87th DORCHESTER COUNTY MAY BIRD COUNT, MAY 7, 2011 (in full).
            153 species.  The # of individuals not totaled yet.
            EFFORT:  11:15 P.M., Friday, until 8:45 P.M., Saturday.  Party totals: 227 miles by car, 12 on foot.  16 hours by car, 29 on foot.  
            COVERAGE:  Rob Ostrowski - widespread coverage in south county, incl. Taylor’s I., Golden Hill, Meekins Neck, BNWR Tubman Trail, Bucktown Rd., Greenbrier Rd., DeCoursey Bridge, BNWR & EI.  Diane Cole, greater Cambridge city limits.  Terry Allen, BNWR official bird walk.  Peter Kaestner, brief visit to Least Tern colony in Cambridge.  Harry Armistead, EI, BNWR, SH, EI & HI.
            ABBREVIATIONS:  BNWR, Blackwater refuge.  Camb., Cambridge.  EI, Elliott Island Road.  HI, Hooper’s Island.  RO, Rob Ostrowski.  SH, Swan Harbor.  TA, Terry Allen.  TI, Taylor’s Island.
            common loon 6.  pied-billed grebe 3 (3 widely-separated areas, a good showing for here).  American white pelican 1 (Sewards).  brown pelican 8 (1 SH,7 EI).  double-crested cormorant 154.  least bittern 1 (EI).  great blue heron 55.  great egret 43.  snowy egret 32.  little blue heron 2 imm. (BNWR Pool 3B).  cattle egret 5.  green heron 5.  black-crowned night heron 1 (EI).  glossy ibis 5 (EI; HTA,BO).  
            black vulture 8.  turkey vulture 84.  Canada goose 85 (incl. broods of 3, 3 & 5 downy young at BNWR).  mute swan 2 (Shorter’s Wharf).  wood duck 14.  gadwall 6 (4 BNWR, 2 EIR, the latter at Gadwall Bend).  American black duck 30.  mallard 113.  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).  bufflehead 2♀ (TI).  ruddy duck (2 SH, 105 EI Fishing Bay).  
            osprey 57.  bald eagle 55.  northern harrier 5 (1 BNWR, 4 EIR incl. a ♂ chasing a bald eagle).  Cooper’s hawk 1 (Camb.).  red-shouldered hawk 1 ad. (Shorter’s Marsh; there is a very small, unique breeding population here in low, wet Loblolly Pine woodlands).  red-tailed hawk 7.  
            wild turkey 6.  northern bobwhite 2 (1 ea. by 2 parties, on the way out it would seem).  black rail 2.  clapper rail 3. king rail 1.  Virginia rail 51 (lots of spontaneous “kiddick, kiddick, kiddick” calling going on).  common moorhen 4 (EI the Moorhen Spot).  American coot 5 (BNWR, TA).  
            semipalmated plover 12 (BNWR & HI).  killdeer 13.  American oystercatcher 2 (SH).  black-necked stilt 4 (EI).  greater yellowlegs 16.  lesser yellowlegs 16.  solitary sandpiper 4.  willet 11.  spotted sandpiper 1 (BNWR, TA).  ruddy turnstone 1 (SH).  sanderling 13 (SH).  semipalmated sandpiper 4 (BNWR).  least sandpiper 95.  dunlin 170.  Wilson’s snipe 2 (BNWR).  American woodcock 1.       
            laughing gull 1159.  Bonaparte’s gull 1 imm. (SH).  ring-billed gull 65.  herring gull 146.  great black-backed gull 12.  gull unID’d 35.  Caspian tern 2 (1 BNWR, 1 TI).  royal tern 13 (1 SH, 12 TI).  common tern 4 (Cambridge).  Forster’s tern 209.  least tern 62.  black tern 1 (BNWR Pool 5B, HTA, photographed by RO).  rock pigeon 22.  mourning dove 35.  yellow-billed cuckoo 6.  
            eastern screech-owl 1 (EI).  great horned owl 3.  barred owl 2 (BNWR).  common nighthawk 1 (BNWR Tubman Trail, photographed by RO).  chuck-will’s-widow 6.  chimney swift 21.  ruby-throated hummingbird 4 (one flew into RO’s car, was photographed).  belted kingfisher 1 (Camb.).  red-headed woodpecker 9.  red-bellied woodpecker 14.  downy woodpecker 5.  northern flicker 3.  pileated woodpecker 5.  
            eastern wood-pewee 3.  Acadian flycatcher 1 (Old Field Road).  eastern phoebe (Camb.).  great crested flycatcher 59.  eastern kingbird 23.  white-eyed vireo 14.  red-eyed vireo 12.  blue jay 20.  American crow 38.  fish crow 84.  crow unID’d 6.  purple martin 65.  tree swallow 77.  bank swallow 1 (BNWR).  barn swallow 151.  
            Carolina chickadee 28.  tufted titmouse 38.  brown-headed nuthatch 8.  Carolina wren 25.  house wren 16.  marsh wren 40.  sedge wren 2 (EI, sound recorded by RO).  blue-gray gnatcatcher 9.  eastern bluebird 20.  wood thrush 5.  American robin 127.  gray catbird 13.  northern mockingbird 35.  brown thrasher 2.  European starling 97.  
            blue-winged warbler 1 (photographed by RO).  northern parula 6.  yellow warbler 1.  black-throated blue warbler 1♂.  yellow-rumped warbler 6.  pine warbler 28.  prairie warbler 4.  black-and-white warbler 3.  prothonotary warbler 2 (Egypt Road).  worm-eating warbler 2.  ovenbird 12.  common yellowthroat 86.  yellow-breasted chat 6.  
            summer tanager 8.  scarlet tanager 2.  eastern towhee 8.  chipping sparrow 43.  field sparrow 4.  Savannah sparrow 4 (Egypt Road & EI).  grasshopper sparrow 4.  saltmarsh sparrow 6 (EI).  seaside sparrow 80.  song sparrow 5.  swamp sparrow 5 (EI, presumed breeding birds, singers).  white-throated sparrow 1.  northern cardinal 82.  blue grosbeak 22.  indigo bunting 22.  
            DICKCISSEL 2 (1♂, 1♀, Egypt Road, new to the count).  red-winged blackbird 484.  eastern meadowlark 4.  common grackle 462.  boat-tailed grackle 12 (3 SH, 9 EI, all ♂).  brown-headed cowbird 83.  orchard oriole 60.  Baltimore oriole 3.  house finch 13.  American goldfinch 37.  house sparrow 47.  
            ADDENDA: In the haste during the recent posting of my own results I failed to list Northern Mockingbird (9) and the number of Semipalmated Sandpipers (4).    
             WEATHER:  52-75°F. 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. at EI.  Low but rising fast at SH & 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, 30 years ago, almost all of these could be taken for granted.  
            ON THE BRIGHT SIDE:  But … there are more Red-headed Woodpeckers now, not to mention Brown Pelicans.  Good totals today: 6 tern species, 5 gulls, and 6 rallids. 
            MISSED SPECIES (none of these THAT surprising):  Tricolored Heron, any falcons, Black-bellied Plover, Barn Owl, Hairy Woodpecker, Horned Lark, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Cedar Waxwing, Yellow-throated Warbler, American Redstart, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and Bobolink. 
            Best to all. – Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.          		 	   		  

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