Part 2, May 29-31: LOWER EASTERN SHORE OF MARYLAND, May 21-31.
            MAY 29, Sunday.  At c. 5:10 A.M. 9 deer in Field 1, a Chuck-will’s-widow calling in Woods 5, and a Red Fox kit on the driveway.
            On the way to Crocheron: Egypt Road: 2 singing ♂ Dickcissels, a Grasshopper Sparrow, a Horned Lark, and a Green Heron.  At Blackwater N.W.R., Hog Range, 1 ea. of Sika and White-tailed deer.  Six Wild Turkeys at Route 336 X Edgar Road (the “Big Bend”).  A roadkill Sika Deer attended by Turkey Vultures a little farther south.  A flying Clapper Rail and an Eastern Cottontail (non-flying) near Bishop’s Head.          
            Then, a c. 30-mile boat trip with Jared W. Sparks to several Dorchester County, MD, islands. 8 A.M. – 4 P.M.  The temperature was in the high 70s, low 80s, with a refreshing SW breeze of 10-15 m.p.h.  High tide at 1 P.M.  Fair skies and weather, few bugs.  
            BLOODSWORTH ISLAND (U. S. Navy).  East Bloodsworth Island: 1 Bald Eagle, and, on the pound nets, 15 Brown Pelicans and 30 Double-crested Cormorants.  Southeast Bloodsworth Island: another Bald Eagle.  
            SPRING ISLAND (part of Blackwater N.W.R.).  8:30 – 9 A.M.  Complete bird list follows.  The hacking tower has been repaired and a pair of Peregrine Falcons is perched around it.  I could not see into the nesting box, nor did I especially want to get close enough to do so and thereby spook the falcons.  I flushed a ♀ Gadwall from dense Spartina patens grass, a sure sign of nesting, but could find no nest; perhaps she was just starting the process.  Earlier we’d seen a ♂.  
            The lack of Willets, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Boat-tailed Grackles here may perhaps be due to the presence of the falcons.  Other birds: 2 Ospreys, an American Oystercatcher, 18 Seaside Sparrows (a lot for such a small island, most of them in the dense Juncus roemerianus, very tame), 4 Yellow-crowned Night Herons, 20 Double-crested Cormorants, a migrant Ruddy Turnstone, 4 Brown Pelicans, 2 American Black Ducks, 2 Great Black-backed and 2 Herring gulls, most all of these non-breeders I’d guess, except for the gulls, oystercatcher, ducks, falcons, and sparrows. 
            Also: 10 Diamondback Terrapin, a Red-spotted Purple, and a Saltmarsh Skipper.  To get here was a 10.6 mile rather choppy run from Crocheron.  Tide high and still rising.  As we cast off from Spring Island I notice that the boat instrumentation, working fine only a few minutes ago, has failed.  
            HOLLAND ISLAND.  The “Herring Gull totals” no doubt include a few Great Black-backed Gulls nests, perhaps <5% of the grand total.  Unless one sees the bird in question on its eggs they’re pretty indistinguishable since the sizes overlap.
            A.  South segment, east side (site of the hammock with the big trees), 10:15-11:30 A.M.  I only surveyed pelican nests in Baccharis halimifolia bushes on the central, extreme S end, to get the jist of things.  Perhaps 5, 6, or 7 times as many pelican nests are in other B.h. bushes surrounding this hammock and maybe a few more in the trees.  1 egg, 10 nests; 2 eggs, 10 nests; 3 eggs, 13 nests; 0 eggs (but new, fresh nests), 10 nests = a total for this sample of 43 active BRPE nests.  
            The hammock is loaded with cormorant nests (as many as 175, perhaps more), with many Great Egret nests, a few Snowy Egrets, and a couple or so of Great Blue Heron nests.  I’d guess the huge numbers of cormorants, or, more to the point, their potent excrement, will kill these grand old trees, if not this year then perhaps the next.            
            The trees are mostly American Hackberries with some much smaller Persimmons and even a few Black Locusts, and, of course, Eastern Redcedars, the latter loaded with DCCO nests. Banding the BRPE chicks here will be a REAL CHORE since the bushes are dense, most head high, and the BRPE nests are slightly lower.  John Weske banded in these thickets last September.
