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Subject:

87th Dorchester County May Bird Count, May 7, 2011: Dickcissels

From:

Harry Armistead

Reply-To:

Harry Armistead

Date:

Tue, 10 May 2011 18:16:54 +0000

            87th DORCHESTER COUNTY MAY BIRD COUNT, MAY 7, 2011 (in part): 2 Dickcissels.
            I was at a disadvantage: the right hearing aid ceased working in the wee small hours.  What¡¦s below is just my own personal list.  Several others are active today.  I¡¦ll incorporate their lists, post the complete results of this count in the next week or so.
            134 species.
            EFFORT:  11:15 P.M., Friday, until 8:45 P.M., Saturday.  188.2 miles by car, 1 on foot.  
            ABBREVIATIONS:  BNWR, Blackwater refuge).  EI, Elliott Island Road.  HI, Hooper¡¦s Island).  SH, Swan Harbor.
            common loon 6.  pied-billed grebe 3.  American white pelican 1.  brown pelican 8 (1 SH, 7 EI).  double-crested cormorant 115.  least bittern 1 (EI).  great blue heron 21.  great egret 29.  snowy egret 32.  little blue heron 2 imm. (BNWR Pool 3B).  cattle egret 5.  green heron 2.  black-crowned night heron 1 (EI).  glossy ibis 5 (EI).  
            black vulture 4.  turkey vulture 50.  Canada goose 60 (incl. broods of 3, 3 & 5 downy young at BNWR).  mute swan 2 (Shorter¡¦s Wharf).  wood duck 8.  gadwall 4 (2 BNWR, 2 EIR, the latter at Gadwall Bend).  American black duck 30.  mallard 55.  blue-winged teal 2 (EI).  green-winged teal 18 (2 Shorter¡¦s Marsh, 16 BNWR Pool 3B).  surf scoter 9 (SH).  red-breasted merganser 6 (SH).  ruddy duck (2 SH, 105 EI Fishing Bay).  osprey 45.  bald eagle 37.  northern harrier 4 (1 BNWR, 3 EIR incl. a ¡ñ chasing a bald eagle).  red-shoulderd hawk 1 ad. (Shorter¡¦s Marsh).  red-tailed hawk 3.  
            wild turkey 3 (1 Shorter¡¦s Marsh, 1 Moneystump Swamp, 1 EI).  northern bobwhite 1.  black rail 2.  clapper rail 2 (EI). king rail 1.  Virginia rail 51 (lots of spontaneous ¡§kiddick, kiddick, kiddick¡¨ calling going on).  common moorhen 3 (EI the Moorhen Spot).  
            semipalmated plover 3 (HI).  killdeer 10.  American oystercatcher 2 (SH).  black-necked stilt 3 (EI).  greater yellowlegs 15.  lesser yellowlegs 12.  solitary sandpiper 4.  willet 9.  ruddy turnstone 1 (SH).  sanderling 13 (SH).  semipalmated sandpiper (BNWR).  least sandpiper 95.  dunlin 145.  Wilson¡¦s snipe 2 (BNWR).  American woodcock 1.              laughing gull 395.  Bonaparte¡¦s gull 1 imm. (SH).  ring-billed gull 65.  herring gull 125.  great black-backed gull 12.  Caspian tern 1 (BNWR).  royal tern 1 (SH).  common tern 3 (Cambridge).  Forster¡¦s tern 165.  least tern 6 (BNWR).  black tern 1 (BNWR Pool 5B).  rock pigeon 18.  mourning dove 30.  yellow-billed cuckoo 2 (BNWR).  
            eastern screech-owl 1 (EI).  great horned owl 3.  barred owl 2 BNWR).  chuck-will¡¦s-widow 6.  chimney swift 6.  red-headed woodpecker 1 (Shorter¡¦s Marsh).  red-bellied woodpecker 4.  downy woodpecker 3.  northern flicker 3.  pileated woodpecker (3 widely-separated places).  
            eastern wood-pewee 1 (BNWR).  Acadian flycatcher 1 (Old Field Road).  great crested flycatcher 32.  eastern kingbird 14.  white-eyed vireo 10.  red-eyed vireo 6.  blue jay 4.  American crow 30.  fish crow 8.  purple martin 65.  tree swallow 70.  bank swallow 1 (BNWR).  barn swallow 125.  
            Carolina chickadee 6.  tufted titmouse 11.  brown-headed nuthatch 3.  Carolina wren 10.  house wren 11.  marsh wren 20.  blue-gray gnatcatcher 1 (BNWR).  eastern bluebird 14.  American robin 75 (how odd to not have the 1st one until 8:10 A.M., but then, southern Dorchester is an unusual place).  gray catbird 7.  brown thrasher 2.  European starling 50.  
            pine warbler 15.  prairie warbler 1 (Shorter¡¦s Marsh).  prothonotary warbler 1 (Egypt Road).  worm-eating warbler 1 (Old Field Road).  ovenbird 7.  common yellowthroat 65.  yellow-breasted chat 4.  
            summer tanager 3.  eastern towhee 5.  chipping sparrow 30.  field sparrow 3.  Savannah sparrow 4 (Egypt Road & EI).  grasshopper sparrow 1 (Egypt Road).  saltmarsh sparrow 6 (EI).  seaside sparrow 80.  song sparrow 1 (EI).  swamp sparrow 5 (EI, presumed breeding birds, singers).  northern cardinal 40.  blue grosbeak 18.  indigo bunting 14.  
