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From: Harry Armistead [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2011 11:47 AM
To: Les Roslund; Wayne Bell
Subject: Forts Armistead & Smallwood parks, Dorchester County, and Ferry
Neck, February 19-22, 2011.
FORTS ARMISTEAD & SMALLWOOD PARKS, BLACKWATER N.W.R., HOOPER¡¯S
ISLAND, CAMBRIDGE & FERRY NECK/RIGBY¡¯S FOLLY, FEBRUARY 19-22, 2011.
FEBRUARY 19, SATURDAY. The other (northbound) side of I-95 has
a 5.2-mile backup heading towards a toll booth somewhere near the
Susquehanna River. On my southbound side the backup is only two miles.
That and today¡¯s lack of luck make me wonder why I condescend to visit this
part of the world.
At Fort Armistead ( ¡ fort ¡ WHO ¡ what? Did I spell it
right?) I dip on the Harlequin Duck but see 6 Buffleheads, a ¡â scaup, a
Ruddy Duck, 50 Rock Pigeons, 55 European Starlings, 6 Herring & 2 Great
Black-backed gulls, and 3 Turkey Vultures, the buzzards apparently
migrating. For a species that seems so tipsy in the air they certainly
manage to do well, to make headway, in strong winds, every time.
To the N Fort Carroll (island) is black with cormorants, at
least 285, with last year¡¯s nests easily visible. It would take a Brinker
or a Weske to say how many pairs there were in previous years. Today I am
w/o my scope. Five other birders I encounter at Fort What¡¯s-his-name
apparently had no luck with the harlie either. How unFORTuitous.
Fort Smallwood Park. In or around the pond are 10 Gadwalls, 2
American Wigeon, 8 Mallards, 12 Canada Geese, and 2 Painted Turtles sunning.
Out in the Bay: 10 Greater Scaup and 8 Buffleheads. The winds today reach
50 m.p.h., making driving rather like navigating a boat.
Out, oh, about 1/3 of a mile is a small cyclone, whipping watery
spindrift 20-30 feet in the air, reminiscent of an Arizona dust devil,
perhaps about the same diameter. I watch it as it drifts, spinning, to the
SE. Nothing else in sight is like it on this day of gale force winds. 205.
7 miles in the car today.
How nice to ride the great Tydings bridge over to the Eastern
Shore, away from the massive clusters of malls that line Route 2 (Governor
Ritchie Highway) ¡ but then only to have to pass the mall strips of Kent
Island, and the developing ones at Easton. ¡°It is not now as it hath been
of yore.¡± ¨C Wordsworth. I don¡¯t know about you, but I could use a little
more yore, but if so, please retain the Wawas.
Arrive at Rigby¡¯s Folly at 5:45 P.M. Right out in the open, c.
100 feet from a house, is an active Bald Eagle nest in an isolated Loblolly
Pine, which I somehow missed seeing, having driven past it a score of times
this year. An adult eagle roosts in a tree nearby. 6 deer. Clear, NW 25,
48¡ãF.
FEBRUARY 20, SUNDAY. Spend all day on our property. Having
thrown my back out sawing firewood last weekend, most of what I do is slow
mo, done with care and deliberation. It¡¯s dried up eno¡¯ so I can drive
the 0.2 mi. right across the Big Field to Lucy Point and scope the mouth of
the Choptank River, where, at 4:15 P.M., it is dead calm with about the best
visibility I¡¯ve ever seen. 4:15-5:45 P.M., mostly overcast, 44¡ãF.
This pays off big time, with a record property count, a careful
estimate, of 4060 Surf Scoters plus 600 Long-tailed Ducks, 65 Buffleheads
(not all that many are here, this winter), 8 Lesser Scaup, 10 Common
Goldeneyes (actively courting), 3 Red-breasted Mergansers, 4 Horned Grebes,
and 72 Common Loons, an astounding number of loons for this time of year,
most of them concentrated in 3 pods.
After doing these counts/estimates I just sit back and enjoy the
waning light, listening to the engaging and garrulous Oldsquaws and the
bell-like tinkling of the ¡á Surf Scoters¡¯ wings, which goes on for about
10 seconds after the scoters launch into flight, then dissipates after they
are well under way. One can hear the ¡°south south southerlying¡± of the
Oldsquaws even when they are 2 or 3 miles out under these conditions. The
scoters, as usual, are closer in. THIS has been a good visit here to Lucy
Point.
Earlier in the day, when it was still breezy, I estimated but
830 Surf Scoters, to show what a difference (nearly five-fold in this case)
the wind or lack of it makes as far as being able to see birds goes. I
scramble gingerly down over the rip rap boulder field to retrieve a toy,
bright green, plastic sea turtle with big bug eyes that has drifted in; this
will make a nice present for our first grandchild, expected later this year.
From my Lucy Point vantage point stone displaced by Hurricane Isabel still
extends back 48 yards from the shoreline.
