RECENT BANDING RESULTS. I missed these 2 trips since we were in upstate New York on a family visit. But the NY trip was well worth this absence. Especially in view of my sister-in-law, Dorothy’s, martinis and grilled goodies (not to mention her company).
ROYAL TERNS: On July 9 John Weske, Dave Brinker et al. banded 1,479 Royal Tern chicks on Clump Island, Accomack County, VA (part of the Fox Islands archipelago; in the Chesapeake Bay SE of Smith I., MD) as well as 166 young royals on Reedy Island north of the main part of Ocean City, MD.
BROWN PELICANS: On July 10, in a sort of grand mopping up operation, John Weske et al. banded 793 pelican chicks at South Point Marsh, Accomack County, VA, also just south of Smith I., MD. Combined with the 1,234 banded there on June 29 that’s a grand total of 2,027 at the 4 subcolonies of the South Point Marsh site.
There may be later mopping up operations at some of these places with way smaller numbers of birds remaining to be tagged. A trip is also planned soon to Holland I., MD, where there were c. 211 pelican nests in late May.
PELICAN BANDS FOUND ON JULY 10. One from a bird banded on July 25, 1996, SW of Ocracoke, NC. Another from a bird banded at South Point Marsh on July 23, 2007. Both had been banded as chicks.
Thanks to Dave Brinker and John Weske for this information.
CORRECTION. In my last posting “RIGBY’S FOLLY SHORELINE REPLENISHMENT, a project initiated in November 2009, was finally finished last week … “ should have read November 2008 not November 2009.
OFF TOPIC: What’s below is way off topic with respect to MD or VA situations but may be of interest anyway. Here goes:
July 10. Upper and Lower Lakes W.M.A., Canton, St. Lawrence County, NY, Several 1000 acres of lowland freshwater swamp/marsh surrounded by a garden of fields, woodlands, swampy thickets, small streams, ponds, old fields returning to woodlands. Beautiful blooming water lillies by the thousands plus pickerel weed and Arrow Arum. 11:30 A.M. – 2 P.M. 40 species. Seen today but not on July 11: a Caspian Tern, 1 Bobolink, cowbird 3, a Red-tailed Hawk, a TV. D.O.R.: a Porcupine and a Woodchuck. Roadkill Porcupine & Woodchuck, 1 each. 2 Viceroys, 1 Mourning Cloak. A phoebe nest with several big young under the observation blind.
July 11, Sunday. Upper & Lower Lakes Wildlife Management Area. 4:45-11:45 A.M. Perhaps too late in the summer but I miss Am. Bittern and Wilson’s Snipe which are common and quite vocal here normally. 68 species of birds plus a deer, 11 cottontails, a muskrat, chipmunk, 2 Gray Squirrels, a Painted Turtle, 40 Green Frogs (at least), 3 Bullfrogs, 3 Tiger Swallowtails, 2 Monarchs, a Black Swallowtails and some bluets.
78 yellowthroats (exact count using a clicker; most of the rest of these nos. are estimates). 55 Swamp and 38 Song sparrows. A Wild Turkey with 1 poult. A Ruffed Grouse (heard not seen). Female Ring-necked Ducks with broods of 6 & 8 small, downy young. 1 Green-winged Teal. 1 Hooded Merganser. 4 Common Loons. 22 Pied-billed Grebes incl. broods of 8 & 6 young plus a nest near the dike with eggs and an adult brooding. 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk. 4 Virginia Rails (heard at 3 locations). 5 Black Terns. 1 Black-billed Cuckoo. 1 hummer. 2 sapsuckers. 36 Purple Martins (a thriving colony breeding in white gourds at Rensselaer [sp?] Falls). 11 Alder Flycatchers. 11 kingbirds. 2 Marsh Wrens. 3 Warbling Vireos. 54 catbirds. 4 thrashers. 8 Veeries. 1 Chestnut-sided Warbler. 2 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. 1 Scarlet Tanager.
This is not a spot for many warblers (only 5 species today) or boreal birds but I once found a dead Marten (or was it a Fisher?). Henslow’s Sparrows, Sedge Wrens, used to breed in the area, Sedge Wrens may still. We used to see the occasional Upland Sandpiper between Watertown and Canton. In 1966 during our engagement I heard from my bed in my soon-to-be in-laws’ house a Henslow’s Sparrow which sang most of the night right on the edge of U&LLWMA.
The Irish Settlement Road segment of my usual route here is 5.5 miles and today I stop and get out of the car on I.S.R. every c. 01. miles or so.
July 8. Philadelphia to Inlet, NY, 383.3 miles. 18 Turkey Vultures and 4 d.o.r. Porcupines on the way up here.
Ferd’s Bog. Not much luck here. Earlier in the summer others found Black-backed Woodpecker, Boreal Chickadee, Gray Jay, Yellow-bellied & Olive-sided flys. We hear a Swainson’s and a Hermit thrush, 2 Red Squirrels, hear 2 Green Frogs. Out in the greenish sphagnum bog are 100s of carnivorous Pitcher Plants. In the area is a lovely mix of spruces, birches, White Pines, larches, balsam, and other northern trees. The forest floor is rich with ferns and trillium. Usnea and lichens adorn the trees. High hills surround the bog, which we are told is actually a fen.
July 9. Adirondacks. 138 miles today, through this absolutely beautiful north country.
