FERRY NECK, BLACKWATER N.W.R., and TILGHMAN ISLAND, APRIL 7-11, 2011.  38 AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS at BLACKWATER.
            THURSDAY, APRIL 7.  Fort Armistead Park: we dip on the Harlequin Duck, just see 2 Buffleheads and a Horned Grebe.
            Fort Smallwood Park.  A slow day here but we do see 5 swallow species, including a Bank Swallow and dozens of Tree Swallows and some close, leisurely views of 2 Northern Rough-winged Swallows that land near us in a tree.  5 Horned Grebes, 2 Bald Eagles, 6 Ospreys, 2 Sharp-shinned Hawks, a Cooper’s Hawk, a Northern Harrier, 1 Greater Scaup, a Brown Thrasher, and 17 Bonaparte’s Gulls.  Also, a Muskrat steaming back and forth in the pond and numerous Painted Turtles.  We are only here a few hours so miss much of what Sue Ricciardi and Hal Wierenga see.
            Rigby’s Folly, 6:30 P.M. until dark only.  24 Northern Gannets, 470 Surf Scoters, 1 Bald Eagle, 9 Ospreys, 16 Buffleheads, 3 Common Loons (1 with a Hogchoker), 1 Forster’s Tern.  17 deer in Field 5.  2 Wild Turkeys.  Visibility only fair.  66-57°F., E 10+, fair.  It is damp but nevertheless quite easy to drive across Field 1 to Lucy Point, even after the rain that will come on Friday, every day except April 11, when I could have but chose not to.  
            FRIDAY, APRIL 8.  Most of today is spent going to and from Golden Hill to pick up ‘the Mudhen’ from winter storage at Gootee’s Marine, with drives through Blackwater N.W.R. both before and after the pickup.  I spend over an hour talking with Jenny Gootee Whitten and enjoying her excellent photographs of local scenes as well as those down along the Southeast coast at several sites.  
            But at Rigby’s Folly Liz finds a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.  I see 3 Wild Turkeys in Field 1.  3 Gray Squirrels.  The Shadbush and Crab Apples are in full bloom.  I pick up some shad and shad roe from Kool Ice as well as 150 lbs. of deer corn from Eastern Service Corporation next door.  At our place: Overcast, 53-44°F., E 5-10, I’m present only from 2 P.M. on, light rain after 3 P.M.  13 deer in a field across from John Swaine’s.  
            Egypt Road:  40 Green-winged Teal, 1 Horned Lark, 55 Ring-billed Gulls, 2 American Kestrels, and 2 Sika Deer (crossing the road through the woods just N of Key Wallace Drive).  I seldom see deer of any species in the central part of the refuge here.             On the real estate sign that proudly proclaims the future site of Jake’s Landing and Henry’s Overlook developments a Turkey Vulture is perched.  I could only wish that there are 15 more there and that those are full of prunes.  
            The sign sits in a vast, empty field, and as in Shelley’s ‘Ozymandias,’ “ Nothing beside remains.  Round the decay/Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare./The lone and level sands stretch far away.”  As far as I can determine there has never been a place name of Jake’s Landing or Henry’s Overlook in Dorchester County.  The way the economy is now perhaps there never will be.  
            BLACKWATER N.W.R.:  38 AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS.  In addition to the stalwart, flightless individual on the Little Blackwater River at Sewards - now continuously present for over 2 years - there is a flock of at least 37 as seen on the S side of the Blackwater River from Pool 3.  4 Caspian Terns as seen from the Blackwater River bridge at Route 335.  
            Mostly overcast, light rain until 7 A.M., E 10+ diminishing to 5 m.p.h., 46-51°F., tidal water low, impoundments have let down some but are still high.  
            Other highlights: All 9 dabbling duck species including 90 Green-winged Teal, 4 pintails, 10 Blue-winged Teal, 85 shovelers, 32 Gadwalls, and a ♂ American Wigeon.  5 Great Egrets.  2 Glossy Ibis.  32 Bald Eagles.  3 Northern Harriers.  1 coot.  18 Greater & Lesser yellowlegs combined.  36 Dunlin.  1 snipe.  180 Tree Swallows (esp. in Pool 5B).  12 Barn Swallows.  5 juncos.  
