FEBRUARY 4-8, 2011, LOWER EASTERN SHORE OF MARYLAND AND (MOSTLY) VIRGINIA.  The main purpose of this trip is to participate in a census of Ipswich Sparrows on Virginia’s barrier islands, directed by Fletcher Smith of the Center for Conservation Biology (College of William & Mary and Virginia Commonwealth University).  Cf.: www.ccb-wm.org,  where one could spend an entire day reading of the Center’s activities and accomplishments, its online newsletters, as well as the interesting profiles of its distinguished and hard-working staff.  
            Most of the numbers below are mine, some, especially of the more abundant species, casual estimates.  Other observers may have seen more (or less) and may enter their own data into e-Bird, which might be at variance from mine.
            For each Ipswich & Savannah sparrow we record way points on the GPS, distance from bird, if on ground or flushed, and vegetation.  Often Ipswich will not flush, at least right away, but will run on the ground among the sparse beach grasses.  When they do flush and perch, say in a green myrtle bush, they’re so pale they are conspicuous.  They are multi-brooded and polygynous.  To me they often seem tamer than regular Savannah Sparrows.
            FEBRUARY 4, FRIDAY.  Philadelphia to Rigby’s Folly/Ferry Neck, Talbot County, Maryland.  On the way down: 9 deer in the field W of Rt. 301 at mile 101.3, a field that almost always has deer.  200 Tundra Swans in a field S of Cordova.  A Snow Goose and 12 Wild Turkeys in fields along Bellevue Road.  
            Present at Ferry Neck/Rigby’s Folly only in the afternoon, and much of that devoted to chores, but see: 2 Bald Eagles, 305 Canvasbacks, 15 Lesser Scaup, 35 Buffleheads, 4 Common Goldeneyes, 45 Surf Scoters, 30 Tundra Swans, 575 Canada Geese, 20 robins, 65 Red-winged Blackbirds, 7 bluebirds, only 1 Herring Gull, and 30 Long-tailed Ducks.  No ice or snow. 
            Overcast, S5-10, 39°F. 
            FEBRUARY 5, SATURDAY.  Rigby’s Folly, Dorchester County & Ocean City, Maryland.  A day of leisurely, oblique travel to the Virginia Eastern Shore.  Overcast, S or SE winds 5-10, 38-50°F., some light rain or drizzle, and FOG.  Rigby’s Folly, on leaving, 605 Canada Geese in our fields, 2 Gray Squirrels at the deer corn, an ad. Red-shouldered Hawk flies in front of the car, low, a beauty.
            Egypt Road: Another nice ad. Red-shouldered Hawk low right in front of the car, 7 Tundra Swans in a field.
            Blackwater N.W.R.: limited visibility due to fog – 225 Tundra Swans, 2500 Snow Geese, 300 Blue Geese, only 6 Bald Eagles, 220 Common Mergansers, 300 Mallards, 8 Northern Shovelers, 45 Northern Pintails, 2 Northern Harriers, and 2 un-northern but Great Blue Herons.  The video cam is on the Bald Eagle nest where very early eggs were laid Jan. 13, 16 and 20.  
            DeCoursey Bridge Road:  1 harrier, 9 Tundra Swans, 2 Common & 12 Hooded Mergansers, and 2 Bald Eagles.  
            Near Tudor Farms: 610 Tundra Swans in one group in a field and 22 Eastern Bluebirds.
            Salem, MD (Middletown Branch X Ravenwood roads): a group of 22 White-tailed Deer.
            Route 50, mile 93.0 (2 mi. W of Vienna): 690 Tundra Swans and 1500 Canada Geese in a large field, 2:34 P.M.
            Wicomico County, Route 50, 3 Wild Turkeys at mile 121.5 and 2 more at mile 120.7.
            Ocean City inlet.  Unable to see the water tower from the parking lot.  85 Herring Gulls plus a few turnstones, Sanderlings, and Purple Sandpipers feeding voraciously among the exposed rocks right under the parking lot wall, very low tide..  1 Common Loon.  Can just barely discern the S jetty through the fog.
            West Ocean City pond.  Quite barren: 205 Canvasbacks, 18 Hooded Mergansers, and, that’s just about it.  Unable to see Skimmer Island from the Route 50 bridge.                       
            FEBRUARY 6, SUNDAY.  7:30 A.M. – 5 P.M.  A Turkey Vulture attending a roadkill opossum right in Willis Wharf in the middle of the road, doesn’t even flush as I drive by.  All of my day today is spent within the Nassawadox Christmas Bird Count circle.  Six of us in the 17’ William & Mary Whaler (90 H.P.):  Fletcher Smith, Elisa Enders, Nick Flanders, Ned Brinkley, Bill Williams & me.
