FERRY NECK & BLACKWATER N.W.R., January 14-18, 2012.
JANUARY 14, SATURDAY. FINALLY we catch up with the NORTHERN SHRIKE in Queen Annes County (Kibler Road), species 253 on my MD list, the 7th time I¡¦ve chased this bird in the state. 123 Turkey Vultures on the way down from Philadelphia. Arrive at 3:45 P.M., having seen the diminutive Winter Wren on going up the driveway. 565 Canada Geese feeding on Ruppia maritima in the cove, the CGs totaling 1770 counting others out in Irish Creek, along with 4 Mallards and 6 American Wigeon. 3 Gray Squirrels materialize within 15 minutes after I cast corn around the yard.
Wigeon are notorious for sorta kleptoparasitizing Tundra Swans when the swan tip up to get bottom-growing grasses, but I think they just grab the grasses that the swans lose rather than actually snitching the grasses from the swans. Wigeon are so wary that perhaps the swans get payback by the greater alertness of the wigeon to dangers. Back when there was SAV everywhere in the Bay I fondly remember there were always wigeon accompanying the swans for such reasons, the whistling of the ¡ñ audible just about any time night or day.
JANUARY 15, SUNDAY. Daughter, Anne, and son-in-law-to-be Derek Ayres visit and overnight. They play Scrabble. Derek makes a terrific omelet for brunch today. 480 Canada Geese and 8 Mallards (4 pairs) avail themselves of the low water to upend and feed on the Ruppia maritima, of which there has been an excellent growth this summer. 38 Ring-billed Gulls forage nearby. 2 immature Bald Eagles tangle high in the air over the mouth of Irish Creek. 2 Black & 11 Turkey vultures. No waterfowl in Irish Creek, none. Liz and I cut limbs from fallen Black Locusts along the Warbler Trail. Tough wood. 1 Brown Thrasher. 1 Gray Squirrel. There are a few Dandelions in bloom on the extreme SW edge of the lawn.
Fair becoming clear, NW 15-20-15, 30-36¢XF., cold. EXTREMELY low tide, mud exposed 144 yards from the shoreline (= c. 432 feet) at 2 P.M., the 2nd lowest water I¡¦ve ever seen here (for the 1st see next paragraph). Official low tide is actually at 2:43 P.M., so it must have gotten even lower later on. There¡¦s line of frozen rime just out a few feet from the start of the shoreline, presumably where the extremely low high tide reached earlier in the day, lower than a normal low tide.
From my notes on April 5, 1975: ¡§4th day of gale winds; record low tide due to the N wind [undoubtedly it was really a northwest wind]; whole cove empty; 168 paces [yards, essentially] exposed from end of dock towards pt. [Edwards Point] on other side of cove; 235 paces exposed from Lucy Pt. towards Springs¡¦ point [Holland Point; this is at the mouth of Irish Creek]; found beheaded 7 pt. buck in mid cove; big cedar on bank blew over; buds on lilac & birch pretty big.¡¨ I remember it had become so dry that several hundred feet from the shoreline sand was blowing around in front of Tranquility.
JANUARY 16, MONDAY. Spend most of the day in Dorchester County: Rain begins at 6:30 P.M. 26 - 40¢XF., fair or clear, calm becoming mostly overcast with winds SW 20 m.p.h.+, tide rising. Tidal waters low, impoundments high. 23¢XF. at Rigby¡¦s Folly at the start.
Cambridge 7:30-8:30 A.M. Cambridge, right from the end of Oakley Street: 180 Canvasbacks, 45 Mallards, 1¡ñ Redhead, 120 Canada Geese, 19 American Wigeon, 1¡ñ Northern Pintail, 38 Lesser Scaup ¡V these all close in. Farther out: 10 Buffleheads, 3 Common Goldeneyes, 1 Double-crested Cormorant. Still, not MANY Canvasbacks.
Cambridge, Hambrooks: 95 Canada Geese, 110 Mallards, 220 Canvasbacks, 1 adult Bald Eagle. One of the docks here has a Peregrine Falcon (adult) ¡§decoy¡¨ supposed to function as a ¡§scare owl.¡¨ 2 Gray Squirrels.
High Street: 7 Fish Crows dumpster diving.
Egypt Road: 30 Wild Turkeys, 1 adult Bald Eagle, 2 American Kestrels, and a Red-tailed Hawk. An additional adult Bald Eagle is on the nest just E of Egypt X Old Field roads.
Blackwater N.W.R. 9 A.M. ¡V noon. Quite a bit of ice, esp. in protected areas or places with very low water. Of most interest: still no Snow Geese save a lone adult Blue Goose. Tundra Swan 85, American Wigeon 4, American Black Duck 55, Mallard 750 (flushed several times by eagles), Northern Shoveler 20, Northern Pintail 30, Green-winged Teal 8, Red-breasted Merganser 2 (a pair), Common Merganser 315 (brought in recently, apparently, by the cold snap; we didn¡¦t see any on January 7).
AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN 7 (6 flying, the 7th assumed to be the flightless individual that has been present for several years), Great Blue Heron 4, Black Vulture 2, Bald Eagle 46 (all seen either from Wildlife Drive or from the Route 335 bridge area), Northern Harrier 5, Red-tailed Hawk 4, Killdeer 3, Greater Yellowlegs 1, Dunlin 35, Forster¡¦s Tern 3 (possible new late date or winter county record?), Belted Kingfisher 1, Hermit Thrush 1, Song Sparrow 8, White-throated Sparrow 12, Slate-colored Junco 15, Northern Cardinal 8.
Hip Roof Road: 13 Eastern Meadowlarks, 10 Hooded Mergansers.
Swan Harbor: a dead as I¡¦ve ever seen it. No Bald Eagles, Dunlin, or Sanderlings.
Hooper¡¦s Island. 12:15-3:45 P.M. The high SW winds made the water murky ¡V hard to see waterfowl, but still, there aren¡¦t that many to see: Canada Goose 1100, Tundra Swan 120, Canvasback 3, Surf Scoter 45, Long-tailed Duck 4, Bufflehead 75, Common Goldeneye 14, Red-breasted Merganser 4, Common Loon 9 (1 dealing with a small crab), Horned Grebe 4 (a few of the latter 2 species always seem to be present throughout the winter at the Narrows Ferry Bridge; they¡¦re much hard to come by then at Rigby¡¦s Folly), Great Blue Heron 2, Black Vulture 2, Bald Eagle 6, Northern Harrier 1, Belted Kingfisher 1, Carolina Wren (feeding on a suetcake), American Robin 67 (all in one yard at Honga).
Golden Hill: an American Kestrel, an adult Bald Eagle.
Towards day¡¦s end: 90 American Robins along Bellevue Road, 4:15 P.M.
I continue to amused, and baffled, at the inability of some classical music stations to be able to comprehend the weather. This morning on the way down to Dorchester I hear 89.5 intone, as if they¡¦re today¡¦s, yesterday afternoon¡¦s temperature readings and winds four times. I¡¦m hearing high 30¡¦s while outside the car it is still in the mid-20s.
JANUARY 17, TUESDAY. 42-55¢XF., calm with rain then gradually becoming clear with SW winds @ 20 m.p.h., the blue of the sky extremely vivid, as it so often is after rain. A lot of rain last night, the ditches full and with current (but no jellies, marmalades, or preserves).
Twenty Tundra Swans (every one, unfortunately, an adult) have joined the CGs and Mallards in the Ruppia maritima feast in the cove. Lots of birds in the yard, most drawn by the corn: 18 White-throated Sparrows, 6 Blue Jays, 4 Northern Cardinals, and 1 Northern Mockingbird as well as 20 American Robins, 165 European Starlings, and 4 Myrtle Warblers plus a GraySquirrel. We see a Sharp-shinned Hawk hunting a few feet off of the ground along the hedgerow opposite Field 2. 1 Red-tailed Hawk. 1¡ñ Eastern Towhee.
There¡¦s an adult Bald Eagle in Frog Hollow but we have yet to see one on the nest there in the rather isolated Loblolly Pine. Two deer in Field 4, a doe and a small buck. A Carolina Wren singing towards day¡¦s end. Liz spots a Gray Catbird. 35 Surf Scoters out in the Choptank River.
JANUARY 18, WEDNESDAY. Clear, NW 20-25, 43¢XF. Just like old times: the clamor and clangor of hundreds of waterfowl in the cove last night (audible from our bed and only c. 150 yards away from it) and this morning as well, tipping up and continuing to feed on R. maritima: 420 Canada Geese, 4 Mallards, and the presumed same 20 Tundra Swans. Leave by 10:45 A.M.
165 Tundra Swans feeding in the huge fields W of Route 481 and 0.7 mi. S of Ruthsburg. An adult Bald Eagle over Route 301 at Milepost 117.
ASIAN PIED TRUMPETER ADDED TO MARYLAND LIST. In my dreams. A few nights ago I dreamt that I hand-captured a bird from the Loblolly Pine nearest our living room. I snuck up underneath it and grabbed the sucker: an Asian Pied Trumpeter (the name came to me in the dream), the color of a Pinyon Jay but with a pied, black, white and brown wing pattern. Longer tail than a jay. I showed it to Marshall Iliff for an ID; he couldn¡¦t tell me what it was (since no such bird exists, he¡¦s off the hook). I did find out today that there are a Northern Pied Hornbill and a Trumpeter Hornbill. Perhaps in my subconscious I knew this, but I swear I never remember hearing of those before.
BLACK LOCUST TORQUE (?). So many blowovers last year. Still cleaning up. One locust log seems impossible to cut through. Starts out O.K. but then binds the bowsaw in and one can¡¦t go any farther. I believe some locust logs have a built in torque that is released during a partial cut through. I¡¦ll try cutting it in a different section next time.
Best to all. ¡V Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.
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