            Also: a Painted Turtle basking on Key Wallace Drive.  A few Southern Leopard Frogs calling.    
            SATURDAY, APRIL 9.  Most of the day spent elsewhere but at Rigby’s Folly there’s a Greater Yellowlegs in Field 4 plus a Wild Turkey.  5 Painted Turtles in Woods 4.  From Lucy Point, curiously, some of the totals are larger than from Blackwalnut Point earlier in the day, to wit: 41 Northern Gannets, 5 Common Loons, and 1140 Surf Scoters.  In the yard are 3 deer, 3 Gray Squirrels, and an Eastern Cottontail, the latter most welcome and the first I’ve seen around the yard in well over a year.  My guess is that the Red Foxes and Great Horned Owls have just about wiped them out there.   
            Lunch at Bay Hundred Restaurant, Knapps Narrows, where we see (maximum number in sight simultaneously): 3 Bald Eagles, 5 Ospreys and 9 Turkey Vultures.  Herring and Great Black-backed gulls inspect a basket full of fish floating east to under the drawbridge. 
            South end of Blackwalnut Point.  What a vantage point, with a c. 300° view of the waters, so it takes a long time to scope it.  Calm and overcast, ideal conditions.  50°F.  2-3 P.M.  Best of all is a RIVER OTTER, spotted by Liz, at close range.  Complete list:
            Northern Gannet 24, White-winged 1 & Surf scoter 740, Greater & Lesser scaup 30, Horned Grebe 12, Common Loon 4, Bald Eagle 1, Double-crested Cormorant 740 (concentrated at the pound nets), Osprey 32, Bufflehead 30, Canada Goose 1, Chipping Sparrow 1, Myrtle Warbler 12, Northern Cardinal 2, Mute Swan 2, Eastern Bluebird 2, House Finch 6, Northern Mockingbird 3, American Crow 1, Sharp-shinned Hawk 1, European Starling 1, Red-winged Blackbird 3.    
            SUNDAY, APRIL 10.  The Talbot Bird Club, 20 strong, comes to Ferry Neck including Roger Stone, Cathy Cooper, Wayne Bell, Jan Reese, Gordon Jennings, Les Coble (leader), Danny Poet, Vince DeBenedictis, Mary Konchar, Bill Novak, Liz and me.  First stop is Bellevue, then Frog Hollow (opposite Gunner’s Range), then Rigby’s Folly.  56 species.  Afterwards a great breakfast at the Stones’.  
            I get the biggest kick out of 8 Northern Gannets we see right in the Tred Avon River, some of them well “upstream” and plunge-diving.  All gannets today are, as expected, gleaming white full adults.  Earlier Roger Stone saw a gannet all the way up Edge Creek. 
            Rigby’s Folly (some of these seen before and after the official birdwalk): Winter Wren (late; seen by Les Coble et al., who also found some Swamp Sparrows).  An adult Bald Eagle chasing an Osprey carrying a small fish but the eagle is dive-bombed repeatedly by a 2nd Osprey and the original Osprey gets away with its fish.  A Red-throated loon.  A Greater Yellowlegs foraging in the large pool of rainwater in Field 4.  1 Wild Turkey.  The bird club members discover a Canada Goose sitting on its nest at Frog Hollow, where at least 7 Wood Duck nestbox structures have been erected recently.  
            4 Bonaparte’s Gulls, in full breeding plumage.  4 Forster’s Terns.  A Brown Thrasher.  A ♂ Eastern Towhee.  56 Fish Crows towards dusk, very vocal.  10 Painted Turtles in Woods 4.  
            From Lucy Point, 1:15-2 P.M., the result of intensive scope work): 665 Surf Scoters, 51 Northern Gannets, 11 Horned Grebes (a small “flight;” all seen flying north out over the Choptank River mouth), 4 Lesser Scaup, 5 Common Loons, and 15 Buffleheads.  
