LOWER EASTERN SHORE, MARCH 8-12, 2011, Ferry Neck, Blackwater N.W.R., Hooper’s Island, Taylor’s Island, Cambridge, Hurlock, Elliott Island Road, Chincoteague N.W.R., Assowoman Island, and Deal Island W.M.A.
            A good, varied 5-day road swing.  Already some daffodils and Vorsythia are blooming, and that purplish-maroon mint blankets big portions of the fields.  Greenish streamers issue from the willows.  The buds of the maples are on the verge of bursting.  The froggies are tuning up and turtles are out and about.  “The voice of the turtle is heard in our land” – the Song of Solomon, from the Bible.
            MARCH 8, TUESDAY.  A Northern Harrier over John Swaine’s fields.  Present only from mid-afternoon at our place, Rigby’s Folly.  .  Clear or fair, E 5-10, 50-53-48°F.  255 Canada Geese and 3 Wild Turkeys in Field 4.  A Red Fox in Field 2.  89 Ring-biled Gulls in Field 1.  In Irish Creek 235 Canvasbacks.  An Osprey migrating N, somewhat early for right here.  14 deer: 7 in Field 4, 7 others visible on Holland Point.  A Painted Turtle in Woods 4.  30 Fish Crows.  
            Productive “sea watch” from Lucy Point: 2340 Surf Scoters, 10 Common Goldeneyes, 95 Buffleheads, 4 Red-breasted Mergansers, 7 Long-tailed Ducks, and 175 Herring Gulls.  Good visibility.  Lots of standing water in the woods and fields.  The grass in the fields has greened up and grown noticeably since only a week ago.  While reading The Ionian mission in bed at 8:54 P.M. I hear a flock of Tundra Swans go over low, calling, and headed N.         
            MARCH 9, WEDNESDAY.  5:03 A.M. An Eastern Cottontail by the A-frame house, Ferry Neck Road; 5:08 11 deer in John Swaine’s fields; 5:39 House Sparrows already foraging at the Cambridge Wawa; 5:54 a road kill Eastern Cottontail at East Appleby Ave. in Cambridge.  Entire daylight period spent in Dorchester County:
            Blackwater N.W.R., 6-9:45.  Snow Goose 1875, Blue Goose 48, Tundra Swan 90, Wood Duck 7, Gadwall 22, Northern Shoveler 85, Green-winged Teal 70, Ring-necked Duck 41 (Pool 1), 13 Hooded and 14 Common mergansers, AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN 19, Osprey 1, Bald Eagle 22, Red-tailed Hawk 3, Killdeer 2, 2 Greater and 6 Lesser yellowlegs, Dunlin 80, Forster’s Tern 7, Pileated Woodpecker 1, Fish Crow 3, Tree Swallow 1, Brown-headed Nuthatch 2 (right at Wildlife Drive entrance, an unusual location), Eastern Bluebird 8, American Pipit 22, Slate-colored Junco 10, and American Goldfinch 6.  Chorus Frogs calling at several spots.
            The white pelicans, so huge, but are surprisingly difficult to count since they clump together so closely when at rest.  It helps to look for not just the body mass but also to take into consideration the legs and, especially, the wispy crests on the top of their heads.  I count them 6 times with results ranging from 15 to 18.  Then they take flight, flushed by a jon boat, and it is, finally, easy to see there are exactly 19.
            Hooper’s Island (disappointing) 10-noon: Northern Pintail (actually, at Great Marsh, only ones all day), Lesser Scaup 8, Surf Scoter 115, Long-tailed Duck 8, Bufflehead 50, Common Goldeneye 7, Ruddy Duck 9, 1 Red-throated and 7 Common loons, Horned Grebe 9, BROWN PELICAN 7, Northern Gannet 38 (way offshore), Bald Eagle 3, Forster’s Tern 2, Rock Pigeon 15, Fish Crow 9, Tree Swallow 1, Eastern Bluebird 6, and House Sparrow 17.   
            Barren Island: 430 Tundra Swans visible on the E side along with a Bald Eagle.
            Taylor’s Island 12:15-1 P.M.  Lookout from Taylor’s Island Family Campground, which has to be seen to be believed.  The Chesapeake narrows here, offering good views of the entire width of the Bay.  I usually buy something at the campground store to establish my bona fides and justify setting up on their shoreline.  2 Gray Squirrels outside this store, where often feed is cast for them next to the small cypress tress.  
