right in the yard. 130 Canada Geese in the cove, few around yet. 1 imm. Bald Eagle low over the cove; the gulls flush, the geese don’t. 25 Buffleheads. Spend most of the afternoon with Ben Weems pulling his sailboat up our diminutive, rudimentary ramp and the trailering it over to his place. In spite of the sogginess my TrailBlazer negotiates the lawn well with the trailer and boat in tow. 19 Turkey Vultures roosting out the rain at Frog Hollow. 12 migrating House finches. 14 Cedar Waxwings. Find a late-blooming Chicory.
December 1, Tuesday. Clear, calm, 40, tide way out past the end of the dock. 13 Turkey Vultures, 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk, 1 adult Great Black-backed Gull at rest on Irish Creek. Leave at 10 A.M.
Headin’ home. A better count than on the way down: 121 Turkey Vultures. Along Route 481 a subadult Bald Eagle roosting in a tree and a Sharp-shinned Hawk. At Wilmington, Delaware at the landfill (called Cherry Island?) the sky is full of gulls, a very rough estimate of 8,000 aloft.
NEW BOOK, terrific, excellent, at least so far after 110 pages: Skipjack: the story of America’s last sailing oystermen (St. Martin’s Press, 2009, 372p.) by Christopher White. Most of this centers around Talbot County’s Tilghman Island, where the majority of the world’s few remaining skipjacks are. My friend, George Reiger and his wife, Barbara, stayed at Rigby’s Folly with Liz while I was away. George left a copy for me. His testimonial to Skipjack appears on the back dustcover: “Rarely does an adopted son capture the cadenced ebb and flow of watermen’s speech. Herman Melville did it for New England whalers; Christopher White has now done it for the oystermen of Maryland’s Eastern Shore … Skipjack is a masterpiece.” It reads well and easy and offers a sophisticated analysis of the skills involved in sailing these great boats, makes me wish I knew more about sailing.
ANTARCTICA. I’ll send a detailed report in c. 1 month. It will be an attachment, except for readers of MDOSPREY, where such are verboten. Any interested MDOSPREY folks can request, offline, a “copy” at: harryarmistead at hotmail dot com. Hope to cite to an electronic access point for 40 or so of George’s photographs, culled from c. 3,000. The trip of a lifetime … but it’s good to be back in a land that is the domain of the Gray Squirrel.
I will say that I’d like to nominate birds that should be finalists in certain categories: Most beautiful – Light-mantled Sooty Albatross, Snow Petrel. Ugliest, most unattractive – Giant Petrel (especially when the head’s covered with blood and the bill dripping from gorging on the latest corpse du jour). Silliest – Sheathbill. Cutest – ANY of the small penguins. Most unbelievably awesome – Wandering Albatross. Most companionable – Cape Petrel, continuously circling our boat in numbers, every day, at close range, a true paisan. Prettiest – Many-colored Rush-Tyrant (kinglet-like; one ended up in a zodiac on deck one freezing day when we were far, far out to sea); Spanish name is Siete colores since they sport 7 colors.
Adversity. Early season visit = many birds/mammals not yet in full breeding mode = smaller numbers, i.e. 1000s of penguins instead of 100s of 1000s. Ice farther north than normal prohibited us from getting to or even near some places, such as Elephant Island. High winds kept us from a couple of other key sites although mostly the weather was warmer and (sometimes much) calmer than usual.
Best to all. – Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.
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