BLACKWATER & SOME DORCHESTER COUNTY ISLANDS, May 23 & 29, 2010, respectively.
ABBREVIATIONS: BCNH, Black-crowned Night Heron. BNWR, Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. DCCO, Double-crested Cormorant. GBBG, Great Black-backed Gull. HEGU, Herring Gull (purists beware; I am aware that this abbreviation conflicts with what might be that of Heermann¡¦s Gull). YCNH, Yellow-crowned Night Heron.
BLACKWATER N.W.R., Sunday, May 23. 6:45 A.M. ¡V 1:15 P.M. (refuge birdwalk 8 ¡V noon). 11 participants, including Jane & Bill Hill, Pam Smith, Sally & John Mark Davis, Tom Cimino et al. 69 species. Overcast with occasional blue sky patches, a few light showers, calm or E5, 60s-70s, very humid, water levels medium to low.
Best birds: 1 American White Pelican, 115 Canada Geese, 4 American Black Ducks (2 pairs), 20 Ospreys, 40 Bald Eagles, 50 Great Blue Herons, 48 Great Egrets, 1 Northern Bobwhite, 2 Virginia Rails, 1 Black-bellied Plover, 5 Semipalmated Plovers, 4 Lesser Yellowlegs, 30 Semipalmated & 10 Least sandpipers, 7 Dunlin, 2 Forster¡¦s Terns, 3 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, 1 adult Red-headed Woodpecker, 1 Pileated Woodpecker, 1 Eastern Wood-Pewee, 1 Red-eyed Vireo, 5 Brown-headed Nuthatches, 2 House Wrens, 1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, 1 Wood Thrush, 3 Gray Catbirds, 2 Summer Tanagers (a pair), 5 Blue Grosbeaks, 4 Indigo Buntings, 3 Eastern Meadowlarks, and 5 Orchard Orioles.
NON-AVIAN TAXA: 3 Eastern Cottontails, 1 deer, 1 Woodchuck, 2 Fox Squirrels (1 runs RIGHT UNDER my car and comes out the other side unharmed), 5 Muskrats, 1 Raccoon. 1 Fowler¡¦s Toad (captured inside the Portapotty), 4 Green Tree Frogs. 5 Red-bellied Sliders, 8 Painted Turtles, 1 Northern Watersnake.
REQUIESCAT IN PAVEMENT: a juvenile American Robin on Key Wallace Drive.
One of the mockingbirds is imitating a Virginia Rail (the ¡§kiddick kiddick kiddick¡¨ call).
POOL 1 SPECTACLE. Every year Pool 1 is drained with a resulting concentration of piscivorous birds, such as today, when there are 40 Great Blue Herons, 46 Great Egrets, and 29 Bald Eagles in the Pool 1 general area.
¡§Watcha gonna do when your pond goes dry, honey? Watcha gonna do when your pond goes dry, babe? Watcha gonna do when your pond goes dry? Sit on the bank and watch the poor things die. Honey, sugar baby mine.¡¨ Old song Leadbelly used to sing. In this case the ¡§poor things¡¨ are Carp. I¡¦m almost in tears.
What started out as poor weather with rain and fog turned out pretty good and I was surprised so many folks showed up.
DORCHESTER COUNTY ISLANDS, Saturday, May 29, Jared Sparks & Harry Armistead. A 27.3 statute mile boat trip, 9 A.M. ¡V 4 P.M. (Much augmented here from a previous, brief report) Water temperature varied from c. 69-74. Overcast becoming fair, wind ¡K oh ¡K mostly S or SW 5-15+-5 m.p.h. Temps low 70s to c. 80+. Tide high but fallen quite a bit at start to nice and high at end enabling slow cruising very close to the shoreline of north Bloodsworth Island. A trip under very nice, comfortable conditions.
The objective of this trip is to census the Brown Pelicans: how many nests and what is in each. Everything else is secondary so we did not do justice (except along Fin Creek) to herons and landbirds.
Crocheron. 1 Royal & 1 Forster¡¦s tern, 1 Bald Eagle.
Spring Island (a unit of BNWR). 10:00-10:45 A.M. Complete list: 2 Gadwalls, 2 Song & 12 Seaside sparrows (one agitated member of the latter species obviously had a nest very nearby), 1 Laughing, 6 HEGU & 8 GBBG, 10 DCCO, 2 Great Egrets, 1 YCNH, 1 Great Blue & 1 Little Blue heron, 1 Osprey, 1 Royal Tern, 6 American Oystercatchers, 2 Clapper Rails & 1 Peregrine Falcon. Also here: 18 Diamondback Terrapin (many of them hauled out) and 100s of Seaside Dragonlets.
The peregrine hacking tower, starting in 2009, is lacking its enclosure, but the peregrine, apparently incubating, and motionless, is atop what looks like a big pile of sawdust. Most curious. The bird and nest are completely exposed to the sky (and GBBGs). We are circumspect enough so that, mercifully, the falcon does not flush.
Holland Island, south segment, 11:20-noon: Brown Pelican nests: fresh nests with 0 eggs, 4. 1 egg, 17. 2 eggs, 66, 3 eggs in 120 nests. TOTAL: 207 nests. There are also c. 54 Double-crested Cormorant nests whose contents I only recorded in part, plus 16 HEGU or GBBG nests. No chicks of any of these species. For the first time many Brown Pelicans are sitting in the big trees on the north hammock, which are mostly American Hackberries. The high count of these tree pelis is 37 but ¡K no sign of any nests. Three dead but unbanded pelicans.