            Canvasback 1♀, Green-winged Teal 7, Surf Scoter 415, Long-tailed Duck 2, Bufflehead 16, Common Goldeneye 2, Bald Eagle 1, Red-throated Loon 1 (very close in), Horned Grebe 1, Northern Gannet 2, Osprey 1, Black Vulture 2, Northern Harrier 1, Forster’s Tern 2, and Rock Pigeon 17 (hang out on the store roof).  
            Madison at Route 16: A group of 37 Wild Turkeys foraging in a field just S of the highway near Brooks Road.  1:31 P.M.  “One of our largest birds” – Sibley guide.  Indeed!
            Cambridge 1:45-2:15 P.M., another disappointment.  The big Canvasback flock at Oakley Street isn’t here today: Tundra Swan 2, Mallard 22, Canvasback 3, 3 Greater and 65 Lesser scaup, Surf Scoter 30, Bufflehead 5, Double-crested Cormorant 1, and Bald Eagle 2. 
            Hurlock Wastewater Treatment Plant, 2:30-3:15.  Canada Goose 560, American Wigeon 17 (foraging amidst the scum in the NW cell), Mallard 9, Northern Shoveler 23, and Ruddy Duck 18.  Also, a Redbelly Slider in the NW cell.
            Elliott Island Road 4-6:45 P.M.  Canada Goose 865, 2 Mute and 6 Tundra swans, Gadwall 6, American Wigeon 8, American Black Duck 20, Blue-winged Teal 13 (at the Moorhen Spot), Green-winged Teal 22, Canvasback 95, Lesser Scaup 35. Bufflehead 2, Hooded Merganser 3, Ruddy Duck 480, Red-throated Loon 1, Black-crowned Night Heron 3, Bald Eagle 4, Northern Harrier 3, Greater Yellowlegs 13, Dunlin 5, 1 Great Horned and 2 Short-eared owls.  A lusty Southern Leopard Frog chorus just W of the N end of Savanna Lake.  4 Sika Deer.  Numerous moths on the drive out.
            Today’s goal is a waterfowl marathon.  I end up with 24 species, nice, but with a little luck 3 more could easily have been added; surprising to miss Red-breasted Merganser, Redhead, and one of the scarcer geese (Cacking or Ross’s).  38-51°F., E 5-15 becoming NE 15-20, mostly or completely overcast, raw, chilly.  151 birding miles by car.  Not a good Bald Eagle day.
            MARCH 10, THURSDAY.  Big rain.  Rested and read.  Overcast, 52-59°F., SE 15-25.  48 Fish Crows, 12 deer, 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk (flew down driveway ahead of me, low, and fast, then disappeared into the hedgerow), a Painted Turtle in Woods 4.  Big Spring Peeper chorus in Woods 4 and vicinity at dusk.  Tide 1.5 – 2 feet above normal.  Monstrous.  Twenty-three Wild Turkeys foraging in their favorite field S of Rt. 33 east of St. Michaels.  There’s now as much surface water in the soggy fields as I’ve ever seen. Off loaded 150 lbs. of deer corn and burned the bags out in Field 1; they burned well, even in the rain.
            MARCH 11, FRIDAY.  5 Gray Squirrels at the deer corn.  2 Black Vultures investigating the blind on the W side of Field 1, where they have nested in other years.  In spite of all the rain the current in the ditches along the driveway runs nice and clear, no erosion.  Close down the house and get out of Dodge as this is the weekend here for George’s bachelor party.  Overcast, NW 10, 43°F., high tide.
            Route 33 just W of Easton: 19 Wild Turkeys in a field.
            Egypt Road: 170 Tundra Swans, 550 Canada Geese, 1745 Ring-billed and 9 Herring gulls.  As usual the abundant rains precipitate big numbers of ringbills into the fields.  After such a deluge I enjoy seeing the dark, “blackwater” streaming out of the woodlands, the color of strong, well-steeped tea, with bubbles, froth, and foam often forming on the surface where it hits the ditches.
