FERRY NECK, BLACKWATER N.W.R., ELLIOTT ISLAND ROAD & PICKERING CREEK AUDUBON CENTER, FEBRUARY 15-19, 2012. Liz & Harry Armistead.
FEBRUARY 15, WEDNESDAY. 116 Turkey Vultures on the way down. A Bald Eagle in flight S of the Delaware-Chesapeake Canal. 970 Snow & 160 Canada geese at the pond off to the E of Route 481 just S of Hope. Nice. Wild Turkeys, still doing well apparently: 22 at the now classic location for them just S of Routes 33 X 329 E of St. Michaels plus a big group of 40 E of Bellevue Road.
Rigby’s Folly, 3 P.M. - , 51° F. (41°F. at 9:15 P.M.), clear, low tide, winds NW at 5+ m.p.h. Out in Irish Creek the big duck flock continues: Canvasback 370, Ruddy Duck the fussy flier 710, Lesser Scaup 70, Common Goldeneye 5, Mallard 4 & Bufflehead 165 with 1100 Canada Geese nearby. Dead calm and so clear at sunset & I regret not going out to Lucy Point to do a sea watch, but I was tired and napped. However, see under Feb. 18 for the birds I probably missed today.
Clyde Harding et al. have cut the Damocletian, threatening, branches of the dead and decaying big oaks that overhung the driveway where Field 4 adjoins with the mature woodlands, some of these limbs 1.5’ in diameter. I’ll count the growth rings later. They did a good job. One of the oaks was/is the patriarchal Cherrybark Oak that died 2 years ago, its circumference 23 feet 11 inches.
I place a 12 foot aluminum pole with a yellow and black Caution tape streamer NW of the dock to mark where I want the Osprey platform to be installed. The 1st 6-8” it goes in easily, the next 5-6 are difficult, but below that it feels as if the entire pole could go down to China.
Raccoons, I suspect, in the past week or so have helped themselves, as far as I can see, to ALL of the Oysters attached to the rip rapping along not just our shoreline but that of all the neighbors as well. And so it goes.
FEBRUARY 16, THURSDAY. John Brady installs the Osprey platform 140 paces NW of the dock. Looks like a good job. Metal pole c. 5” in diameter. Six ¾” plywood sections comprise the platform per se, which has a lip of c. 2,” all 10’ above the water’s surface. He puts some suggestive sticks on top of it to, I hope, beckon the birds when they return c. 5 weeks from now.
Not in the cove yesterday: 10 elegant Red-breasted Mergansers, 170 Lesser Scaup, 6 Tundra Swans. On our way out to go to Pickering Creek we see 70 Canada Geese in the Big Field, 120 in Field 2, and 500± in Field 6 (c. 690 total). Nice that none of them leave as we drive past ‘em. All of them, same ones I’d guess, are in Field 2 on our return. Gray Squirrels. 7 deer in Woods 7 (1 a buck).
Pickering Creek Audubon Center. My usual luck with stakeouts – we don’t see the Virginia’s Warbler, but it is fun to encounter Matt Hafner, Mikey Lutmerding, Danny Poet, Wayne Bell, Mark Hoffman, and other Maryland birding glitterati. American Coot 12, Green-winged Teal 1, Hooded Merganser 6, American Wigeon 1, American Black Duck 2, Mallard 6, Savannah 3, Swamp 4 & Song 6 sparrows and a Barred Owl calls once. In spite of the raw weather there are some small clouds of midges or gnats or whatever they are.
Overcast, winds light & variable or else calm, 42-48°F., light rain in the afternoon.
FEBRUARY 17, FRIDAY. Fog that burns off c. 9 A.M., clear becoming fair, NW 5-10+, 42-56°F. All, it would seem, of yesterdays Canada Geese are in the cove today, close, and right in front of the house.
A sunny but breezy time at Pickering Creek where I get a lousy view of the Virginia’s Warbler but others see it well from a nearby, distant perspective, so I count it. Also: a Golden Eagle flies right over us, quite low. 3 Red-tailed Hawks, a Northern Harrier, an American Kestrel. Tundra Swans heard. C. 1000 Canada Geese fly over and when they flush, a few Mallards, black ducks, pintails, Green-winged Teal, shovelers, and wigeon are seen. There are 18 birders’ cars (one of them PA ‘AVOCET’) and I see Mary Ann Todd, David Czaplak, Sam Dyke, Leslie Starr et al. Good decorum and demeanor here: folks talk in hushed tones & stay on the trails, no abusive audiolures used, no one runs.
IT’S GETTING SQUIRRELY ‘ROUND HERE (but always was, actually): 3 Gray Squirrels at the corn. Going out the drive there is a Fox Squirrel on the E end of Field 4, only the 5th property record. A typical ghostly gray-white creature, which coloration makes it stand out even at 100 yards+. On Feb. 18, the next day, Michael Male & I see it (presumably the same one) again in the same location, and today I see another one just W of the intersection of Rt. 33 and the E end of the Route 329 loop, where I’ve never seen them before.