            Liz sees a Spring Azure and I find a Cabbage White, both the first of the year for us here plus an unID’d anglewing.  Several Common Loons seen this visit are in full breeding plumage and have captured Hogchokers. 
            Overcast, calm or SW<5 becoming SW 5-10, 50-64°F, some sun in the mid to late afternoon.  Visibility excellent - so good I can with the 32X scope discern cormorants perched on the stakes of the pound nets S of Black Walnut Point 7 miles away.  In the afternoon I take a hoe for an hour and clean some of the ditches along West Ferry Neck Road as well as our driveway. 
            MONDAY, APRIL 11.  Leave by 10.45 A.M.  A Common Tern out over Irish Creek, early.  8 Painted Turtles in the Woods 4 vernal pool.  On the way home, 31 Painted Turtles and a pair of Canada Geese in the low area E of Rt. 481 and just N of the intersection of routes 481 X 309; nothing else in spite of receding water and much exposed mud that I think would attract shorebirds and teal.  2 Green-winged Teal and a pair of Canada Geese in the pond E of Route 481 and just S of Hope.  Near the intersection of routes 301 X 481 50 Ring-billed and 9 Laughing gulls in a recently-plowed field.  A lot of plowing going on today.  96 Turkey Vultures on the trip back to Philadelphia.
            ODDS AND ENDS:
            MARCH ADDENDA:
            March 9: a Sharp-shinned Hawk near the intersection of Henry’s Crossroads-Lewis Wharf Road & Elliot Island Road is doing a flight style so like a flicker I have to look twice to make certain it is NOT a flicker.  I’ve only seen this a few times but it reminds me of the passerine-style “shrike” flight that one sees Merlins do sometimes in the fall.  Presumably this enables raptors to “pass” as a harmless songbird, then close in for the kill on their unsuspecting prey.  
            March 13: Chris Starling sees 2 White-breasted Nuthatches at Rigby’s Folly.
            March 27: My reference to “Darking thrush” should, obviously, have been to “Darkling thrush,” Thomas Hardy’s famous poem.
            BURNING ISSUE.  The undergrowth in the entire forested area surrounding the Bald Eagle nest just E of Egypt Road was completely burned weeks ago with singed pine needles as high as the nest in some adjacent trees.  I don’t know if this nest is, so far, successful this year or not, and if not, why it isn’t.  
            A marsh fire W of Elliott Island Road and just S of Savanna Lake has singed (or burned) pine needles to ABOVE THE LEVEL OF the eagle nest in a neighboring tree, but I don’t think this nest is active this year anyway.  Farther N on Elliott Island Road a burn E of the road has killed over one hundred 20-30 foot high Loblolly Pines and ensured a vigorous new growth of Phragmites in the affected area.  
            I don’t think any of these 3 burns were done by government agencies but I continue to be concerned that burns, no matter who does them, often damage tree hammocks in the marsh - favored nesting areas for eagles.  This sets up a vicious cycle killing some trees that are then more likely to become blowovers.  The more blowovers there are the more open and unsuitable the hammocks become, the ensuing increased openness making even more blowovers likely.  With saltwater intrusion and land subsidence the hammocks are already up against it anyway.  
            In Dorchester County in late winter marsh burning by local citizens seems to be almost a major form of recreation, the windier the day the better.  I realize the burns make it easier for trappers to access their sets and that the absorbed ashes may help rejuvenate the marsh vegetation.  If indeed marsh burns are part of a natural cycle then perhaps natural burns should be the only ones the marsh needs.  My two-cents for what it’s worth.    
            SCOTER ADDENDUM.  In my recent posting regarding scoters’ diet I omitted the important detail that the biologists’ analysis of their stomach and gizzard contents was based (entirely?) on birds obtained from sea duck hunters, about the only thing that makes sea duck hunting more than just target practice, since the birds are seldom eaten.  Cook a scoter with a brick.  When you can stick a fork in the brick throw the scoter away and eat the brick.  
            Best to all. – Harry Armistead, Philadelphia. 		 	   		  

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