FERRY NECK, February 8-9, 2010, SNOW, SNOWBIRDS, CACKLERS. A short visit to make certain all is O.K. following a blizzard.
MANY THANKS to the many neighbors who responded with advice and descriptions of conditions prior to my trip. Against the counsel of several I decided to make the trip anyway. Obviously I’m not as sensible as they are. As much as anything, morbid curiosity about the extreme weather was a big draw for me. I want to be there when all hell busts loose.
MONDAY, February 8:
ON THE WAY DOWN. Bare pavement all the way except for the last 2 miles. Horned Larks: total of 90 - 55 next to Route 301 at mile 90.7, 20 along Route 213 between routes 50 & 301, 15 near John Swaine’s farm, Bellevue Road. I seldom see any along Bellevue Road.
Rigby’s Folly, 3:30 P.M. until dark only. Clear, NW 15, 36-32, snow cover around yard only 6”-12” although countywide it is stated as officially 22”-29”.
Northern Harrier 2 (1 ad. male, 1 imm.), Cackling Goose 2 (with flyover flock of 30 Canada Geese), 835 Red-winged Blackbirds (c. 11th highest property count), Eastern Bluebird 2, Canada Goose 1100 (most going to roost late in the day to the middle of Irish Creek, which is still partially unfrozen), flicker 1, robin 7, Cedar Waxwing 3.
AT RISK. If the past is any indication this winter should prove disastrous for many ground-feeding birds, especially Eastern Bluebird, Carolina Wren, and Killdeer. The many sparrows feeding along road shoulders, concentrated by the snows, would be at risk anyway, all the more so because many will be hit by motor traffic. The few Northern Bobwhite that are still with us should be impacted, although in other snowy years, when they were still common, I’ve seen them feeding on Black Locust seedpods high in those trees.
DAMAGE. To my great relief there are no trees down and the house electric system (our source of heat) and the water are working fine. Many large limbs of the Magnolia grandiflora, boxwood, Red Cedars, and Loblolly Pines have been broken. Many small cedars and pines are bent, weighted down by the deep, heavy, and wet snow. The new storm going on February 10, with forecasts of 12” or more of wet, heavy snow as well as strong winds – the winds forecast for at least the next 3 days - should prove disastrous for the trees. The branches will, however, make good additions to our many brush piles.
TUESDAY, February 9. Rigby’s Folly. Overcast, 28 degrees F., calm. Present until noon only. Birds respond quickly to the several buckets of corn put out yesterday: 6 Blue Jays, 15 White-throated Sparrows, a Dark-eyed Junco, 35 Red-winged Blackbirds, 3 Common Grackles, 4 Song Sparrows, and 2 Northern Cardinals plus 2 Gray Squirrels. We do not maintain feeders here because of our irregular presence. When we did they were often quickly emptied by Raccoons.
Also: a Sharp-shinned Hawk, a Wild Turkey, a Hermit Thrush, a Brown Thrasher, and, out in a sort of polynya in the middle of Irish Creek, 19 Buffleheads. “Our” pair of Mute Swans lands on and takes off from the cove ice twice. They are expecting a handout of corn on the ice, which never comes.
The TRAPLINE. Last night a White-footed Mouse bites the dust. We’ve set 3 traps in the kitchen, 3 in the downstairs bedroom. The first casualty in several weeks.
HEADIN’ HOME. A slow trip because there are so many snow birds attracted to roadsides where ploughs have scraped bare patches on the shoulders, where they can forage for seeds and grit. Almost all of the birds listed below are right on the road shoulders at close range. When cars go by they flush then alight again almost immediately.
1 Horned Lark on Bellevue Road.
A Belted Kingfisher on the wire near Carroll’s Market, Route 33, as if to say: “NOW what do I do?”
Cordova area, Route 309: groups of 30, 20 & 24 Horned Larks plus a d.o.r. Eastern Screech-Owl.
Route 481 X 309 to Ruthsburg. Loaded. 170 Horned Larks, 145 White-throated plus an ad. White-crowned, 1 Chipping, 2 Savannah & 26 Song sparrows, 1 mockingbird, 50 juncos, 1 Red-tailed Hawk, 35 Black & 7 Turkey vultures, 5 cardinals, 4 flickers, 3 meadowlarks, a Red-bellied Woodpecker, 1 towhee (male) & 4 Mourning Doves. This stretch of road has the most exposed soil.
Route 481, Ruthsburg to Hope: only 1 lane cleared and much of that is still snow and ice covered. 6 Horned Larks, 1 flicker, 6 cardinals, 20 White-throated & 5 Song sparrows, 6 juncos, and a mockingbird.