            Hog Island, Northampton County, Virginia.  A 7.5 mile walk with Nick Flanders, 9 A.M. – 2:45 P.M.  38-50°F., NW10 becoming S5 but mostly calm, esp. the last few hours.  30 miles by boat.  Water temperature 39-40°F.  High tide at 9:49 A.M.  All day I see only one other boat on the waters.  Complete bird list (includes 6 raptors):  
            snow goose 35, Canada goose 95, gadwall 105, American wigeon 22, American black duck 175, American black duck X mallard hybrid 1, northern shoveler 75, northern pintail 5, surf scoter 55, white-winged scoter 4, red-breasted merganser 40 (flying north), red-throated loon 12, common loon also 12, horned grebe 8, brown pelican 1 adult (probably the same individual seen by Fletcher & Ned Brinkley farther south).
            great blue heron 1, bald eagle 1 adult (conveniently flushed most of the dabbling ducks), northern harrier 4, sharp-shinned hawk 2, red-tailed hawk 1 adult, American kestrel 1♂, peregrine falcon 1 adult♂, black-bellied plover 75, ruddy turnstone 6, sanderling only 4, western sandpiper 3, dunlin 3600, short-billed dowitcher 30, herring gull 80, great black-backed gull 2, yellow-rumped warbler 85, Savannah sparrow 11, Ipswich sparrow 9, song sparrow 4, eastern meadowlark 6, American goldfinch 3.
            Non-avian taxa:  A Raccoon feeding on the remains of a 6.5’ dolphin, the head of which had been cut off by VA DGIF personnel.  A 4’ Loggerhead Turtle carapace, painted blue by VA DGIF, likewise to discourage souvenir hunters.  One butterfly, which Nick & I thought to be a Red Admiral.  Two large grasshoppers.  On the S end several small moon snails inhabited by hermit crabs.  Deer footprints.  Nick finds a dead mouse.   
            We see 2 roads traversing the island, one in towards the “Red Onion” house and high lookout tower, another farther up the beach a few miles.  Most of the dabbling ducks are around the large salt pond 2 miles or so S of the north end.  There’s also a smaller pond N of there.  Views of the island’s interior and the saltmarsh beyond that are obscured by the impressive, solid line of high myrtle bushes that runs most of the length of the island.  There are a few small groups of Loblolly Pines perhaps 8-12’ high.
            Am overheated most of the time and at the end of the walk get bare-chested, very comfortable, and turn my sweatshirt inside out and put it in the sun for a while to dry out some.
            The boat ride back (14 miles one way) to Willis Wharf via Hog Island Bay is spectacular with close views of almost all of these, esp. the diving ducks and shorebirds.  A few of these are seen in the morning only on the way out.  It is so calm that using my 8X binoculars is easy, even with the Whaler going 25 m.p.h.  Heading in: 
            snow goose 50, brant 225, Canada goose 125, American black duck 25, greater & lesser scaup combined 12, surf scoter 1000, white-winged scoter 1, long-tailed duck 80, bufflehead 2000, hooded merganser 40, red-breasted merganser 2, ruddy duck 1, red-throated loon 20, common loon 45, horned grebe 15, great blue heron 1, northern harrier 1, black-bellied plover 25, American oystercatcher 22, greater yellowlegs 1, willet 125,  marbled godwit 175, ruddy turnstone 40, sanderling 3, dunlin 65, short-billed dowitcher 30, ring-billed gull 60, herring gull seen but numbers unrecorded. 
            Elisa and Bill are on Cobb I. today where they find 8 Ipswich Sparrows and also see 2 Black-tailed Jack Rabbits, still persisting there, plus a Common Eider in Great Machipongo Inlet.  Fletcher and Ned find 6 Short-eared Owls on Little Cobb Island.  
            FEBRUARY 7, MONDAY.  Cedar Island, Accomack County, Virginia.  All of the day today spent within the Wachapreague Christmas Bird Count circle.
            Folly Creek: 16 hooded mergansers, 4 great blue herons (2 in high breeding plumage), 115 snow geese, a kingfisher, 14 buffleheads, and a red-tailed hawk.  Ned hears some Brown-headed Nuthatches.
            Ned and I walk Cedar Island, 10:30 A.M. – 3:30 P.M., c. 7 miles on foot.  Fair, SE5-10, 37-50, becoming overcast towards the end.  A big trawler has been stranded on the beach at the south end, the ‘Laura J.’  Ned takes some pictures of me standing next to it.  Few beach cabins remain.  It’s calm enough so we can board the Whaler in the surf w/o getting wet feet.  Another day of low water.  All of the Opuntia we see is S of the “breach”, including one patch 4 feet square.  The breach is now high enough so that today there is no water in it at all.  Complete bird list:
            American black duck 60, American oystercatcher 14 (the only 2 we see well enough were not banded), northern harrier 6, dunlin 3000, black-bellied plover 25, surf scoter 85, red-throated loon 9, herring gull 35, great black-backed gull 3, peregrine falcon 1, red knot 6, western sandpiper 8, black scoter 2, horned lark 1, bald eagle 1, Ipswich sparrow 18, red-breasted merganser 3, boat-tailed grackle 3♂, common loon 4, ruddy turnstone 1, sanderling 1 (!), Cooper’s hawk 1♂, short-eared owl 1, sharp-shinned hawk 1, merlin 1, American goldfinch 3.  
