Message:

[

Previous   Next

]

By Topic:

[

Previous   Next

]

Subject:

85th Dorchester County May Bird Count (in full), May 1, 2010.

From:

Harry Armistead

Reply-To:

Harry Armistead

Date:

Tue, 4 May 2010 15:10:06 +0000

            85th DORCHESTER COUNTY MAY BIRD COUNT, in full, May 1, 2010.  143 species.  Number of individuals not tallied yet; not tonight, dears, ¡V I have a terrible headache.  
            Please refer to my earlier post, which listed only some of the birds I found, for additional commentary, analysis, weather information, and other vacuous prattle.
            PARTICIPANTS, 6 persons, 3 parties.  1.  North Party worked north of Route 50, Karen & Bill Harris, Danny Poet, Dave Palmer, started at a numbing 4:45 A.M.  2.  South Party was south of Route 50, Harry Armistead.  3.  John Hubbell was at Elliott Island Road 10-11 P.M. and contributed the only Sora and Black Rail plus an additional Least Bittern.  Miles: 220 by car, 7 on foot.  Hours: 35.75.  Time: 11:15 P.M. Friday, April 30-8:30 P.M., May 1; 10-11 P.M., May 1.
            INTERPRETING THE NUMBERS BELOW:  1st number = grand total.  (Numbers in parentheses = total for North Party).  For example ¡V brown pelican 24 = seen only by South Party; mallard 96 (16) = 80 seen by South Party, 16 by north.  black-and-white warbler 13 (13) = seen only by north party ¡K ¡§you do the math.¡¨  Reasonably expected/possible species that we missed are also listed followed by a zero.      
            EFFORT:  North and South parties are essentially 2 different worlds with North contributing the vast majority of landbirds, especially warblers, vireos, flycatchers, gnatcatchers, Whip-poor-will, White-breasted Nuthatch, tanagers, and still others.  South party, as expected, nets the majority of marsh and waterbirds.  The 2 lists together potentially have a shot at most everything to be expected anywhere in the county at this time of year.  Thanks to John Hubbell for chipping in with late-day Elliott Island Road coverage.  
            GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS:  There was practically NO flight of Neotropical species today in spite of an early vegetative spring and recent SW winds.  In addition cold weather species seem to have left early.  Not a good prescription for a great count in spite of good weather.  The count was as early as it can be, May 1, with the result that certain notoriously late-arriving spring species, such as Yellow-billed Cuckoo and Acadian Flycatcher, were missed. 
            FAMILY GROUPS ¡V number of species for selected groups.  Best are sparrows ¡V 11 species (does not include towhee);  woodpeckers ¡V 7 (all possible ones);  shorebirds 16 (but missed woodcock, dowitcher, and Black-bellied Plover);  warblers ¡V 14, not bad considering the only quality what I dub ¡§northern-spruce-montane¡¨ species was Cape May Warbler.  No accipiters or falcons.  No migrant thrushes.  
            THE LIST:  
            common loon 0 (unbelievable).  American white pelican 1.  brown pelican 24.  double-crested cormorant 180 (3).  least bittern 2 (1 by South Party, 1 by JH at Elliott I. Rd.).  great blue heron 36 (4).  great egret 16.  snowy egret 14.  tricolored heron 0.  green heron 3.  black-crowned night heron 4.  glossy ibis 2.  black vulture 7 (3).  turkey vulture 124 (49).  Canada goose 80 (34).  mute swan 1.  wood duck 23 (8).  Gadwall 0 (seems to be declining on the mainland marshes but is holding its own, or better, on the lower Bay islands).  American black duck 12.  mallard 96 (16).  blue-winged teal 12.  northern pintail 1 ¡ñ.  green-winged teal 10.  ruddy duck 40 (10).  
            osprey 47 (7).  bald eagle 43 (5).  northern harrier 1.  Cooper¡¦s hawk 1 (1).  red-tailed hawk 3 (2).  American kestrel 0.  wild turkey 7 (4).  northern bobwhite 2 (their disastrous decline apparently continues).  black rail 1 (JH).  clapper rail 6.  Virginia rail 24.  sora 1 (JH).  common moorhen 4.  semipalmated plover 20 (12).  killdeer 22 (12).  American oystercatcher 2.  black-necked stilt 3.  greater yellowlegs 33 (3).  lesser yellowlegs 37 (1).  solitary sandpiper 1.  willet 10.  spotted sandpiper 10 (4).  ruddy turnstone 3.  sanderling 30.  semipalmated sandpiper 37 (31).  least sandpiper 75 (15).  pectoral sandpiper 10 (6).  dunlin 225.  Wilson¡¦s snipe 1. 