            The S end of this, the largest segment by far, is where most of the smaller herons are nesting, I’d say, in this declining order of abundance: Black-crowned Night Heron, Snowy Egret, Tricolored Heron, Little Blue Heron, Cattle Egret, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Glossy Ibis, Great Blue Heron.  No Green Herons seen anywhere today.  The one isolated, rather low Loblolly Pine on the extreme S end again has an active Bald Eagle nest, with one large youngster.  Both parent birds are present.
            Highest ISS counts (birds in the air or on the water): 55 Black-crowned Night Herons, 760 Brown Pelicans, 250 Double-crested Cormorants (not counting 175 or so DCCOs remaining in the trees), 75 Snowy Egrets.  
            3 Song Sparrows, 2 Carolina Wrens, 15 Boat-tailed Grackles, 15 Fish Crows, 8 Clapper Rails, 15 Seaside Sparrows, 3 Red-winged Blackbirds, 2 MUTE SWANS, 2 Common Yellowthroats, 2 Laughing Gulls, 5 American Oystercatchers, 2 Mallards, 2 Gadwalls, 1 American Black Duck, and 3 Willets as well as 100+ Seaside Dragonlets and 1 Orange Sulphur.    
            B.  South segment, west side (site where most of the BRPE have nested in the past few years, now mostly beach or bare clay).  11:40 A.M. – 12:15 P.M.  2 Clapper Rails.  2 American Oystercatchers.  
            BRPE nests (probably exact and complete totals):  1 egg, 34 nests; 2 eggs, 32 nests; 3 eggs, 21 nests; 1 young, 1 nest; 2 young, 4 nests; 3 young, 1 nest; 1 young & 1 egg, 1 nest; 2 young & 1 egg, 1 nest; 0 eggs (as per above), 8 nests = a total of 103 BRPE nests.  These are almost all on the ground.  260 BRPE ISS.  
            The chicks are all small, “naked chicks,” as it were.  Also on the south segment, west side: Herring Gull – 1 egg, 2 nests; 2 eggs, 8 nests; 3 eggs, 11 nests = a total of 21 nests.  DCCO – 1 egg, 1 nest; 2 eggs, 3 nests; 3 eggs, 2 nests; 4 eggs, 2 nests; 2 young, 1 nest; 1 egg & 1 young, 1 nest plus 8 active nests with eggs whose contents I did not record = a total of 18 DCCO nests.  Very few bushes remain here.  Some of the BRPE nests are back a few feet from the sand/clay in marsh grass (Juncus).
            C.  Middle segment (where the house USED to be … on its N end).  Mostly barren sand and clay with little vegetation, essentially a gull colony.  These totals, too, I’d submit are exact and complete.  12:30-1:15 P.M.  There is an active Osprey nest on top of a Bobcat on the S end, the Bobcat still in fairly good shape.  
            BRPE nests: 2 eggs, 1 nest; 3 eggs, 1 nest; 2 eggs & 1 young, 1 nest = a total of 3 nests.  DCCO nests: 1 egg, 1 nest; 2 eggs, 4 nests; 3 eggs, 3 nests; 4 eggs, 3 nests; 5 eggs, 1 nest; 0 eggs, 1 nest = a total of 13 DCCO nests.  HEGU – 1 egg, 41 nests; 2 eggs, 33 nests; 3 eggs, 96 nests; 4 eggs, 1 nest; 1 egg & 1 young, 1 nest; 0 eggs, 11 nests; and, get this, 1 nest with 3 HEGU eggs plus 1 DCCO egg = a total of 184 gull nests. 
            D.  North segment.  Little left, much < one acre but well vegetated.  2 Great Black-backed Gulls, 1 Osprey & 1 American Oystercatcher.  Formerly the site of a sizeable Forster’s/Common ternery.  I can remember when the northern half of Holland had a sizeable American Hackberry hammock and graveyard, now completely gone.
            ADAM ISLAND (U. S. Navy).  1:30 P.M.  We just boat by.  Landing on the W side usually means disembarking on a lee shore, which is awkward, whereas the E side is so shallow that is awkward, too.  Next time may do this island more justice.  It is now in 3 main segments, the south being the biggest and marshiest.  
