4 DAYS ON THE LOWER EASTERN SHORE, DECEMBER 16-19, 2011, MARYLAND AND (mostly) VIRGINIA.  Jared Sparks and Harry Armistead.  Forster’s Terns are common and widespread, more so than usual.
 
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16.  On the way down from Philadelphia, as we see every year on this trip at these 2 places, big blackbird flocks at dawn S of Wilmington, DE, and huge Snow Goose flocks in the general vicinity of Dover, DE, heading W to their favored fields to feed.
 
MARYLAND:
 
Ocean City inlet.  Fair, NW 5, 50°F.  10-11:15 A.M.  14 Common Eiders (incl. a lovely adult ♂), 3 Bonaparte’s Gulls, 54 Red-throated & 2 Common loons, 1 Double-crested Cormorant, 1 White-winged & 14 unID’d scoters, 40 Purple Sandpipers, 80 Brant, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, 30 American Black Ducks, 60 Ring-billed Gulls (on the parking areas), 2 Sanderlings, 135 Rock Pigeons, 8 Forster’s Terns, 5 Northern Gannets, and 20 Ruddy Turnstones.  No peregrine on the water tower this time. 
 
West Ocean pond.  11:30 A.M.  High water: 335 Canada Geese, 1 Black-crowned Night & 8 Great Blue herons, 35 Mallards, 10 Gadwall, 4 Northern Shovelers, 115 Northern Pintails, 2 Hooded Mergansers, 7 Ring-necked Ducks, 8 Lesser Scaup, 12 Green-winged Teal, 10 American Black Ducks, and only 6 Canvasbacks,.  
 
Castaways and Eagles Nest Campground.  Yes, we stopped by the office the way one should and received friendly permission to bird here: 790 Dunlin, 30 Black-bellied Plovers, 3 American Oystercatchers, 4 Common Loons, 155 Buffleheads, 65 Red-breasted Mergansers, 1 Forster’s Tern, 7 American Black Ducks, 1 Ruddy Turnstone, and 1 Red-throated Loon, 19 Gadwalls, 2 Mallards, 4 American Coots, 3 Northern Shovelers, 2 Pied-billed Grebes, 5 American Wigeon, 
 
Route 113, mile 23.5, a Bald Eagle in flight.
 
VIRGINIA:
 
Chincoteague causeway.  So tempting to park for a while on the new bridge which gives a good, elevated view of the extensive mudflats to the W and N … but it is prohibited.  As a result these are really rough estimates: 40 Marbled Godwits, 210 Willets, 8 Boat-tailed Grackles, 2500 Dunlin, 60 American Oystercatchers, 55 Black-bellied Plovers, 400 Brant, 24 Greater Yellowlegs, and 65 Forster’s Terns.  Low tide.
 
Chincoteague Island.  In flight right over town near Chicken City Street: 20 Great and 3 Snowy egrets.
 
Chincoteague N.W.R.  Run into Jennifer Elmer.  Make no attempt to estimate the big numbers; mostly we just enjoy the scene as the daylight fades.  Snow Goose Pool has water and is loaded with perhaps 15,000 Snow and a few Blue geese, hardly any Canada Geese.  
 
Also on the refuge: 36 Tundra Swans, 24 Forster’s Terns, an adult Bald Eagle carrying a big, dead Loblolly Pine branch with 7 or 8 cones still attached, 6 Great Egrets, a Snow Goose-sized Canada Goose that is NOT a Cackling Goose, 5 Bonaparte’s Gulls, 1 Clapper Rail seen in flight and then as it lands next to the marsh edge and stays in view, 7 Greater Yellowlegs, 1 Boat-tailed Grackle, 1 Pied-billed Grebe, and 2 Double-crested Cormorants. 
 
And hundreds of Green-winged Teal, Northern Pintails, Northern Shovelers, and Mallards plus 2 small White-tailed Deer and an Eastern Cottontail.  Low tide.  A 2nd adult Bald Eagle steams across Snow Goose Pool low and steady, flushing almost all of the thousands of birds there.  What a spectacle.
 