            Blackwater N.W.R.  Brief visit.  Blue Goose 19, Gadwall 30, Northern Pintail 22, Green-winged Teal 50, Ring-necked Duck 4 in Pool 5B, Ruddy Duck 3 in Pool 3B, Tree Swallow 72 (cf. just 1 here March 9).  I miss the white pelicans but others see 7 flushed by a small boat.  37 Painted Turtles hauled out on the edges of the little pond on the N side of Key Wallace Drive.  Some Chorus Frogs calling as well as, in Pool SC, leopard frogs.  A singing Pine Warbler.
            Decoursey Bridge Road: submerged for 200 feet – 2 Bald Eagles, 6 Tundra Swans.  Lots of Muskrat lodges.
            Middletown Branch Road near Salem, MD: Tundra Swan 165, Killdeer 4 and Great Blue Heron 5. 
            Route 50 X the Chicamacomico River pond: a Beaver Lodge.  Chicamacomico is deliberately misspelled Chicawicomico in the DeLorme state atlas; one of those strategies meant to detect infringers of copyright.  It’s correctly spelled in the ADC county atlas.
            Routes 50 X 13, 3 Bald Eagles, the new staring, in the air over N Salisbury.
            Chincoteague N.W.R., most of these, at least the waterfowl, in Snow Goose Pool, which is loaded: Tundra Swan 54, Gadwall 355, American Wigeon 28, black duck 305, Mallard all of 4, shoveler 670, pintail 65, Green-winged Teal 1090, Red-breasted Merganser 13, Common Loon 7, Northern Gannet 2 adults, Great Egret 5, Bald Eagle 1 adult, harrier 2, Black-bellied Plover 2, oystercatcher 12, Greater Yellowlegs 14, Willet 48, Dunlin 95, and Short-billed Dowitcher 3.  Leopard frogs call in Snow Goose Pool.
            While waiting for the Snow Goose Pool gate to open Jennifer Elmer and I encounter Fletcher Smith and Ned Brinkley, on their way out, who’ve just completed an Ipswich Sparrow survey along 8 miles of the N part of the refuge, finding, I think it was, 34.  Tide high becoming low.       
            Chincoteague causeway, Route 175, 5:15-5:45 P.M.: 275 Brant, 23 oystercatchers, 3 Short-billed Dowitchers, 85 Dunlin, 4 Black-bellied Plovers, 4 Willets, 1 harrier, 35 Boat-tailed Grackles, 12 Red-breasted and 2 Hooded mergansers, 4 Long-tailed Ducks, 25 black ducks, 2 Great Blue Herons, and 3 Double-crested Cormorants.  It’s worth the entire trip just to hear at close range the compressed, guttural trumpeting of the Brant, the marvelous sea goose of the high Arctic and iconic winter bird of Chincoteague. 
            MARCH 12, SATURDAY.
            D.O.R. Striped Skunk on Route 13 near Accomac, VA.  I don’t think of skunks as being much of a presence on the lower Delmarva Peninsula.  Maybe they’re spreading.  Or, maybe I’m wrong.
            Assowoman Island, VA (variant spelling is Assawoman), same root I guess as Assateague and Assacorkin, the latter an island just across the line in MD in Chincoteague Bay.  This attractive island is 3.6 miles long, lacks trees, and - the inlet having filled in - adjoins Wallops Island, a NASA facility, to its N.  The N 2/3rds. consist of rather high beach that gently slopes westward to the saltmarsh over a space of a couple of hundred yards and lacks dunes.  Widespread are lengthy, exposed Phragmites roots, many 25 or more feet in length, that can slightly trip up th’unwary beachcomber.  
            Ned Brinkley and I walk the island 10 A.M. – 1:30 P.M., assisting Fletcher Smith (Center for Conservation Biology/College of William and Mary and Virginia Commonwealth University) with a statewide survey of Ipswich and Savannah sparrows wherever there are dunes and extensive beach in the Old Dominion; this has never been done previously.  Clear, 45-50°F., SW 10-20+ m.p.h. winds.  We see deer and Raccoon prints in many spots.  Mostly I’m looking for the sparrows and other birds but among the great profusion of the coquillage I do see one angelwing and one limpet; otherwise it’s countless clams, oysters, cockles, scallops, moon shells, and whelks.
