FERRY NECK/RIGBY’S FOLLY, October 23-27; Dorchester County, MD: Blackwater N.W.R., Hooper’s Island & Swan Harbor, October 25-26.
            OCTOBER 23, Saturday.  25 deer near in fields adjacent to milepost 101, Route 301, where plenty of muzzleloading hunters’ trucks are parked.  10 deer in our Field 4.  Arrive at 6:30 P.M.  Clear, full moon.           
            OCTOBER 24, Sunday.  1 Rock Pigeon (seldom seen here), 4 Common Loons, 2 Royal Terns, 1 Northern Harrier, 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk, 1 American Kestrel, 1 Winter Wren (along the side of the driveway in the Field 4 edge vegetation), 25 Cedar Waxwings, 3 Great Blue Herons, 1 Belted Kingfisher, 320 Canada Geese (in the cove; c. 650 in toto), 3 Black & 12 Turkey vultures, 1 subadult Bald Eagle, 1 Red-tailed Hawk, 200 Laughing Gulls, 2 flickers, one cormorant, 2 Red-breasted Nuthatches.  
            Also: 10 Buckeyes and 3 sulphurs.  Fair, 60-70, SW5-10, tide out 21 feet (in the future “tide out” will mean the specified number of feet from the shoreline at the dock).  Lots of fair-sized minnows in the shallows.  
            OCTOBER, 25, Monday.  18 Turkey Vultures perched on the roof of a neighbor’s empty house, which is for sale.  We’re present only until 10:45 A.M.: 3 Bald Eagles, 41 Cedar Waxwings (most of them in the big Black Walnut), 4 Common Loons, a Hairy & 4 Red-bellied woodpeckers, 2 Red-breasted Nuthatches. Fair becoming mostly overcast.  During this visit we occasionally hear Common Loons giving the wail call.  
            OCTOBER 26, Tuesday.  10 young Wild Turkeys at 4:58 P.M. crossing the driveway from Woods 2 to Woods 5.  2 Southern Leopard Frogs leaping across Ferry Neck Road at c. 5:45 A.M. and 2 deer in Field 1 a few minutes earlier.  Liz stays home today, sees 3 Savannah Sparrows and a kingfisher.
            OCTOBER 27, Wednesday.  Overcast, steady rain, calm, 70, winds SW 15+, visibility < a quarter of a mile.  3 Ruby-crowned Kinglets.  Leave by 10:30 A.M., when the rain stops.  146 Turkey Vultures on the way home.  2 Bald Eagles, an ad. & an imm. sit in a field near the intersection of Routes 404 and 309 plus 2 others soaring over Route 301.  95 Fish Crows and an additional Bald Eagle at Middletown, DE (seen from our table at the 301 Plaza, which now has a new, fancy, large, video marquee with a sequence of 45 or more screens).    
            DORCHESTER COUNTY, MD:
            Monday, October 25.  Liz & I join 10 members of the Carroll Vista Bird Club, led by Bernice Culver and including Marianne Schwartz, Barbara Burke, Elaine Fuller, Mary Birckbichler, Jeanne Morris, Anita Wills, Gladys Wallett, Connie Hacter, and Sandy Smith.  Carroll Vista is a retirement community west of Baltimore with some 400 members, 30 of whom belong to the C.V. Bird Club.  These ladies do so well by us, treat us to dinner at Portside Restaurant in Cambridge, and give us 2 small, fine bird carvings (Ruby-throated Hummingbird and Canada Goose, which now hang in the Rigby’s Folly kitchen) plus a gift certificate for Panera Bread.  
            Blackwater N.W.R.  1 American White Pelican, 115 Forster’s & 3 Caspian terns, 9 Killdeer, 2 Northern Harriers, 1 Sharp-shinned, 1 Cooper’s & 1 Red-tailed hawk, 1 Merlin (1st spotted & ID’d by Liz), 14 Bald Eagles (some stunning views), 65 Green-winged Teal, 12 American Black Ducks, 1 Greater Yellowlegs, only 2 Great Blue Herons, 3 Great Egrets, 2 American Kestrels, 20 Double-crested Cormorants, 1 Osprey, 2,000 European Starlings, 400 Brown-headed Cowbirds, 5 Brown-headed Nuthatches, 1 immature White-crowned Sparrow (by the feeders), a Pileated Woodpecker, 10 Savannah & 8 Chipping sparrows.  Some of these are seen before or after Liz and I join the CVBC group.