Every year on this Friday we are at Tom’s Cove as the afternoon light begins to fade.  Not to be lugubrious, but I know of nothing that captures the somewhat grim, bittersweet, wan and meager beauty of the Winter Solstice sky as well as Emily Dickinson’s ‘There’s a certain slant of light on winter afternoons’:
 
“When it comes the landscape listens.
Shadows hold their breath.
When it goes ‘tis like the distance
On the look of death.”
 
Dinner with George and Barbara Reiger (venison goulash) with Paul and Sharon Plishka as fellow guests, the opposite of lugubrious.
 
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17.  Wachapreague, VA, Christmas Bird Count, the most productive of the c. 300 C.B.C.’s I’ve participated in - in terms of unusual species.  52 species.  Cedar Island party:  Harry Armistead, Ruth Boettcher, Joelle Buffa, Clyde Morris, and Jared Sparks.  
 
Jared and I are left off on the S end, walk N 4 miles to just above the island’s center.  Joelle & Clyde are left off on the N end, walk 3+ miles S from the old Coast Guard station.  Thus the island is efficiently covered in a sort of pincers maneuver.  The 4 of us work separately most of the time, so, with Ruth boating while we walk, we are in essence 5 parties.  
 
There is a lot of Opuntia on the S end.  A couple of Goldenrod are still golden.  Almost all of the house, beach cabins - call them what you will - have been destroyed by the sea and salty winds. [We told you this would happen.]  Remnants of some are reduced to nothing but pilings in the surf as the island continues to shift west.  The S end has been slammed; there are few dunes left on Cedar.  The big groves of Eastern Redcedar, prominent when I first started doing the C.B.C. here in the late 1970s, are no more.  A big trawler, swept in by a Nor’easter last year, hasn’t gone anywhere, but is now in the surf some, however, the hull still mired in feet of sand.  For some reason the starboard is white, the port green.    
 
Complete list: Snow Goose 415, (plus 3 Blue Geese), Brant 670, American Black Duck 702, Surf Scoter 310, White-winged Scoter 21, Black Scoter 24, Long-tailed Duck 8, Bufflehead 610, Common Goldeneye 6, Hooded Merganser 8, Red-breasted Merganser 27, Red-throated Loon 88, Common Loon 29, Horned Grebe 27, Northern Gannet 6, Double-crested Cormorant 2, Brown Pelican 1 (JB), Great Blue Heron 7, Great Egret 1, Turkey Vulture 2, Bald Eagle 10, Northern Harrier 14, Red-tailed Hawk 1, Peregrine Falcon 2, SANDHILL CRANE 4 (seen by all 5 of us), 
 
Black-bellied Plover 248, Semipalmated Plover 1, American Oystercatcher 190, Greater Yellowlegs 40, LONG-BILLED CURLEW 1 (seen by all 5 of us), Ruddy Turnstone 6, Red Knot 5, Sanderling 61, Western Sandpiper 17, SPOTTED SANDPIPER 1 (JB, who will send details later), Dunlin 3080, Short-billed Dowitcher 4, Bonaparte’s Gull 3, Ring-billed Gull 1, Herring Gull 50, Great Black-backed Gull 2, Forster’s Tern 65, Short-eared Owl 1, Belted Kingfisher 1, Fish Crow 2, crow unID’d 3, Myrtle Warbler 45, Savannah Sparrow 3, Ipswich Sparrow 9, Song Sparrow 4, Swamp Sparrow 4, Red-winged Blackbird 90, Boat-tailed Grackle 235, SUMMER TANAGER 1 (HA,JS,RB). 
 
Sandhill Crane 4.  8 A.M. Seen by all 5 of us.  A formation or wedge of these spectacular birds passes right overhead, < 100 yds. up.  Silent.  Flying NE – SW right over Wachapreague, where we are at the public launching ramp.  All darkish, gray-brown birds with long trailing feet; necks and heads held straight out.  Bills not dagger-like as herons’ are but more gently tapered and shorter than would be a Great Blue Heron’s.  I’ve seen them previously in VA, MD, FL, TX, Nebraska, Idaho, and various other western states.  Today’s birds may be the 1st VA C.B.C. record; if so that is overdue.
 