            S of midway for several hundred yards stretch blasted and dead myrtle bushes.  In their center are a few still alive – until the next strong nor’easter does them in.  Some of the isolated dead ones, with a dozen or so limbs stretching skywards in rows, from the distance look like the rib cage of large, dead ungulate picked clean by vultures, or a gesture of hosanna in supplication to the indifferent skies.  S of here are a few low dunes and more beach.  Never been here before.  Only one Virginia bay or coastal island remains that I’ve never trod – Metompkin (sometimes spelled Metomkin).  
            Complete list: Snow Goose 5000+ (with precious few blues), Canada Goose 300 (near the mainland launch site at the end of Gargatha Landing Road), 300 Brant (a flock of c. 200 is joined in flight by a lone American Wigeon), Gadwall 24, American Wigeon 5, black duck 40, pintail 2, Green-winged Teal 2, 18 Surf and 5 White-winged scoters, Bufflehead 20, Common Goldeneye 13, 9 Hooded and 22 Red-breasted Mergansers, Common Loon 8, Double-crested Cormorant 1, 
            Great Blue Heron 2, Turkey Vulture 28 (in sight simultaneously, energized by today’s strong winds), Bald Eagle 2, harrier 3, Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 adult that seemed to attract 7 Northern Flickers intent on mobbing (?), Red-tailed Hawk 2, Peregrine Falcon 2, Black-bellied Plover 90, oystercatcher 20, Greater Yellowlegs 3, Western Sandpiper 2, Dunlin 300, 45 Herring and 2 Great Black-backed gulls, Short-eared Owl 2, kingfisher (near the mainland), 8 Ipswich and 1 regular Savannah sparrow, 26 Red-winged Blackbirds, 2 Eastern Meadowlarks, and 34 Boat-tailed Grackles.
            The flickers just sort of drop out of the sky suddenly as if in a migration fallout.
            Perhaps the most unusual record today is the count of 13 goldeneye, which seem to have become scarcer and scarcer on the coast in winter.  For example, only 2 were seen this winter on the Cape Charles Christmas Bird Count.
            Route 363 a mile W. of Princess Anne, MD: an impressive 620 Tundra Swans resting and feeding in a wheat field.  The poor farmer!   
            Deal Island W.M.A., Somerset County, MD.  3:15-6:15 P.M.  Weary of the ponderous opera on 89.5 I switch to 91.3 out of curiosity and keep it on most of the rest of the daylight period: terrific blues, vocal and instrumental.  Broadcasts from Princess Anne, UMES.  “Baby let me have my walkin’ shoes; these high tone women got me cryin’ and singin’ the blues” is one of them.  
            So bleak is Riley Roberts Road that I nap for 45 minutes, tilt the seat back, and let the low-angled sun warm through the car windows.  But out in the marsh to the NW side of R.R.R. there are SOME ducks, geese and swans.  However, most of the birds I see are from the so-called Dumpster Road to the E, where there’s a leopard frog chorus
at dusk.  If I’d stayed until 6:30 I bet I would have seen Short-eared Owls.  Clear, SW 20-25 m.p.h., low 50s.  White caps within the almost birdless impoundment.
            Complete list: Canada Goose 30, Tundra Swan 149, Gadwall 75, American Wigeon 105, Northern Shoveler 2, Northern Pintail 1♀, Green-winged Teal 24, Bufflehead 1♂, 7 Hooded and 2 Red-breasted mergansers, no heron types of any stripe, Turkey Vulture 41 (dusk roost near Dames Quarter), Northern Harrier 7, Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 (hunting fast and very low at dusk), Dunlin 6, Wilson’s Snipe 3, Fish Crow 45, bluebird 2, 1 Song and 1 Savannah sparrow, 1 Boat-tailed Grackle plus a few redwings.  
            BROWN-HEADED NUHATCH.  “It is a bird that justifiably registers as cute with even the most jaundiced observers because of its tiny size, relative tameness, squealing rubber-ducky calls, and the conversational nature of its other fussy twittering and squeaky vocalizations.” Walter Ellison, Second atlas of the breeding birds of Maryland and the District of Columbia (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010, page 278).  Touché!
            Best to all. – Harry Armistead, Philadelphia. 		 	   		  

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