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Subject:

86th Dorchester County May Bird Count (in full), May 8, 2010.

From:

Harry Armistead

Reply-To:

Harry Armistead

Date:

Tue, 18 May 2010 16:46:56 +0000

            86th DORCHESTER COUNTY, MD, MAY BIRD COUNT, May 8, 2010 (in full), preliminary results.  153 species (last year, with similar coverage, but much lighter winds, more lingering cold weather birds, and a respectable passerine flight, 181 species were found).  This year we were plagued, all day long, by strong winds.
            EFFORT:  16 observers in 12 parties, a very good turnout for here.  626 miles by car, 20 on foot, 52 at night.  63 hours by car, 36 on foot, 10 at night.  8 of the parties were solo; 6 of the parties were only able to work 6 hours or less.
            WEATHER:  VERY windy with near gale force winds much of the day.  65-84 degrees F., winds SW or WSW becoming NW or WNW, 20-35+ m.p.h.  65 degrees at midnight, 69 at 2 A.M., 71 at 3:45 A.M., 84 at 11 A.M., 70 at 8:30 P.M.  Sky clear becoming fair.  c. 30% cloud cover at 1 P.M. is the maximum for clouds.  Hazy with blurry visibility in the distance in the day until c. 1 P.M., then becoming much clearer with excellent visibility after < one hour of light rains and a change in wind direction.  
            OBSERVERS:  Terry Allen, Harry Armistead (compiler), Shirley Bailey, Diane Cole, Lynn Davidson, Bill & Karen Harris, Bill Hubick, Colin McAllister, Carol & Lee McCollough, Amanda Spears, Sarah Warner, Matt Whitbeck, Hal Wierenga, and Levin Willey. 
            ABBREVIATIONS:  BNWR, Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge.  EIR, Elliott Island Road.  MSS, Moneystump Swamp Unit of BNWR.  SH, Swan Harbor.  SWR, Shorter’s Wharf Road.  TI, Taylor’s Island.
            common loon 3 (pulled out very early this spring).  American white pelican 1.  double-crested cormorant 188.  great blue heron 85.  great egret 52.  snowy egret 11.  tricolored heron 2.  cattle egret 1 (used to get dozens, every time).  green heron 4.  black-crowned night heron 3.  black vulture 18.  turkey vulture 322.  
            Canada goose 172.  wood duck 48.  gadwall 4 (BNWR-Kuehnle Tract).  American black duck 14.  mallard 250.  blue-winged teal 3 (BNWR-Pool 1).  long-tailed duck 1 (Cambridge).  osprey 125.  bald eagle 124.  northern harrier 3.  Cooper’s hawk 1.  buteo unID’d 1.  red-shouldered hawk 1.  broad-winged hawk 2.  red-tailed hawk 18.  peregrine falcon 1 (Egypt Road).  
            wild turkey 26 (6 parties).  northern bobwhite 10 (4 parties, continues to just barely hang in there).  clapper rail 1.  king rail 1.  Virginia rail 6.  common moorhen 3 (EIR).
            black-bellied plover 2 (BNWR-Pool 1).  semipalmated plover 71.  killdeer 43.  American oystercatcher 1 (SH).  black-necked stilt 3 (EIR).  greater yellowlegs 26.  lesser yellowlegs 43.  solitary sandpiper 9.  willet 17.  spotted sandpiper 11.  sanderling 1 (SH).  semipalmated sandpiper 70.  least sandpiper 85.  white-rumped sandpiper 2 (BNWR-Kuehnle Tract).  pectoral sandpiper (BNWR-Kuehnle Tract).  dunlin 548.  short-billed dowitcher 1 (EIR).  American woodcock 2 (TI party).  unID’d medium-sized sandpiper 1.  unID’d peep 72. 
            laughing gull 5595 (that’s right; not a typo).  ring-billed gull 100.  herring gull 71.  great black-backed gull 17.  Caspian tern 1.  royal tern 13.  common tern 24.  Forster’s tern 134.  least tern 62.  large unID’d tern 2.  
            rock pigeon 44.  mourning dove 91.  yellow-billed cuckoo 18 (8 parties).  eastern screech-owl 4 (missed last year, which is unbelievable).  great horned owl 1.  barred owl 2.  common nighthawk 3 (TI party).  Chuck-will’s-widow 39.  whip-poor-will 13 (NE party).  chimney swift 81.  ruby-throated hummingbird 19.  
            belted kingfisher 1 (scarce here as a breeder because there are so few banks).  red-headed woodpecker 16 (5 parties; continues to increase).  red-bellied woodpecker 34.  downy woodpecker 14.  hairy woodpecker 5.  northern flicker 27.  pileated woodpecker 18 (8 parties).           
            eastern wood-pewee 62.  Acadian flycatcher 12.  eastern phoebe 6.  great crested flycatcher 172 .  eastern kingbird 48.  white-eyed vireo 40.  yellow-throated vireo 1 (central east party).  red-eyed vireo 69.  vireo unID’d 2.  blue jay 53.  American crow 118.  fish crow 19.  crow unID’d 67 (6 parties; my word, what a circumspect, restrained group of birders today!).  horned lark 26.   
            purple martin 170.  tree swallow 256.  bank swallow 14.  cliff swallow 2 (NE party; scarce, very local breeder).  barn swallow 394.  Carolina chickadee 101.  tufted titmouse 130.  white-breasted nuthatch 1 (BNWR-Wildlife Drive).  brown-headed nuthatch 54 of the little dears.  Carolina wren 57.  house wren 36.  marsh wren 27.  
            blue-gray gnatcatcher 69 (5 parties found from 6-27).  eastern bluebird 82.  veery 1 (TI party).  wood thrush 34 (7 parties).  American robin 439.  gray catbird 13.  northern mockingbird 85.  brown thrasher 19 (6 parties; the southern party, in spite of its 200 or so mile route, routinely misses this species, and we did again this year).  European starling 618.  cedar waxwing 61 (4 parties).