Also here: 4 Clapper Rails, a Song Sparrow, 3 Gadwalls (2¡ñ, 1¡ð, in a courtship flight), a Semipalmated Sandpiper, 6 Fish Crows, 4 Ospreys, 3 Red-winged Blackbirds, 6 American Oystercatchers, 8 Boat-tailed Grackles, and a Barn Swallow. A dead, unbanded HEGU. Wind reaches 17 m.p.h. according to Jared¡¦s Kestrel weather instrument. Some Diamondback Terrpin and plenty of Seaside Dragonlets. No sign of the Bald Eagles that have nested here so successfully for the past 4-5 years.
At a distance from the east the heronry SEEMS to be thriving in the north hammock but we do not go near there. However, Glossy Ibis, Great Egret, YCNH, Little Blue, Tricolored, and BCNH are seen.
Holland Island, middle segment, 12:15-12:40 P.M.: 1 pelican nest with 1 egg; apparently 3 other fresh nests with nothing in them. c. 13 cormorant nests but 185 cormorants in view here simultaneously. 127 gull nests, most of them HEGU, 79 with 3 eggs, 27 with 2 eggs, 13 with 1 egg, 8 fresh nests with 0 eggs. One HEGU nest has 1 normal-looking egg plus 2 that are mostly robin¡¦s egg blue. Another HEGU nest has 3 normal eggs plus 1 DCCO egg! 1 dead, subadult, unbanded Brown Pelican - likewise a similar DCCO.
Also here: 2¡ñ Gadwalls. The owner has recently installed a narrow, wooden bulkhead on the SE side of this island segment that seems to be somewhat successful in trapping sediment and achieving a small buildup of ¡§land.¡¨ There¡¦s an active Osprey nest on the north end on top of a rusting, ruined excavation vehicle. Two other rusting items, a Bobcat and, I think it was a New Holland 5125.
The old house is completely surrounded by water now and has collapsed somewhat and is leaning to the SE. The door on its east side is gone and is open to the elements, but the Barn Swallows don¡¦t seem to have availed themselves of this nest site opportunity.
Holland I., north segment, 12:50-1:20 P.M.: 2 GBBG nests, 1 with 1 egg, the other with 2 fuzzy, adorable young plus a pipping egg. I can¡¦t resist picking up one of the appealing gull chicks, like a big lintball with eyes and a small bill, but am painfully aware it¡¦ll grow up to become a rapacious monster. No other breeding birds. This tiny island has a quite high area of sand, Phragmites, and a lovely, dense, wide and long expanse of blooming Morning Glories. 1 Diamondback Terrapin and c. 25 Seaside Dragonlets. 20 DCCO, 40 Brown Pelicans, 1 Snowy Egret, 2 Herring Gulls.
Adam Island. We do not stop here, just motor by slowly. 3 Ospreys nests, one on top of the old tower, which was toppled years ago. Look to be 8 Great Blue Heron nests in the center of the island, where there are a few Red Cedars. Also seen: 3 HEGU, 1 Tricolored & 3 YCNH, the day¡¦s only Cattle Egrets (2), 12 Brown Pelicans, 1 Red-winged Blackbird & 2 Mallards.
Bloodsworth Island ¡V Fin Creek. 2:15-3:15 P.M. Circa 80 Great Blue Heron nests, almost every one on platforms. 4 Diamondback Terrapin. The following seem to be nesting, too: 4 Snowy & 1 Great egret, 20 BCNH & 1 Green heron.
Complete bird list, other species: 1 Glossy Ibis, 2 Northern Harriers (never fail to see them here), 4 Clapper Rails, 3 yellowthroats, 25 Seaside & 4 Song sparrows, 7 Red-winged Blackbirds, 65 DCCO, 7 Willets (only ones all day), 1 catbird, 15 Brown Pelicans, 2 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 1 Little Blue & 2 Tricolored heron, HEGUs, 8 Boat-tailed Grackles, 20 Marsh Wrens, and lots of Ospreys. One Osprey pair has an active nest on top of a sort of faux tank or armored personnel carrier, one of the birds perched on the barrel of its ¡§cannon.¡¨
We found 4 Song Sparrows along Fin Creek on Bloodsworth I., 2 on tiny Spring Island, 1 on the S. Holland segment. However, this trip focused on the DCCOs, gulls, and BRPEs and we did not survey the more upland areas, such as of the Holland I. south hammocks. Those I plan to visit in < 2 weeks plus also South Marsh I., and Adam Island.
I was pleased to see Gadwalls at 3 spots.
In order to minimize disturbance of the birds we did not prospect, beachcomb, or prog much, but I did find a Davis O K baking powder bottle and what seems to be a child¡¦s saucer (size of a silver dollar), the likes of which I¡¦ve never seen here before.
FERRY NECK ADDENDUM. I neglected to mention in my recent report for the period May 20-31, 2010, that Liz sees a Box Turtle one day at Rigby¡¦s Folly and Mary & Mike one on another day,
FAITH IN HUMAN NATURE RESTORED. We left a fine, stainless steel thermos behind at the Cambridge Wawa c. 7 A.M. When we returned c. 5 P.M. someone had turned it in to the lost and found. Wawas are well-managed stores.
Best to all. ¡V Harry Armistead, Philadelphia, home of the Flyers.
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