Also on the back 40 today: 5 deer, 5 Gray Squirrels at the yard
deer corn, an ad. and an imm. Bald Eagle, 67 Tundra Swans, 22 American
Pipits in Field 2, 54 Ring-billed Gulls foraging in the cove mud, and a mini
kettle of 3 Red-tailed Hawks. At 11 A.M. the tidal water has receded 10
feet out beyond the end of the dock. Fair becoming overcast, 36-47¡ãF., NW
10+ becoming S 5 then calm.
FEBRUARY 21, MONDAY. I join Hugh Sargent and his friends for a
morning, 8:30 A.M. ¨C 12:15 P.M., at Blackwater N.W.R., with Hugh, Elise
Boeger, Cheryl Sargent, Marilyn & Lang Smith, Maizie Starr, Keith Johnson,
and Alison Jones. 46-58¡ãF., overcast with occasional appearances of nearly
warm sunshine, SW 5-10, tidal water very low.
Before we get started Cheryl has, right in Cambridge, observed a
Red-tailed Hawk carrying a Gray Squirrel; the redtail drops the squirrel
when harassed by a Bald Eagle.
Later in the day I return to the refuge 1:15-2:15 P.M. to try to
get some reasonably accurate estimates of the number of Blue Geese and Bald
Eagles present. So, the resulting composite list includes:
470 Blue Geese, 27 Bald Eagles, perhaps 5000 Snow Geese, 205
Tundra Swans, 25 black ducks, 32 shovelers, 4 pintails, 12 Green-winged
Teal, 1 ¡â Canvasback (the only one I¡¯ve ever seen in Pool 1), 40
Ring-necked Ducks (also in Pool 1), 3 Hooded Mergansers, 5 AMERICAN WHITE
PELICANS (in the Blackwater River opposite Pool 3, seen both in the morning
and afternoon; others reported 6), only 2 Great Blue Herons, 1 harrier, 1
kestrel, 1 Pileated Woodpecker, 2 Brown-headed Nuthatches, 6 bluebirds, 22
juncos, 1 Field & 1 Swamp sparrow plus some blackbird flocks, a few hundred
Mallards, and 1000s of Canada Geese.
BALD EAGLES VS. SNOW GEESE. Every time a Bald Eagle flies close
to the big Snow Goose flock, which has been residing in Pool 3B for weeks,
the snows rise up and wheel around, in full cry, and that is a great
spectacle, and sound.
Also: 1 Painted Turtle and 2 Redbelly Sliders.
Common Grackles are starting to haunt yards and lawns, flying
low, and uttering their raucous calls, a sure sign of spring. The first
chick in the Eagle videocam nest hatched on February 19.
Cambridge ¨C Oakley Street general area. 7:15-7:30 A.M. and
12:30-1 P.M. Dispensed much corn for the ducks. 750 Canvasbacks, 300
Lesser Scaup, 10 American Wigeon, 1 black duck, 40 Mallards, 12 Buffleheads,
1 Double-crested Cormorant (scarce in Dorchester County in winter), 55
American Robins. As often as not photographers are here, not just birders,
today including one who has had a cover photograph published in Tidewater
Times, and who will have another one soon.
Egypt Road. 66 Tundra Swans in a field to the W, 3 Horned
Larks, 1 American Kestrel. On the E side several fields have large, faux
Bald Eagles which I suppose are intended to prevent depredations on the
crops by waterfowl. Near to one of these Bald Eagle placards, on the
ground, are an adult and an immature Bald Eagle.
Honga River-Great Marsh Creek-Route 335. 35 Lesser Scaup, 10
Redheads, 12 Ruddy Ducks (these 3 species all in one combo flock), 2 Bald
Eagles, 1040 Mallards in one raft out on the upper Honga River, many,
perhaps all, I suspect as being pen-reared. Only a few hundred feet away,
in the first woodland to the SW, is a fine Fox Squirrel, in a place where
I¡¯ve never seen them previously.
Barren Island: A Bald Eagle, and, on the E side, 120 Tundra
Swans, where there are often many more than this.
Hooper¡¯s Island. 2:45-4:30. Has turned overcast, gray, and
windy, cold, temps in the 40s, NE 15-20, spray on the causeway, hard to see
the birds sitting on the water. Not much. Bleak almost.
1 Common Loon, 5 Horned Grebes, 6 Great Blue Herons (some
winging their way over to their colony in the much-diminished Barren Island
Loblolly Pine woodlands in this unit of Blackwater N.W.R.), 2 black ducks,
35 Lesser Scaup, 1¡â Canvasback, 35 Buffleheads, 8 Common Goldeneyes, 4
Long-tailed Ducks (3 of them resplendent ¡á at close range, beauties), 155
Surf Scoters, 18 Ruddy Ducks (spread out, close to the rocks), 5 Bald
Eagles, 1 kingfisher, 250 starlings, and 125 Red-winged Blackbirds. Some of
the Herring Gulls are already in fine breeding plumage, good bill color,
pure white heads.