            WARBLERS:  northern parula 4 (2 parties).  yellow warbler 5 (2 parties).  yellow-rumped warbler 2 (BNWR trails party; yet another species that departed really early this spring).  yellow-throated warbler 6 (NE party).  pine warbler 128.  prairie warbler 50 (7 parties; NE party found 35).  blackpoll warbler 2 (2 parties).  black-and-white warbler 14 (found only by NE party).  American redstart 6 (3 parties; non-breeders).  prothonotary warbler 23 (5 parties).  worm-eating warbler 18 (5 parties).  ovenbird 82 (8 parties).  northern waterthrush 1.  common yellowthroat 182.  yellow-breasted chat 22.  
            summer tanager 24.  scarlet tanager 16 (3 parties; scarce in the southern part of the county).  eastern towhee 56.  chipping sparrow 206.  field sparrow 10 (4 parties).  Savannah sparrow 2 (2 parties; also pulled out early).  grasshopper sparrow 51 (an audiologist’s nightmare, or delight, depending on one’s perspective).  saltmarsh sparrow 2.  seaside sparrow 85 (but 407 found by an intensive, one-person search on May 16!).  song sparrow 5 (3 parties).  
            LINCOLN’S SPARROW 1 (new for the count; well-seen and well-described by Carol and Lee McCollough out near Cook’s Point).  swamp sparrow 3 (breeders of the nigrescens race).  northern cardinal 203.  blue grosbeak 75.  indigo bunting 209.  DiMaggio’s bunting 1.  Schmidt’s hitting away 1.  
            bobolink 5 (dawn flyovers by south party).  red-winged blackbird 734.  eastern meadowlark 22 (4 parties).  common grackle 603.  boat-tailed grackle 8.  brown-headed cowbird 222.  orchard oriole 59.  Baltimore oriole 14 (3 parties; a breeder north of Route 50, not so south of there).  house finch 44.  American goldfinch 105.  house sparrow 96.  
            NUMBER OF INDIVIDUAL BIRDS: to be totaled later (Laughing Gull will comprise >75% of them).
            SOME FAMILY TOTALS:  7 waterfowl (poor).  10 raptors (good).  10 shorebirds (good).  15 warblers (poor).  9 sparrows (O.K.).  
            MISSED SPECIES (all of these quite likely present):  least bittern, glossy ibis, mute swan (!!!!), ruddy duck, American kestrel, black rail, sora, barn owl, northern rough-winged swallow, ruby-crowned kinglet, Louisiana waterthrush, Kentucky warbler, white-throated sparrow, and rose-breasted grosbeak.  MANY warblers were not seen due to an almost total lack of a flight.  The only migrant warblers detected were: northern parula, yellow-rumped warbler, blackpoll warbler, American redstart, and northern waterthrush.    
            PARTY BREAKDOWN:  1.  Terry Allen, birdwalk leader along Wildlife Drive, Blackwater N.W.R., A.M.  2.  Harry Armistead & Bill Hubick, traditional route (South Party), approximate schedule:  Elliott Island Road midnight-3:30 A.M.; Griffith Neck, Bestpitch Ferry & Greenbrier roads, 3:30-5 A.M.; Shorter’s Wharf Road & Andrews, central Blackwater refuge, Old Field & Egypt roads, Cambridge 5 A.M.-1 P.M.; Gum Swamp, Hip Roof Road, Moneystump Swamp unit of Blackwater refuge 1-2:45 P.M.; Hooper’s Island & Swan Harbor 2:45-4:15 P.M.; in transit to Elliott Island Road via Key Wallace Drive and as per 3:30-5 A.M.; Elliott Island Road 5-8:30 P.M. (or later); for many years this was the only party on this count.  
            3.  Shirley Bailey, NW county n. of Route 50 C. west of routes 313 & 331.  4.  Diane Cole: Cambridge.  5.  Lynn Davidson & Hal Wierenga: Taylor’s I., Smithville Road, Parsons & Slaughter creeks; sometimes worked separately as 2 parties.  6.  Bill & Karen Harris, Amanda Spears: NE county n. of Route 50 c. east of routes 313 & 331.  7.  Colin McAllister: central east party, including Decoursey Bridge and Kraft Neck roads.   8.  Carol & Lee McCollough: Neck District w. of Cambridge.  
            9.  Sarah Warner, Blackwater refuge: Tubman, Woods & Key Wallace trails.  10.  Matt Whitbeck: restricted areas of central Blackwater refuge in the afternoon including the Kuehnle Tract.  11.  Levin Willey: areas s. of Route 50 near Linkwood (Beaver Neck & Beaver Neck Village roads & Linkwood Drive): cf. ADC maps 13 & 14).   
            ADDENDUM:  In the previously posted summary for South Party May 8 the no. of Blakpoll Warblers was omitted.  Bill heard one.
            ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:  Many thanks to Blackwater refuge, esp. to Tom Miller and Tom Penn, for granting access to Moneystump Swamp, and to the refuge’s Matt Whitbeck for his coverage of other off limits areas.  Heartfelt thanks to all the participants.  Dorchester County is finally starting to get the more complete coverage I’ve dreamed of for years, and it is encouraging to have resulting totals such as 69 gnatcatchers, 172 crested flycatchers, 182 yellowthroats, 209 Indigo Buntings, 82 Ovenbirds, and 128 Pine Warblers! 
            The 15th DORCHESTER COUNT FALL BIRD COUNT will be Saturday, September 18.  Please contact me if you are interested in participating.            Best to all. – Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.     		 	   		  
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