FERRY NECK, AUGUST 25-29, 2011, HURRICANE IRENE. ARCTIC TERN. Liz & Harry Armistead.
Much of this visit is consumed by preparing for the storm, enduring it indoors during the torrential rains and gale-force winds, and cleaning up the yard and restoring the house to pre-hurricane conditions afterwards. Consequently there is not as much time for goofing off as usual.
AUGUST 25, THURSDAY. Ad adult Bald Eagle and a Great Egret seen from I-495 over the Christiana (Christina?) River in DE. We arrive c. 2:45 after a trip with 6 or 7 intermittent but heavy showers, but there has been little rain at Rigby¡¯s Folly. A young Red Fox hunts through the soy beans in Field 1, unaware of my presence. One Monarch. One terrapin.
A normal or slightly below normal low tide. Flush a Great Horned Owl along the Lucy Point Trail. A sub-adult Bald Eagle (white on head and tail with some dark, dirty-looking markings). Will see it every day of this visit. 6 martins, a crested flycatcher, 4 Royal & 4 Forster¡¯s terns, 3 swifts, a Snowy Egret, a Green Heron. A Turkey Vulture on the pole in Field 2, where we¡¯ll see it on several other days.
Only a few weeks since their planting but the soy beans have grown nicely and will not be damaged by Hurricane Irene. Lots of toadstools in the woods and on our lawn. Overcast becoming fair than overcast again, E<5 or calm, thunder, 83-81¡ãF. A Gray Squirrel checks me out as it hangs upside down along the trunk of a young Black Walnut by the garage while I am examine John Weske¡¯s Nautico, which will come through Irene w/o damage.
AUGUST 26, FRIDAY. Irene¡¯s storm surge is predicted to be 6.0 feet. Isabel¡¯s was 6.8 feet, coming within 1 vertical foot of the house, 60 horizontal feet. Most of the day spent putting lawn furniture, the grill, canoe, etc., into the garage, clearing everything off of the porches except the bigger tables, which are turned upside down, lowering storm windows, and other disaster-preparedness chores.
1 Pileated Woodpecker, 3 Bald Eagles, 27 robins, 14 waxwings, 80 Laughing Gulls sky-hunting in the distance over Deep Neck, a ¡á Blue Grosbeak on the Field 2 pole when the vulture isn¡¯t there. 1 kingbird. A Great Blue Heron and 2 Forster¡¯s Terns are all successful in procuring minnows in the cove.
2 Gray Squirrels. 2 fawns on Field 4. BUTTERFLIES: singles of Hackberry Emperor, American Lady, Cabbage White plus 2 each of Red-spotted Purple, Common Wood Nymphs & Pearl Crescents.
Overcast or fair variously, 76-86¡ãF., near calm or E5+. A Great Horned Owl calls at dusk from somewhere in the distance on Deep Neck.
AUGUST 27, SATURDAY. The rains start at 8:50 A.M. with ever increasing easterly winds. In spite of this a Gray Squirrel scolds and a Blue Jay calls. A cormorant and an Osprey continue hunting in the cove. I secure some loose stuff on the dock and am quite comfortable in the warm rain in nothing but a bathing suit, reef shoes, and a broad-brimmed Solumbra hat. At 10 A.M. a large dead branch from our only yard Yellow Poplar comes crashing down.
In the afternoon we transfer over to Tranquility, where Michael & Nancy Lytell have taken us under their wings in their comfortable, solid house ¨C the site of my grandmother¡¯s, Sophie Tucker¡¯s, house of the same name. I haven¡¯t slept there since 1946. Under such scary conditions it is nice for us all to have each others¡¯ company.
There a deluge from the gathering storm but out in front in the Choptank River mouth there¡¯s an Osprey with a fish, an adult Bald Eagle, 2 cormorants, and a Least & 3 Forster¡¯s terns. ENE 25-30 m.p.h. or more.
There¡¯s a tornado watch until 8 P.M. 6-10¡± of rain are predicted as are 4 hours of sustained 50 m.p.h winds, the height of the storm to be 2-4 A.M., during which the high tide is also scheduled. Except for the rain, conditions will turn out to be more benign than these jumpy forecasts.
AUGUST 28, SUNDAY.
