BLACKWATER N.W.R. & FERRY NECK, December 5-7, 2009.
Mostly Blackwater with incidental Ferry Neck/Rigby’s Folly observations.
Saturday, December 5. A nice drive after dinner and my token appearance prior Ginny Raynor’s-Smith’s party. Through snow and wind. A bit like being at the helm of a boat. But an enjoyable trip.
Sunday, December 6. In the Blackwater area all day but at Rigby’s Folly from 4:10 P.M. At 4:04 P.M. an adult female Cooper’s Hawk perched in the “Cape May Warbler red maple” in the middle of a field at Bellevue X Ferry Neck roads (I once watched a CMWA in that tree for half an hour on the St. Michaels Christmas count and haven’t gotten over it since). A Common Loon in the cove. 38 degrees F. at 4:15 P.M., 36 at 8 P.M.
Monday, December 7. Present until 1 P.M. only, mostly closing down the house, tidying up the yard and driveway, and inspecting the contractor’s shoreline work (and relative lack of it). 320 Canada Geese in the cove. Two Red-tailed Hawks. A male American Kestrel on the phone pole next to the drive in front of the house eating a grasshopper-sized prey item. 34 Buffleheads in Irish Creek. Enough with the rain - the ditches, ponds, and fields are full to overflowing. The place is a bog. 20 Turkey and 1 Black vulture – the buzzard migration seems to be continuing. 6 deer, 3 of them bucks. A Winter Wren flushes and flies about a foot off the ground, about as small as you can get and still be a bird.
ADDENDUM: 3 Common Goldeneyes here on Dec. 1.
HEADIN’ HOME: A herd of 20 deer off to the west in a field along Route 301, this after the various hunting seasons (still in progress) - archery, muzzleloader, shotgun - plus all the numerous roadkills, especially during the November rut. A dead imm. Red-tailed Hawk on the approaches to the Route 1, Delaware-Chesapeake Canal bridge. In my lifetime redtaileds started to haunt roadsides, lampposts right over big highways, more than they ever did previously, but pay the price with increasing frequency. I find a RTHA roadkill about 1X every 4 or 5 roadtrips. Also in my life: Ring-billed Gulls have become abundant in urban and other settled areas, especially in mall and fast-food restaurant parking lots. In my youth there were hardly any such places.
BLACKWATER N.W.R., December 6, 7:15 A.M. – 3:15 P.M., but the refuge birdwalk comprises only the 8 A.M.-Noon segment. Present: Norris Brock, Tom Cimino, Renee Gruber (from Horn Point laboratory; she works with submerged aquatic vegetation; some of her study plots were just off the Rigby’s Folly shoreline), Dustin Holt (Easton Star Democrat, on assignment, to my surprise, to write up the birdwalk), Lesley Olson from College Park, Levin Willey, and me.
Fair, NW 15 dropping to 10, low 40s, a little bit of skim ice in a few protected areas, tidal waters medium low, ditches and impounded areas way full. 52 species. A poor morning for landbirds, not much better for waterbirds.
Pied-billed Grebe 1, Pool 1, spotted by Levin. American White Pelican 1, the stalwart at Sewards (rumors of 1-4 others but a careful perusal of big white birds failed to reveal them). Double-crested Cormorant 5, lingerers. Tundra Swan 85. American Black Duck 23, not a bad total, anymore.
Northern Shoveler 1. Ring-necked Duck 25, Pool 1. Ruddy Duck 3, holding forth on the Blackwater River. Cooper’s Hawk 2, including an imm. female basking in the sun on the Visitor Center lawn at close range for minutes on end. Sharp-shinned Hawk 2. Northern Harrier, only 3. Bald Eagle 38 (at least).
American Coot 6, spread over 2 impoundments. Virginia Rail 1. Winter Wren 1 (by Levin Willey, before the walk begins). Laughing Gull 2 adults (in a field on Egypt Road with c. 1,070 Ring-billed Gulls). Ring-billed Gull 1,250. Bonaparte’s Gull 6, a surprise, high in the air, circling, at great distance.
Belted Kingfisher 2. Brown-headed Nuthatch 3. Eastern Bluebird 22. Cedar Waxwing 11. Palm Warbler 1. Common Grackle 2 (but c. 500 Red-winged Blackbirds). Eastern Meadowlark 4 (Egypt Road). Chipping Sparrow 1.
In addition elements of the Sussex County, Delaware, birder’s field group see a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and a Fox Sparrow.
Missed: Yellow-rumped Warbler (for the 2nd straight Sunday). Carolina Chickadee. Snow Goose. Brown-headed Cowbird.
MAMMALS: 2 Gray Squirrels (availing themselves of walnuts near the boathouse). 1 Fox Squirrel (the Fox Squirrel is not an endangered species; the Delmarva subspecies is an endangered subspecies; the press often fails to make the distinction for this and other species/subspecies).
BAR-TAILED GODWIT flies nonstop 7,250 miles in 8 days. Great article about this and other shorebirds in “Flight of the Kuaka,” Living bird, Autumn 2009, pages 29-34, a publication of Cornell Lab of Ornithology, with 8 stunning color photographs. Climate change may be affecting the tailwinds that help these incredible creatures on their unbelievable marathon flights on segments of their migratory pathways. “Kuaka” is the Polynesian name for Bar-tailed Godwit. Their organs shrink prior to lift off so they can double their normal weight with energy-giving nutrients for their heroic migrations. And I get tired from the 3-hour drive to Maryland in a comfortable car with food and drink if needed. Living bird is an excellent magazine with great articles, often on unusual subjects.
OYSTER INDUSTRY. “Pete turned off the conveyor, signaling to the shuckers that it was lunchtime. The last of the shells of the morning were dumped onto the flatbed truck: chink, chink, chink. This “fresh shell” would be replanted on some oyster bars to serve as cultch, substrate for the attachment of spat. For six hours the conveyor had transported fresh shell to the truck where now over a hundred bushels’ worth had accumulated in a six-foot-high pile. By day’s end, rats would inhabit the pile, feasting on the shreds of oyster meat that still clung to the shells. And stray cats would patrol the oyster piles, taking care of the rats and mice. Such was the ecology of an oyster pile. Pete counted on his “pussies” to keep the balance.” A sketch of Tilghman Island shucking house life on p. 195, Skipjacks: the story of America’s last sailing oysterman by Christopher White (St,. Martin’s Press, 2009, 372p.)
Merry Christmas bird counts and best regards. – Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.
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