A deer in Field 1. A Red Fox in Field 4. Liz hears a Great Horned Owl. 41 White-throated Sparrows. Cinematographer Michael Male arrives to overnight.
FEBRUARY 18, SATURDAY. Michael Male and I go out to Lucy Point where it is so extraordinarily calm and clear that the waters of the Choptank River mouth are like glass. We see 2300 Surf Scoters, 3 Common Loons (first of the year), 2 Northern Shovelers (10th property record), 285 Buffleheads, 80 Common Goldeneyes (continuing to do courtship displays), 125 Long-tailed Ducks, 70 Ring-billed Gulls, 2 Mallards, a Horned Grebe, and an adult Herring Gull that plunge dives into the water, completely submerging, disappears for a while. Several woodpeckers drum, including a Pileated.
A sure sign of spring, there are Common Grackles low and in the yard, some feeding on corn.
On the way back from Lucy Point we get stuck good in the Big Field. I hammer plywood sections under all 4 wheels. We then get out of this mess easily.
While Michael & I are gallivanting around in Dorchester County Liz sees at Rigby’s Folly an adult ♂ Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (first of the year here), a kingfisher, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, and 2 immature Bald Eagles. 46°F. here at 9:30 P.M.
Michael and I spend the afternoon in Dorchester County:
Choptank River-Malkus Bridge: the huge flock of thousands of Snow Geese continues, resting on the water in a great white mass. Yesterday Michael saw a Redhead at Oakley Street while he was videoing the Canvasback Flock.
Egypt Road: 3 Red-tailed Hawks flying in close association.
Blackwater N.W.R. Noon – 2:30 P.M. Bald Eagle 20, Cooper’s Hawk 1♂ (spotted by Greg Inskip), Common Merganser only 30, American Coot 1, American Kestrel 1, Eastern Meadowlark 4, Tundra Swan 24 (the only ones seen all day), American White Pelican 0, a few each of pintails, shovelers & Green-winged Teal. Also: 8 Painted Turtles and 2 Redbelly Sliders sunning. There’s a big Snow Goose flock at rest out on the Blackwater River; it looks much bigger than today’s Choptank River flock. No mammals.
At the Route 335 bridge over the Blackwater River 2 anglers spread out their catch on the bed of their pickup truck, much of it still alive: c. 20 Yellow Perch and 10 Calico Bass (a.k.a., unfortunately, Crappies). There are 5 anglers’ vehicles along the Sewards causeway.
No shorebirds seen here, nor Forster’s Terns. Talk with Greg Inskip about Golden Eagles (he and others see one from the end of Wildlife Drive this morning) and Wayne Bell’s youth birding group. Blackwater N.W.R. Ranger Tom Miller had a close call with a Golden recently, so low its talons dragged on top of his car.
Bestpitch-Transquaking River 2:55 P.M: Turkey Vulture 43, Bald Eagle 4, Northern Harrier 5, Red-tailed Hawk 3, Green-winged Teal 2, Belted Kingfisher 1. Some of the pavement here has substantial, long cracks due to settling.
Griffith Neck Road: 3 Bald Eagles, 1 carrying nesting material.
Elliott Island Road. 3:15-6 P.M. but we leave the marsh c. 5:30 so here is no palustrine dusk watch. Consequently we miss snipe, the marsh owl, Green-winged Teal, and night heron. Becoming overcast, 48°F. (seems as if it’s been 48°F. all day), S 15. An angler on the E side of Fishing Bay with 2 big spinning rigs pulls in a White Perch but releases it. O.K., that’s his decision, but he’s missing a delicious pan fish snack.
Out in Fishing Bay there are c. 575 ducks, perhaps 60% Ruddy Ducks, 20% Canvasbacks & 20% Lesser Scaup. At the Moorhen spot there are more ducks than usual there: 55 Gadwalls, 2 Mallards, 2 Northern Pintails & 12 American Wigeon. Just a few Canada Geese on rather barren Savanna Lake.
Also along Elliott Island Road: 41 Dunlin, 13 Greater & 3 Lesser yellowlegs, 9 Great Blue Herons, 8♂ Boat-tailed Grackles, a Clapper Rail that Michael hears, 11 Bald Eagles, 30 American Black Ducks, 6 Northern Harriers, 300 Red-winged Blackbirds, 2 Belted Kingfishers, 10 Common Mergansers, and 2 flickers.
FEBRUARY 19, SUNDAY. Overcast, E 10 m.p.h., 40°F., tide low and below a normal low. The forecast rain and/or snow never materializes. 1 Gray Squirrel at the corn. 7 Tundra Swans forage on the N side of the cove. 55 White-throated Sparrows as we go out the driveway, more than I’ve seen all year. We stop by Pickering Creek for an hour or so, dip on the Virginia’s, but see Bob Ringler, Mark Hoffman, Danny Poet & Peter Osenton et al. The staff has put out a big coffee pot on the back of a pickup truck. 4 Bald Eagles, some shovelers and coots. Others had seen the warbler today and yesterday. It is furtive. 77 Turkey Vultures on the way home; nothing else worth mentioning.
Best to all. – Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.
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