Long-billed Curlew.  Present since October.  Mid-afternoon.  We get as close as c. 100 feet.  Seen by all of 5 of us near green channel marker 18 NE of Wachapreague.  Observed for 5 minutes roosting on a sod bank with 85 oystercatchers, sticking to the S end of this flock.  (The few local ones found in recent decades often consort with oystercatchers.)  Seen in flight also, the cinnamon wing markings easy to notice.  No conspicuous head striping.  Huge, extremely long bill (therefore probably an adult?).  Big, brown shorebird that appeared slightly larger than the oystercatchers.  Silent.  I’ve seen them previously in VA, NC, TX, and various western states.  They’ve been found on the Cape Charles C.B.C. 4 times.  There are apparently at least 3 LBCUs in the E. Shore of VA marshes right now.  
 
Summer Tanager.  3 P.M.  Wachapreague public launching ramp.  Out of the corner of my eye I see a bird fly into a Crepe Myrtle bush just across the street 100’ away.  I think “Oh, I guess that was a House Sparrow, but let’s take a look.”  But I see it is bright yellow and blurt out “Baltimore Oriole.”  Get my 10 X 42s on it and realize right away it is a tanager.  Jared sees it with his Nikons, Ruth, her unaided eye.  Unfortunately Joelle and Clyde have left.  Good look at the rather thick, horn-colored bill.  Silent.  Suggestion of a crest on the crown.  No trace of blackish on the wings.  Strange to see it here out in the open of the town, not near any dense, brushy tangles or rich deciduous forest.  Seen for c. 1 minute then if flies off to the N.  Basically a strikingly yellowish bird, esp. on the underparts but on the upperparts and tail, too.  The “Gold Book” lists single winter records each for the Piedmont and Mountains & Valleys but none for the Coastal Plain.  The Sibley eastern guide shows what I consider an inordinate amount of reddish on the ♀.  Hepatic Tanager has a dark bill.       
 
EFFORT:  Miles by boat 25; by foot 14.  Hours by boat 4; by foot 12.  5 observers in 1-5 parties.  Clear, 40s, NW 15-20.  Tide low to high.  8 A.M. – 3 P.M.  I walk 4 miles, with hamstring and mild arthritis issues, but am nevertheless comfortable and my effort today reassures me, is confidence-building.  Dinner at the Sage Diner (shish kabob).
  
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 18.  On the way in to Willis Wharf 29 Black Vultures on the road and adjacent lawn, feeding on a roadkill Virginia Opossum.  Only one is actually feeding on the carcass.
 
6th Nassawadox Christmas Bird Count.  Hog Island Party: Bob Anderson, Harry Armistead, Ruth Boettcher, Michael Male, Jared Sparks, Thuy Tran.  Fair becoming mostly overcast then fair-clear again, winds 3-20+ m.p.h. (mostly 15-20) to calm at the last, 34-43°F.  In the early afternoon a huge, dark gray, almost black, ominous cloud system moves in from the NW bringing miles of windrows of dozens of virga and snerga.  There are 2 periods of extremely light, almost undetectable, snow flurries.  Tide low to high.  48 species.  
 
Great shafts of light stream through the clouds to the W as we motor home in mid-afternoon at 20 m.p.h. into 20 m.p.h winds with temperatures in the low or mid 40s … for 14 choppy miles, in an often seething mass of impressive whitecaps.  After sunset it becomes completely clear as well as dead calm with a million stars in view plus Jupiter.  
 
Today would have been worth it just to see the changeable skyscapes, the roiling waters, the marshes, distant islands, the turmoil of Quinby Inlet, the gray, murky, and wind-lashed sea, and the extensive vegetation of Hog Island, ranging from open beach and mudflats, well-vegetated dunes, and wax myrtles, to the small, low woodlands of Eastern Redcedars, a few Loblolly Pines, and Red Bay - a world apart.
 
Complete list: Snow Goose 100, Brant 90, Canada Goose 50, Gadwall 65, American Wigeon 28, American Black Duck 194, Mallard 10, Northern Shoveler 32, Green-winged Teal 3, Redhead 1 ♂, Surf Scoter 52, White-winged Scoter 5, Black Scoter 4, Long-tailed Duck 24, Bufflehead 206, Hooded Merganser 41, Red-breasted Merganser 53, Red-throated Loon 36, Common Loon 30, Horned Grebe 38, Northern Gannet 5, Double-crested Cormorant 13, Brown Pelican 1 (BA,TT).
 
