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Subject:

Pocomoke prothonotaries

From:

Bryan MacKay

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Fri, 28 May 2010 21:38:13 -0400

Hi all,

A decade or more ago, I would canoe the Pocomoke every May from Whiton
Crossing down to Porters Crossing, 5 miles, and always saw and heard more
prothonotaries on this stretch of swamp river than any other.  So my wife
Debi and I were there again May 27, and I decided to see if anything had
changed.

We put in at Porters Crossing and paddled upriver to the really "good"
part of the river.  Unfortunately, after 3 portages in the first quarter
mile, we gave up and floated back.  This section of river is notorious for
strainers.  Many years it is impassable unless a crew of convicts gets in
there with chainsaws.

Downstream from Porters is doable by canoe.  I heard ten singing male
protonotaries in the first 3/4 mile.  That's a conservative estimate, as I
only counted those near the river.  (Because the river winds, a bird
singing back in the forest might actually be along the river bank farther
down, and thus would be counted twice.)  And it was early afternoon.

The density of prothonotaries slacked off once the river became wide
enough that the tree canopy no longer closed overtop.

I've found that canoeing gets a birder into places where most birders
never get to, to see birds that most birders miss.  But seeing birds
through the binocs is really hard in a drifting canoe!

So, not as successful a day as hoped, but still fun.  BTW,  on a non-bird
note, diamondback terrapins were common in the Bayside campground at
Assateague NS.  The females had come ashore to lay eggs.  They can really
motor! (for a turtle).

Bryan MacKay
Catonsville, MD