            DICKCISSEL 2 (1¡ñ, 1¡ð, Egypt Road, new to the count).  red-winged blackbird 350.  eastern meadowlark 3 (BNWR).  common grackle 375.  boat-tailed grackle 12 (3 SH, 9 EI, all ¡ñ).  brown-headed cowbird 65.  orchard oriole 50.  Baltimore oriole 2 (BNWR).  house finch 8.  American goldfinch 25.  house sparrow 40.      
            NIGHT LIST:  A poor 15 species.  Not until 3:50 A.M. is the 1st Chuck-will¡¦s-widow noted.         
            NON-AVIAN TAXA:  A poor night for toads (none), frogs (only a few each of Green Frog and Southern Leopard Frog, and 2 Carpenter Frogs (the latter in marsh along the NW side of Savanna Lake).  Sika Deer: 25 EI, 62 Griffith Neck Rd., 3 BNWR & 1 Moneystump Swamp-BNWR = 91 total.  White-tailed Deer 8.  Black Rat Snake 1.  Black Racer 1 (d.o.r.), EI.  Red Fox, a small kit at night, EI.  1 Raccoon (EI).  1 Virginia Opossum (Griffith Neck Rd.).  Muskrat, 1, at Cambridge, between the bridges.  A Fox Squirrel1 S of Swan Harbor on Hoopers Island Road (alive) & 1 Common Snapping Turtle (d.o.r.).  The Firefly display in the middle of the night at EI is as spectacular as I¡¦ve ever seen.  At BNWR: 14 Painted & 1 Spotted turtle, 7 Redbelly Cooters, 1 Fox & 1 Gray squirrel, 3 Eastern Cottontails, and 2 Woodchucks.  1 Gray Squirrel, Griffith Neck Rd.  The No-seeums c. 7 P.M. at EI are so bad I wear gloves, a wool cap, and smear all exposed skin with repellant, even had to put some inside my nose.  At Moneystump Swamp: 2 Painted Turtles, 3 Pearlcrescents, 1 Clouded Sulphur, and 8 Diamondback Terrapin (the latter hauled out nearby at Beaverdam Creek).  6 Diamondback Terrapin at EI.  
            WEATHER:  52-75¢XF. dropping to 51 at dawn, 63 at dusk, winds (interfered little with hearing) SW 10 becoming NW 10 then SW again 15 and dropping to 5 m.p.h., clear changing to fair then mostly overcast for the last few hours.  Visibility excellent.  Tide high at EI both at start and finish, although noted as starting to rise at 2:33 A.M.  Low but rising fast at SH 7Hooper¡¦s I.  
            ROUTE:  Traditional one: EI 11:15-3:45, then Griffith Neck Rd. to BNWR, central BNWR 5A.M. ¡V 1:15 P.M.  Moneystump Swamp 1:35-2:05 P.M.  Swan Harbor & Hooper¡¦s I. 2:30-4 P.M.  EI the rest of the time except for the long drive over there from Hooper¡¦s I.
            COMMENTS:  No sort of flight of anything going on today.  Many species are in decline here (or else absent completely) at this time of year compared to yesteryears, specifically Yellow Warbler (as noted also by Terry Allen), Black-and-white Warbler, Whip-poor-will, Northern Bobwhite, Common Nighthawk, Henslow¡¦s Sparrow, Sedge Wren, Black, Virginia & King rails (but Clapper Rail & Common Moorhen seem to be increasing some), Sora, Horned Grebe, American Bittern, Blue-winged Teal, Gadwall, Bank Swallow, Yellow-throated Warbler, American Woodcock, Mute Swan (due to the extermination program), Northern Parula, Common Tern, Barn Owl, Kentucky Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, Saltmarsh Sparrow, and Boat-tailed Grackle.  On a good day, say, 20 years ago, almost all of these could be taken for granted.  
            ON THE BRIGHT SIDE:  But ¡K there are more Red-headed Woodpeckers now, not to mention Brown Pelicans.  Good totals today: 6 tern species, 5 gulls, and 5 rallids.
            PAISAN: It is traditional to spend the last hour or so before sunset at so-called Gadwall Bend on the Elliott Island Road.  Here one gives the poor car much-needed rest, and watches for the scarcer herons as they fly, one hopes, back in the gathering dusk to their island breeding sites.  And thus this year yielded 5 Glossy Ibis.  
            During this entire hour a Least Sandpiper forages less than 20 feet from the car in spite of my slamming the door numerous times as I removed or added clothing, my walking around close to this diminutive sandpiper, and other presumed disturbances.  I wish this little dude, my paisan, fair winds as it wings its way north to a mate and breed, probably no farther south than Nova Scotia.  
            Best to all. ¡V Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.          		 	   		  

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