Maple Dam Road in the Shorters Wharf area at dusk. 5:10-6:10
P.M. Light spritzing rain, windy, NE 15, raw. Three Short-eared Owls, 2 of
them, at times, hovering as Rough-legged Hawks do, 7 harriers (4 of them
apparently dropping in to a communal roost to the west), 3 Bald Eagles, 20
Green-winged Teal, 12 black ducks, 2 Greater Yellowlegs, and 2 Great Blue
Herons. At last light, coming in from the middle of nowhere from the south
(Dorchester Incognita), Jim Brighton and his friend Jared suddenly pull in
behind me and we chat for a while.
FEBRUARY 22, TUESDAY. Fair, NW 15, 28¡ãF., snow last night
amounting to > a dusting, < 1 inch. Cold. Leave at 10:06 A.M. Going out
the driveway there are 29 American Pipits in Field 7, some of them
apparently foraging on top of the ice on The Pond. They also seem attracted
to the manure piles in our fields. Extreme foragers? Can see the head of
an adult Bald Eagle incubating in the newly-discovered nest. A big manure
pile, a large, conical affair about 7 feet high and recently deposited in
the Big Field, is steaming from its top, looking like Vesuvius getting ready
to blow; where is Pliny the Elder when you need him?
An interesting trip home. Lots of birds along the shoulders of
Route 481, nicely concentrated by the snow, which is 1-3¡± here, and picking
away at the grit and seeds. Just N of routes 404 X 309 are c. 2500 Snow
Geese but, in big contrast with the Blackwater geese, only about 20 Blue
Geese are in with them, 11 A.M.
In the little wetland-seasonal pond just N of routes 309 X 481
are 3 Tundra Swans (getting something to eat from the pond¡¯s bottom), 1 ad.
Snow Goose, a pair of Mallards, an Eastern Meadowlark, and 4 American Crows,
the latter walking around on the ice. Two mi. N of there is a flock of 25
pipits. A Red-shouldered Hawk N of Ruthsburg and a flock of 45
Slate-colored Juncos. In the Hope area 13 pipits, 54 Horned Larks, and 20
more juncos. Elsewhere along Route 481 on the roadsides are Mourning Doves,
Song & White-throated sparrows, cardinals, and starlings.
It is a treat to view the pipits and sprucey-looking Horned
Larks at such close range, esp. when you consider some the pipits may have
come from as far north, as, say, Baffin Island or the Boothia Peninsula.
The larks flush sooner than the pipits do. Snow is the great facilitator,
as normally these birds are spread out over many thousands of acres of
fields.
Sassafras River X Route 301: 11 Hooded Mergansers. In Delaware:
Just S of the Delaware-Chesapeake Canal a Cooper¡¯s Hawk flashes across the
road right in front of the car and below eye level, a dangerous maneuver -
candidate for the Darwin Award. A Sharp-shinned Hawk crosses above I-495 at
Churchman¡¯s Marsh.
BLACKWATER closures. Because of rather complex coming
enhancements to Wildlife Drive portions of it may be closed off-and-on soon.
The main Visitor Center is closed while it is being enlarged but the
temporary one (on the right after one passes through the Wildlife Drive
entrance station) is open and has all of the wonderful array of sales items
on display. The Marsh Edge Trail is closed because there¡¯s an active eagle
nest there. Consequently, if any of this affects field trips you may be
planning (it shouldn¡¯t, really), it might be prudent to check with the
refuge to find out what¡¯s going on either through their website
(www.fws.gov/blackwater), the Friends of Blackwater,
(www.friendsofblackwater.org), or by calling 410-228.2677.
ADDENDA. In my field notes from February 5 I neglected to
mention that at the West Ocean City pond I saw an adult Herring Gull flying
with a Southern Leopard Frog in its bill. Just across the street hundreds
of robins thronged in the yards of almost all of the houses there, as if
there¡¯d been a fallout. Farther S in Virginia were 2000 Snow Geese in a
field W of Rt. 13 near Temperanceville.
GREAT NEW BOOK. Fraser¡¯s penguins: a journey to the future in
Antarctica by Fen Montaigne (Henry Holt, 2010, 288 pages). Mostly concerns
Bill Fraser¡¯s decades of research on Ad¨¦lie Penguins but covers a lot of
other fascinating ground, including climate research, such as a 2-mile or so
ice core that reveals carbon dioxide levels going back c. 800,000 years.
This book is bad news for skeptics who do not believe global warming may be
due to human-induced carbon emissions, or, for that matter, who may not
believe in global warming at all. Aside from this flashpoint issue, it is
great reading on many levels. George was in Antarctica in January; this
book was given to him by one of his clients.
Best to all. ¨C Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.
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