A ¡°sea watch¡± from 7:30-11:45 A.M. through the expansive window in the Lytells¡¯ pantry area. Here¡¯s the complete list: 1 breeding plumage adult Arctic Tern, 2 Common, 1 Royal, 1 unID¡¯d & 4 Forster¡¯s terns, 11 cormorants (several actually hunting [diving] in this maelstrom of seething water), 3 Chimney Swifts, and 7 Herring , 2 Laughing, 2 unID¡¯d & 39 Great Black-backed gulls, but the first Osprey does not appear until 11:22 A.M., and others begin hunting soon afterwards.
At first visibility is only 0.25 miles or so, then 7 miles to Cook¡¯s Point, then the western shore becomes visible at 9:15, followed by a few slivers of blue sky. The dishwater-colored, gray-brown tidal waters are in turmoil, a seething mass of whitecaps, with much wind-blown spray coming over the Lytells¡¯ lawn. Nearby a c. 25¡¯ sailboat (an O¡¯Day?) has been swept in and is grounded in front of the Saffs¡¯ house. Perhaps 12 miles to the west a large freighter is visible, and stationary, presumably at anchor or grounded.
The 39 GBBG total is a new property high count. Displaced Chimney Swifts were widely dispersed by Irene. I was surprised not to see any Black Terns, seen in many places, less surprised to see no Sooty Terns, also widespread but much scarcer than the Blacks.
Details for the ARCTIC TERN (only slightly enhanced from an earlier posting):
Arctic Tern at Choptank River mouth, Ferry Neck, 0.25 miles SE of Lucy Point, Talbot County. Seen at 11:28 A.M. flying NW, Sunday, August 28, 2011, at c. 150 feet, in good light, with 10 X 42 Swarovski binoculars and also through a 32X Leica scope.
A beautiful adult in breeding plumage with a striking, lovely, blood-red bill, red to the tip, no trace of orange or even reddish-orange coloration. The bill seems less consequential than those of Common or Forster¡¯s terns. A more compact tern than the Commons and Forster¡¯s, also seen this morning, with a shorter, stockier-looking neck. Underside of the primaries easy to see with their rather clean, neat, narrow, blackish trailing edge.
I¡¯ve previously seen breeding Arctic Terns in Maine and Manitoba (Churchill) as well as migrants off the NC coast. Viewed this one for about a minute at eye level, sometimes slightly lower.
Seen from the pantry dining area of our neighbors¡¯ house through windows w/o distortion, and, of course, out of the 30-40 m.p.h. winds. The rains had stopped before the time of sunrise.
This is a new species for my state (351), county (293), and yard (269) lists. All birds seen during this 4.25 hour ¡°sea watch¡± were headed NW into the WNW winds and also seen passing off of and close to our shoreline, only 150 feet NW from the neighbors¡¯ house.
The 3rd edition of the Yellow Book shows records only for Allegheny and Worcester Counties as well as in the pelagic zone offshore. But that is a 1996 reference and obviously more records have been achieved since then.
Apr¨¨s Irene at Rigby¡¯s Folly. 12:45 P.M. onwards. At 1 P.M. a dramatic demarcation with a horizon-to-horizon line of clear, clean, intense, bright blue sky coming in from the NW driving the gray clouds away and steadily diminishing winds becoming almost calm at dusk.
The storm surge here, based on the wrackline of displaced Ruppia, no more than a foot above normal high tide. Power and phone remained on. An immense relief to find the old place completely unscathed and only a few medium-sized trees blown down, those by NW or W winds. Spend 2 hours clearing the driveway and lawn of the larger branches and sticks. Compared to countless thousands of others, we are SO lucky.
It has rained 9 inches here. The winds reached 60 m.p.h. The fields, ditches, and ponds are full of rain water, brimming over. Much has soaked in already and the entire lawn is still firm enough to drive on. The 0.25 mi. ditch on the S side of Field 4, which has the strongest ¡°current¡± during major rain events, is flowing along at 2-3 m.p.h.; it is so gratifying to see that this runoff consist of completely clear water.
In the deep woods, however, much of the standing water is, curiously, muddy, and the cove waters of course are like dark caf¨¦ au lait. It is great to see so much water, especially to be followed by several sunny, warm days that will maximize drying and growth.