            NON-AVIAN TAXA:  7 Redbelly Turtles, 3 Fox and 3 Gray Squirrels (the latter availing themselves of walnuts next to the refuge boathouse), 1 Red Fox (Egypt Road).  One of the Fox Squirrels has a lot of black on its head, unusual, but I’ve seen such previously.  d.o.r.: 1 Raccoon, 1 Red Fox – requiescat in pavement. 
            SW25, very windy, lows 70s or high 60s, mostly overcast with a very brief rain at 5:43 P.M.  Tidal waters low, impounded waters quite high.  In the midst of Pool 5 there is a single blooming Marsh Hibiscus (a.k.a. Rose Mallow), the big white flower variety. 
            I am pleased to see that Chan Robbins was here with some of his family on October 13, finding a Dickcissel and a Yellow-billed Cuckoo.  Here today are Sue Ricciardi and Lola Oberman.  
            Tuesday, October 25.  I join the Carroll Vista group again (but some of the places listed below they do not get to).  Itinerary (* asterisk indicates segments when the Carroll Vista Bird Club members are present): Blackwater N.W.R., 7:30-8:30, 10:15-11:15* (during which I meet Janet Shields, who has moved to Cambridge recently) and 2:45-3:30*.  Swan Harbor and environs: 7:50-9, 11:30-12:15*.  Liners Road c. 9:10.  Shorter’s Wharf Road 9:15-9:45.  Hooper’s Island 12:30-1:45*.  Mostly overcast but partly sunny in the afternoon, SW5-15, 67-74, warm.   
            Swan Harbor: 1 Red-throated & 1 Common loon (both flyovers early in the morning), 1 Eastern Meadowlark, 1 Northern Harrier, 16 Bald Eagles, 240 Double-crested Cormorants, 7 American Black Ducks, 1 Clapper Rail, 17 American Goldficnhes, 850 Red-winged Blackbirds, 7 Sanderlings, 12 Dunlin, 12 Brown Pelicans, 11 Mute Swans, 29 Surf Scoters, 85 Forster’s & 2 Royal terns, and a Sharp-shinned Hawk.  Overcast, SW10, 67°F.  There is no hawk flight here today.  Here and elsewhere today as well as on Monday the mosquitoes are as bothersome as they’ve been all year.
            Liner’s Road: 12 Chipping Sparrows and 8 Eastern Bluebirds on the wires.
            Shorter’s Wharf Road: not much other than a few Bald Eagles.
            Blackwater N.W.R.: almost all of what was here yesterday is here today plus an imm,. Golden Eagle, seen by all over the woods at 3:02 P.M. between the Visitor Center and refuge HQ.  Conspicuous, white areas at the base of the primaries and secondaries as well as a large, bright white area at the base of the tail and easy-to-see rounded outer wings, a sort of palmate shape, which is not often mentioned in field guides as a salient feature.  
            Also: 22 Northern Pintails, 4 Great Blue Herons, 8 Dunlin, 1 Gadwall, 1 American Coot (Pool 1), 125 Green-winged Teal, 2 Virginia Rails, and, as I am leaving at c. 3:45, a Woodchuck dashes across Key Wallace Drive, high-tailing it with what there is to high tail it with of its rudimentary tail.  
            Hooper’s Island.  A few Fiddler Crabs scuttling along the road on this warm, humid day.  Our group lunches at the shelter in Hoopersville where there are a Killdeer and 6 Black-bellied Plovers resting on the rip-rap.  Also here: 6 Royal Terns, a late Barn Swallow, 28 Chipping Sparrows, 1 Great & 4 Snow egrets, a Northern Harrier, an imm. Bald Eagle perched right in a tree in a house yard, and 3 goldfinches plus a Monarch and 2 Buckeyes. 
            Best to all. – Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.