Great Blue Heron 5, Black Vulture 3, Bald Eagle 8, Northern Harrier 8, Sharp-shinned Hawk 1, Red-tailed Hawk 1, Black-bellied Plover 30, American Oystercatcher 275, Greater Yellowlegs 9, Willet 26, Ruddy Turnstone 10, Sanderling 62, Western Sandpiper 122, Dunlin 4300, Short-billed Dowitcher 16, Bonaparte’s gull 1, Herring Gull 55, Great Black-backed Gull 10, Forster’s Tern 94, Tree Swallow 2, Marsh Wren 1, American Pipit 20, Myrtle Warbler 340, Savannah Sparrow 2, and sharp-tailed sparrow unID’d 1.  
 
Hog Island’s birdlife is rather depauperate and bleak, save for the waterfowl and shorebirds, but what a spectacular place.
 
EFFORT: 8:45 A.M. – 3:30 P.M.  Miles by boat 35, by foot 9.  Hours by boat 5, by foot 11.  Bob, Thuy & I walk across the road from the old Coast Guard station to the beach, a stretch of c. 1 mile, with some dicey wet areas and mud along the way, then I walk an additional mile S to the big salt pond, which, unfortunately, has been breached, partially filled with sand, and now has little standing ater in it, just a few black ducks, yellowlegs, and Dunlin.  
 
Michael and Jared walk around the N end of Hog I. to Quinby Inlet then S along the beach and hook up with Bob, Thuy & me, then we all shamble back across the “road.”  Ruth does some boating while we walk the island, the walks W along the road to join up with the 5 of us.  Thus we comprise 1-4 parties.  
 
The road passes some nice small ponds where there are a few cattails, numbers of dabbling ducks and hoodies, and small signs, reading respectively from W to E, marking the old shorelines, and hundreds of yards from the present shorelines: 1871, 1852 and 1967 respectively.  I assume these are meant to indicate the previous edge of the sea but am confused by the sequence, since these islands usually shift from E to W and, somewhat, to the N also.  
 
MONDAY, DECEMBER 19.  Willis Wharf. 9-10:30 A.M.  Tide low but rising.  It is nice just to lollygag around on the observation platform with Michael & Grazina McClure and Wes & Sue Earp, not have to deal with any compulsive Christmas count efforts and behavior.  Consequently, most of these numbers, the bigger ones, are casual estimates:
 
Marbled Godwit 90.  Willet 200.  Black Vulture 50 (in sight simultaneously).  Rock Pigeon 85.  Bonaparte’s Gull 2.  Forster’s Tern 4.  American Black Duck 2.  Common 4  Red-throated 2 loons.  Ruddy Turnstone 4.  Bufflehead 40.  Red-breasted 4 and Hooded 14 mergansers.  Bald Eagle 3.  Double-crested Cormorant 5 (all immatures).  Dunlin 40.  Great Blue Heron 2.  Always plenty to see here.    
 
Yesterday at Willis Wharf on the C.B.C. Bob Ake, Renee Hudgins, and Curtis & Lynn Badger found 315 Willets and 215 Marbled Godwits.
 
MARYLAND AGAIN: Route 13.  A Bald Eagle over Pocomoke City, MD.  A Bald Eagle S of Salisbury, MD, at milepost 27.
 
My grateful thanks to: George & Barbara Reiger for their hospitality;  Steve Parker for hosting the C.B.C. compilation at TNC’s beautiful house including terrific lasagna;  Ruth Boettcher for her good company, expert boat handling, and astounding knowledge of the waterways (not to mention the treacherous oyster reefs, sand & mud bars);  Jared Sparks for navigation, weather monitoring, and salad at the compilation;  Michael McClure for creating new and attractive checklists;  Roberta Kellam for bringing wine to the compilation;  and to the fellow participants in these minor adventures.
 
The complete results of the 6th Nassawadox C.B.C. to be forthcoming, I think, in a few days.
 Best to all. – Harry Armistead, Philadelphia. 		 	   		  

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