             laughing gull 4206 (3656; the Hog Farm on Indiantown Road is a, to say the least, favored locality for LAGUs).  ring-billed gull 35 (10).  herring gull 85.  great black-backed gull 6.  Caspian tern 0.  royal tern 5.  common tern 3 (Swan Harbor).  Forster¡¦s tern 45.  least tern 8 (Sewards).  rock pigeon 18 (4).  mourning dove 44 (14).  cuckoos 0.  barn owl 0.  eastern screech-owl 1.  great horned owl 1.  barred owl 1.  common nighthawk 0 (gone as a local breeder?).  chuck-will¡¦s-widow 38 (16).  whip-poor-will 9 (9).  
            chimney swift 8 (2).  ruby-throated hummingbird 4 (3).  belted kingfisher 0.  red-headed woodpecker 8 (1).  red-bellied woodpecker 7 (3).  downy woodpecker 1 (that¡¦s right!!).  hairy woodpecker 2.  northern flicker 2.  pileated woodpecker 7 (6).  eastern wood-pewee 4 (3).  Acadian flycatcher 0.  eastern phoebe 4 (4).  great-crested flycatcher 42 (22).  eastern kingbird 15 (7).  white-eyed vireo 40 (35).  blue-headed vireo 3 (3).  red-eyed vireo 5 (4).          
            blue jay 14 (11).  American crow 46 (21).  fish crow 11 (1).  crow unID¡¦d 15 (15).  horned lark 11 (6).  purple martin 60 (50).  tree swallow 73 (3).  northern rough-winged swallow 0 (scarce local breeder, pretty scarce migrant, too).  bank swallow 30 (30).  cliff swallow 2 (2).  barn swallow 209 (64).  Carolina chickadee 20 (13).  tufted titmouse 47 (32).  white-breasted nuthatch 2 (2).  brown-headed nuthatch 8.  Carolina wren 18 (4).  house wren 7.  marsh wren 25.  blue-gray gnatcatcher 26 (26).  eastern bluebird 21 (3).  wood thrush 11 (9).  American robin 169 (59).  gray catbird 13 (6).  northern mockingbird 21 (9).  brown thrasher 3 (3).  European starling 174 (89).  cedar waxwing 0.  
            northern parula 2 (2).  yellow warbler 5 (1).  CAPE MAY WARBLER 1 (1).  yellow-rumped warbler 10 (8).  yellow-throated warbler 3 (3).  pine warbler 35 (15).  prairie warbler 35 (34).  black-and-white warbler 13 (13).  American redstart 0 (surprisingly scarce in the county although a few used to [still do?] nest along Sharptown Road/Route 313 where it crosses Nanticoke River)  prothonotary arbler 12 (10).  worm-eating warbler 1 (9).  ovenbird 61 (44).  Louisiana waterthrush 2 (2).  Kentucky warbler 0 (very scarce local breeder).  common yellowthroat 86 (12).  yellow-breasted chat 8 (3).  
            summer tanager 13 (7).  scarlet tanager 5 (5).  eastern towhee 48 (41).  chipping sparrow 66 (36).  field sparrow 4 (4).  Savannah sparrow 15 (4).  grasshopper sparrow 5 (4).  saltmarsh sparrow 1.  NELSON¡¦S SPARROW 1.  seaside sparrow 154.  song sparrow 1 (1).  swamp sparrow 3.  white-throated sparrow 5 (5).  white-crowned sparrow 1 ad. (Blackwater N.W.R. Visitor Center).  northern cardinal 60 (32).  rose-breasted grosbeak 0.  blue grosbeak 28 (16).  indigo bunting 6 (4).  
            bobolink 0.  red-winged blackbird 480 (30).  eastern meadowlark 3 (1).  common grackle 528 (153).  boat-tailed grackle 3.  brown-headed cowbird 135 (90).  orchard oriole 27 (9).  Baltimore oriole 3 (3).  house finch 6 (1).  American goldfinch 40 (26).  house sparrow 14 (7).  
            MISCELLANEOUS, UNRELATED.  The farm along Route 481 n. of the intersection with Route 309 which has a herd of llamas, guanacos, or whatever the heck they are, also has at least 55 Rock Doves, which can be quite local on the Eastern Shore.  At Rigby¡¦s Folly I saw a Raccoon at 9:30 P.M. on April 30.             Best to all. ¡V Harry Armistead, Philadelphia. 		 	   		  
_________________________________________________________________
Hotmail has tools for the New Busy. Search, chat and e-mail from your inbox.
http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_1