            Cedar Island has been slammed by storms in the past few years with few dune areas remaining except at the south end, which is where most of the Ipswich are, and also where Fletcher et al. banded 20 late last fall.  There are hundreds of acres of flat sandy areas strewn with countless millions of shells: oysters, clams, whelks, scallops, and cockles plus sand dollars, some skates’ eggs and whelk eggs.  
            In much of the island there are hundreds of displaced saltmarsh sod tumps which stand out a foot or so above the sandy areas.  Because of the focus on Ipswich Sparrows today and yesterday our walks are straitforward through the high beach and dune habitat with no meanderings in the marshes.  Consequently the islands are traversed much faster than during the Christmas counts.  No non-avian taxa today in contrast to Sunday.
            On the way back to Folly Creek: 2 harriers, 20 long-tailed ducks, 80 buffleheads, 6 oystercatchers, 2000 dunlin, 200 brant, 45 black-bellied plovers, 20 short-billed dowitchers, 1 greater yellowlegs, and 5 sightings (of probably as many) peregrines.
            IPSWICH NEWS ELSEWHERE (mostly unofficial results that I hear 2nd hand).  Smith Island, just one.  Parramore Island, 3 (Ned & Fletcher).  Fisherman Island, none.  Metompkin Island on Sunday, 117 plus 14 Savannahs, 13 Horned Larks, 3 meadowlarks, 2 lapland longspurs, 110 snow buntings, and 280 goldfinches by Bryan Watts and Dana Bradshaw.  The previous Virginia Ipswich high, in the Gold Book, is 37.  Wreck Island, 20 Ipswich by Ned on Sunday.
            FEBRUARY 8, TUESDAY.  Willis Wharf & Kiptopeke area, and Route 600, Northampton County, Virginia.  Has rained a lot last night.
            Willis Wharf, 8:15 A.M.  Clear, 37°F., NW, 15+.  The shorebirds are nicely clustered (“huddle masses”), not feeding: 195 Marbled Godwits, 230 Willets, 125 Short-billed Dowitchers, and 95 Dunlin plus, in the general area, 2 Killdeer, 140 Snow Geese, 26 Ruddy Turnstones (sitting on the bow of a small workboat), 2 Lesser Scaup, and 6 Hooded Mergansers.  
            Taylor Tract (“Lake Maddox”), Kiptopeke State Park, 9:25 A.M.:  2 Pied-billed Grebes, 13 Ruddy Ducks, and 2 American Coots.
            Kiptopeke State Park, old ferry landing:  8 Sanderlings.  Run into Joe Beatty and Brian Taber.  Joe shows me where, at Kiptopeke Condominiums, the ♂ Painted Bunting has been seen this winter, and also where Ned saw a Black-capped Chickadee.  There are 20 or so goldfinches in the area of Joe’s feeder.
            Ramp Lane pond, Eastern Shore of VA N.W.R., 10:30 A.M.:  23 Gadwalls, 6 Northern Shovelers, 8 American Black Ducks, 11 American Wigeon, 3 Hooded Mergansers, and 3 Green-winged Teal.  Not much down by the Federal Cut but Zoot, the Mayor of Ramp Lane, drives in as I am leaving.
            Pond W of Rt. 600 just S of Riverside Farm Lane: largely empty – 2 Gadwalls, 1 ♂ Mallard and a ♀ Hooded Merganser.
            Oyster harbor.  Hardly anything: a ♀ Hooded Mergansers and 70 Ring-billed and Herring gulls resting on the grass.  High tide, above normal.
            World Health Institute entrance:  no sign of the Mountain Bluebird.
            Northampton County Landfill N of Oyster:  Big pond there.  70 coots, 2 shovelers, 2 Gadwalls, 16 Ruddy Ducks, 195 Canada Geese, 55 Fish Crows, 75 starlings, 8 Black & 6 Turkey vultures.  
            So … there’s a lot to see in the “dead of winter,” right?  Nevertheless there seem to be, right now, few oystercatchers, Great Blue Herons, and Sanderlings.  This was a very satisfying trip and largely compensates for my limited activity and my not being able to get to some of these areas during the Christmas count period due to weather problems, and also what has been diagnosed as my Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo then.  And at 70, with some arthritis in the right knee, it is gratifying to know that I can do these island walks with hardly any discomfort.  Of course, the ideal weather and good companionship really made it a treat.
            THANKS to Bryan Watts for including me among the folks he sent his Metompkin Island results to and to Fletcher for including me in the Ipswich search.
            Best to all. – Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.