Ferd’s Bog, 6:15-8:15 A.M. STILL not many boreal birds but it’s nice to be here anyway. Best are 2 singing Winter Wrens and 2 Lincoln’s Sparrows plus good looks at a drumming sapsucker (plus 3 others), a singing White-throated Sparrow, 2 singing Swainson’s Thrushes, singing Swamp Sparrows, 7 Red-eyed Vireos, a Green Frog, a chipmunk, and a Red Squirrel. Perhaps if we’d visited in early June it would have been more productive.
Leaving our small, very nice motel (Marina Motel, highly recommend; only 6 mi. from the bog) we go through Inlet. After a few miles I say to Liz: “At any moment a Ruffed Grouse could rocket across the road.” Sure enough, a few miles later we stop to examine a d.o.r. beauty, a female, freshly killed in the center of the highway. A few more miles later there is another grouse roadkill. The only ones we SEE the entire trip.
Not exactly like Babe Ruth pointing to center field and then homering to there, but, still, one CAN get a little cocky with this sort of minor league prescience. In this case, I’m sorry I was (almost) right; we missed the rocketing by perhaps minutes. As with Mose Allison’s ‘Seventh Son:” “I can tell your future it will come to pass/Do things for you make your heart feel glad/Look in the sky, predict the rain/I can tell when a woman’s got another man/Yes, I’m the one/Yes, I’m the one/I’m the one/I’m the one/The one they call the - Seventh Son.” Later in the day I DO predict we’ll hit rain in 6 miles. But it turns out to be 11. Then there are all the times when one is COMPLETELY wrong at this sort of thing.
Visit the Adirondack Museum where I purchase Adirondack wildlife by James M. Ryan (U. of NH Pr., 2008, 249pp., $24.95), Adirondack birding: 60 great places to find birds by John M. C. Peterson & Gary N. Lee (Lost Pond Pr., 2008, 224pp., $20.95) and Adirondack alpine summits by Nancy G. Slack & Allison W. Bell (Adirondack Mountain Club, Inc., new edition, 2006, 80p., $16.95). Have lunch with a great view of some of the lakes with an incessantly singing Red-eyed Vireo plus a distant loon and cormorant, a chipmunk, and an unpatronized hummingbird feeder. We spend much of the time looking at the old wooden boats exhibits. Worth the trip just for that.
Next is the marvelous, 4-years-old Wild Center, the Adirondack Natural History Museum, in Tupper Lake, which is excellent. A Broad-winged Hawk screams overhead. A singing Blue-headed Vireo. I purchase the magisterial biography the Wilderness warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the crusade for America by Douglas Brinkley (Harper, 2009, 940pp., $19.99), Woodswoman: living alone in the Adirondack wilderness by Anne LaBastille (Penguin Books, 1978, 277pp., $15.00), and, best of all, The second atlas of breeding birds of New York state, ed. by Kevin J. McGowan & Kimberley Corwin (Cornell, 2008, 688pp., $59.95 [worth every penny]).
We did not realize there is a Jewish heritage in Tupper Lake and are surprised to see a synagogue there and a well-tended Jewish cemetery, many of the headstones in Hebrew.
The atlas is one of the best bird books I’ve ever seen in terms of layout, original art, mapping, analysis, and massive information. The atlas data are analyzed in just about every possible way with reference also made to recent work in Ontario, Vermont, and elsewhere. 244 species are dealt with. There are some 2-page color paintings featuring birds in context that remind me of the soft, diffuse colors and forms, strangely enough, of Edward Hopper. This is a monumental, staggeringly informative monograph. Superb.
The product of 1,187 atlassers who spent 155,381 hours afield, this atlas covers 2000-2005, 20 years after the 1980-1985 atlas. Six new species were found. The most widespread birds: Song Sparrow 97.4% of the 5,333 atlas blocks; American Robin 97.3%; Common Yellowthroat 97.0%; Blue Jay 96.6%; Black-capped Chickadee 96.5. Many species were excluded from very widespread detection by the 2 unique habitat areas of Long Island and the Adirondacks.
Species with greatest positive change: Merlin from 0 blocks to 131; Black Vulture 0-100. Some more widespread species with greatest positive abundance changes: Bald Eagle 35 to 445 blocks; Double-crested Cormorant 22 to 179; Peregrine Falcon from 17-111; Common Raven from 313 to 1,879; Carolina Wren from 305 to 1,250.
Selected species with greatest declines: Upland Sandpiper from 476 blocks to 165; Common Nighthawk 477 to 138; Red-headed Woodpecker 691 to 167; Barn Owl 126 to 28; Henslow’s Sparrow 348 to 70; Yellow-breasted Chat 122 to 27.
Selected other data: American Kestrel from 3,450 to 2,960 blocks; Cooper’s Hawk from 550 to 1,355 blocks. The average time spent in each block: 29.43 hours. The average number of species per block 71.8. No Great Blue Herons were found anywhere on Long Island during either atlas. Fascinating. Citizen Science at its best.
It was a 4 squirrel trip: Woodchuck, Eastern Chipmunk, Gray Squirrel, and Red Squirrel, but then, all of these can be seen in the Philadelphia area. Concerning the little Red Squirrel: “Considers itself the rightful owner of the spruce-fir forest and scolds trespassers in its territory.” (Slack & Bell, p. 29)
July 12, Monday. 389.5 miles to home from Canton, an uneventful trip.
Best to all. - Harry Armistead, Philadelphia. There’s also a Philadelphia, NY, which we passed through on this trip.
_________________________________________________________________
The New Busy think 9 to 5 is a cute idea. Combine multiple calendars with Hotmail.
http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?tile=multicalendar&ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_5 |