A Northern Harrier. 106 robins & 6 waxwings going to their dusk roost somewhere down Anderby Hall Road, but I must have missed many since during their flight I spend 45 minutes eating dinner. 75 Laughing Gulls. 8 Ospreys in sight simultaneously. 5 Royal & 2 Forster¡¯s terns. 4 Snowy Egrets. 1 ea. of Black Vulture, Bald Eagle & Red-tailed Hawk.
NON-AVIAN TAXA: Butterflies: Spicebush Swallowtail, Monarch, Pearl Crescent, American Lady, Red-spotted Purple. Mammals: Deer: one of the nicest assemblages I¡¯ve ever seen: 6 bucks (3 of them with impressive racks), 9 does, and 2 fawns. 2 bats.
8 Diamondback Terrapin in the cove. A Green Tree Frog calling from somewhere on the other side of the cove. Liz sees a small Five-lined Skink on the front porch with its brilliant, neon-blue tail.
Frog Hollow. A Great Egret and a Great Blue Heron stalking small fishes in the considerable overflow.
Comforting to see ¡°everyone¡± going about their business as if, almost, nothing has happened.
Clear, NW15+ becoming nearly calm, 86-78¡ãF. Peace following scary chaos.
AUGUST 29, MONDAY. Leave by 9:15 A.M. A Southern Leopard Frog calls from the pond. At the mouth of Irish Creek an adult Bald Eagle and an Osprey engage in a furious chase. After a minute the Osprey drops its fish and the eagle easily snatches it from the water¡¯s surface. 4 Royal and 3 Forster¡¯s terns, a ¡á Blue Grosbeak in the very top of the large, dying Red Maple by the garage, and a Green Heron.
I inspect the Irish Creek and Choptank trails. Several small trees lie across them thanks to Irene. Will get to those next time. The low areas have water as deep as it ever gets in a rainy spring.
Clear, E 5-10, 64-70¡ãF. The water in the cove is clear now, thanks to the abundant Ruppia maritima and the most recent low tides.
Along Rt. 481 there has been much damage to the corn crops. The section of the road between Ruthsburg and Hope is closed. 53 Turkey Vultures on the way home to PA. An Osprey comes by right over the 301 Plaza, Middletown, DE, while we are eating an early lunch, in my case much-needed comfort foods: scrapple, home fries, and S.O.S.
IRENE¡¯S STRAYS IN THE MEDIA. In today¡¯s (Tuesday, August 30) Philadelphia Inquirer, section 1, pp. 1 & 14, the storm vagrants seen in PA & NJ are described by Sandy Bauers, our outstanding environmental reporter. Much of her article details the success of the inimitable Cape May crowd, which does not miss much of anything.
George Armistead watched on Sunday from a vantage point in Philadelphia, finding 8 tern species, from the Race Street pier on the Delaware River, 9 A.M. ¨C 1:45 P.M., then was joined by 4 others 4:30-7 P.M. Their sightings included:
TERNS, 8 species ¨C 2 adult Sooty, 1 non-breeding plumage Sandwich (apparently a 1st Philadelphia record), 1 non-breeding Royal, 2 Least, 13 Black, 3 Caspian, 34 Common, 55 Forster¡¯s plus 110 Laughing & 50 Great Black-backed gulls, an imm. Bald Eagle, a Peregrine Falcon, 2 Ospreys, a Red-tailed Hawk, 55 Chimney Swifts, and a Cliff, 12 Bank & 24 Barn swallows. The article mentions George, and his friend Matt Sharp, on p. 14.
The EARTHQUAKE. The Lytells experienced serious shaking in Tranquility, such that they felt it necessary to get outside. At Rigby¡¯s Folly we see no aftereffects except that my mother¡¯s portrait, by Ruth Starr Rose, is slightly askance, and a bottle of shampoo has been dislodged from the top of a cabinet in the 2nd floor central loo. In Philadelphia our 3 children in their respective, separate houses, felt the quake, but in nearby Mt. Airy Liz and I did not.
DISMAL SWAMP. I hope Irene put out the great wildfire here, and without damaging the remaining stands of Atlantic White-cedar, which were severely impacted by Hurricane Isabel.
BIG THANKS to the Lytells for taking us in during the height of Irene¡¯s overnight fury, to Ben Weems for checking up on our place, and to Jared Sparks for weather information.
- Best to all. ¨C Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.
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