            For the 1st time I can remember there is evidence of 3-4 Great Egret nests in the bushes around the felled old Navy tower, on top of which there’s an active Osprey nest.  5 American Black Ducks, 1 Gadwall, 3 Fish Crows, 5 Yellow-crowned Night Herons (may also nest here), 6 Boat-tailed Grackles, 2 Mallards, and an estimated 11 Great Blue Heron nests, the highest I’ve seen on Adam, perhaps some are refugees from the declining Bloodsworth Island heronry.  4 Osprey nests.   
            PONE ISLAND (essentially SW Bloodsworth Island).  1:45 P.M.  On the extreme SW edge of the ominous “impact area.”  Still has some considerable adjacent sandbars.  27 Brown Pelicans (site of the 1st county record), 60 Herring & 36 Great Black-backed Gulls, 4 MUTE SWAN, 1 American Black Duck, 1 American Oystercatcher & 1 Diamondback Terrapin.
            WEST BLOODSWORTH ISLAND.  2 P.M.  The nearby shallow waters are full of debris, including 4 submerged Sherman tanks, and unexploded ordnance, making boating a bit dicey.  8 Canada Geese, 35 Brown Pelicans, 13 Herring Gulls, 1 Diamondback Terrapin.  Formerly there were 2 small hammocks here, mostly with Persimmons, where a few herons, esp. Cattle Egrets, nested.   
            NORTHWEST BLOODSWORTH ISLAND.  2:15 P.M.  Deeper, safe waters, can boatclose to the shoreline.  1 adult Bald Eagle, 1 ♂ Red-winged Blackbird, 1 ♂ Boat-tailed Grackle, 1 American Black Duck.  There are 3 small stretches of beach on the S side of Okahanikan Cove.
            BLOODSWORTH ISLAND, FIN CREEK (north part if the island).  2:30-3:15 P.M.  Fin Creek penetrates Bloodsworth for > 1.25 miles and is deep, running N and S.  The heron platforms constructed by the U. S. Navy et al. are still in moderate condition but the number of great blues falls each year.  This time we estimated just 57 active nests.  The few surrounding small hammocks, predominantly Eastern Redcedar, also continue to deteriorate, formerly hosted some GBHE nests.
            Best of all is a BLACK-NECKED STILT, the 1st I’ve seen on Dorchester’s islands, in the Spartina patens at the mouth of the creek, W side.  Later we see it in flight, high up, slow wing beats, maintaining station in the same swatch of sky, and from the distance somewhat suggestive, incongruously, of a Swallow-tailed Kite or frigate bird.
            Also: 5 Clapper Rails, a ♂ Northern Harrier, 26 Marsh Wrens, 20 Seaside Sparrows, 1 American Black Duck, a Gray Catbird, 2 Barn Swallows, a Tricolored Heron, 5 Willets, 1 Song Sparrow, and distant pelicans and cormorants as well as numerous Osprey nests.  9 Black-crowned Night Herons and 7 Great Egrets, probably representing nesting birds.  Only 2 Diamondback Terrapin.
            Some of these islands formerly held very small populations of Eastern Kingbirds, Northern Cardinals, and House Wrens, but we see none today, but yellowthroats, Song Sparrows, and a few Carolina Wrens persist, in small numbers.  Bloodsworth Island, years ago, even could boast Eastern Meadowlark and Tree Swallow.  
            Returning to Cambridge via Maple Dam Road we see a Gray Fox @ Delorme atlas map in the neighborhood of coordinates E4.  
             MAY 30, Monday.  Anne & Derek leave.  3 Gray Squirrels.  Butterflies: Silver-spotted Skipper, Hackberry Emperor, Question Mark, Tiger Swallowtail, Cabbage White, Orange Sulphur, Red-spotted Purple.  3 Gray Squirrels.  These are not good times to be furry.  Fair, hazy, humid, light SW breeze, up to 96°F.  The house cooling system fails.
            MAY 31, Tuesday.  Overnight low c. 80°F., miserable.  We leave for Pennsylvania by 9:30 A.M.  Wild Turkey on the driveway.  The routes 481 X 309 wet area is almost dried up, has just 2 Common Grackles and 2 Painted Turtles.  Only 23 Turkey Vultures on the way home, lowest total every except on days when it has rained.  Pray for rain now.  The drought is on us.  If one is a farmer, thank heaven for crop insurance.  
            FOX YOUNG.  I prefer to refer to them as kits but suspect this is incorrect.  Pups?  They grow up to be killers but certainly are appealing as youngsters.            Best wishes. – Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.  		 	   		  

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