Intersection of routes 481 & 301 north to the Delaware line. Not much: 3 Red-tailed Hawks, 7 Horned Larks, 20 White-throated & 5 Song sparrows, 3 juncos, 1 flicker, and 750 Canada Geese. Best of all, just s. of the Sassafras River a spectacular adult Bald Eagle swoops down onto the southbound road to pick up a roadkill (which it misses) then flies right in front of my car.
I guess I just don’t have the longspur (or pipit, or tree sparrow) touch today. Horned Lark grand total: 253. Unfortunately some of the Horned Larks, sparrows and others get hit by oncoming vehicles.
Routes 1 X I-95 in Delaware: a Sharp-shinned Hawk.
My concern this trip is mainly to check up on things, make sure all is O.K., then close down the house and get out of Dodge before the next storm hits (only to get into
another, possibly worse, Dodge here in Philadelphia). On leaving, the Ferry Neck forecast is for 10-18 inches. It is 0.7 miles from the house to the paved, county maintained (read ploughed) public road. Even after John Camper’s good work scraping our driveway it is still pretty hairy driving in to the house, where I promptly get stuck, as the 4WD bogs down a little during a turn. Without my car’s (Chevy TrailBlazer) rather high carriage and 4WD I would never have been able to get up the driveway.
HORNED LARKS. Nice to see so many. A nifty bird. In winter they’re always there, but spread out over tens of thousands of acres … until it snows. They have a certain elegance with their long, somewhat attenuated bodies, attractive head markings and crests, and dark tails with smart-looking white outer tail feathers. Their rather slow, deliberate, sort of loping, gently undulating flight also gives them an appealing dignity, especially remarkable for such a small bird. Their subtle, pretty song and aerial displays also enhance their appeal. Some local areas with large fields seem to attract them in numbers that are almost hard to believe. Take a gander at these totals for 2 nearby Christmas Bird Counts for the past 12 years, 1998 through 2009. Bombay Hook N.W.R., Delaware: 796, 593, 588, 594, 1181, 498, 824, 649, 290, 284, 1133, and 692. Denton, Maryland: 587, 416, 373, 544, 531, 155, 321, 820, 406, 539, 485, 209. Wow! That’s a lotta larks.
MENHADEN. The February 2010 issue of Bay journal (Alliance for Chesapeake Bay), has an article by Ron Lukens, senior fisheries biologist for Omega Protein, p. 19. Although one should always be on guard when it comes to environmentalists and biologists who work for exploitive industries, he may or may not be right that the Menhaden population in the Bay is doing just fine. From what I have seen the prey items of Bay Ospreys and Brown Pelicans are almost always Menhaden and those 2 bird species are doing very well. Other fish eaters, esp. Double-crested Cormorants are also in very good numbers, not to mention Bald Eagles and Common Loons.
But one has to wonder when one sees the big Omega Protein boats, which look like small destroyers, accompanied by several spotter planes, scooping up huge numbers – entire schools – of Menhaden as we see every fall from the hawkwatch platform at Kiptopeke State Park.
This newsletter has excellent articles every time, this time with many fine photographs by Dave Harp, my favorite being an aerial shot of kayakers, an abandoned shed, and extensive marshlands on Tangier Island. There are also articles on Atlantic Sturgeon, the 17th century ship the Kalmar Nyckel, Brown Pelicans, and much else, including Kathy Resehtiloff’s regular column on Bay wildlife. In this issue she writes of Bay area cypress swamps. She’s with the USF&WS in Annapolis. I don’t see how anybody who gives a hoot about the Chesapeake can do without Bay journal.
STORM BONDING. In spite of all the inconveniences of such extreme weather, blizzards function as a sort of bonding experience. Neighbors compare notes while they lean on their snow shovels, some of them folks whose names - this being a big city – are not known to each other. For a day or two everyone has the same things to deal with. People we don’t even speak to much or at all in the course of a year – mostly because we don’t normally see them – chat and help each other. A break in our routines has benefits.
ARCTIC DREAMS, winner of the National Book Award, by Barry Lopez is another great book that celebrates things cold (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1986, 464 pages), along with the writings of Peter Freuchen, Gretel Ehrlich, and the many others drawn to harsh, unforgiving climates. “It is my habit when I travel to note resemblances, particularly of form and color. For example, that between the bones of a lemming and a strand of staghorn lichen next to it in the tundra. Or the sound of a native drum made from walrus intestine and its uncanny resemblance to the underwater voice of the walrus. Or between an object I have never seen before and objects I am familiar with – the head of an arctic hare’s rib and the rainspout gorgons of cathedrals.” (p. 240).
Best to all. – Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.
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