FERRY NECK, MARCH 30-APRIL 3, 2012: dénouement - the big waterfowl numbers are fading away. No blockbuster sightings this trip, mostly just home cookin’.
SURF SCOTERS: This is a little too pat a continuum – there must still be hundreds of Surf Scoters around nearby, perhaps up the Choptank River somewhere – but here’s the totals for recent weeks:
January 24 115; February 8 280; February 18 2,300; February 24 975; March 9,540; March 22 5,145; March 30 2,190; March 31, 1,090; April 1 650; April 3 6.
In the past few years numbers have lingered into late April, and, even into May, with a few small groups in early June, no less. Previous totals include 2,560 on April 13, 1990, 270 on April 27, 1996 & April 24, 1999, 190 on May 6, 1990, 5 on May 28, 2001, etc.
MARCH 30, FRIDAY. Just 24 Turkey Vultures on the way down from PA. Ring-billed Gulls in the ploughed fields: 700 next to Route 301 near the Delaware/Maryland line, 700 plus an adult Bald Eagle sitting on the dirt near the intersections of Routes 301 & 481, and 800 near Hope as seen from Route 481 plus a pair of flying Wood Ducks.
Arrive at 3:15 P.M. There’s a Wild Turkey and 12 deer in Field 4. Overcast, winds NE<5, 51°F., low tide, visibility good out at Lucy Point, where from 3:15-5 P.M. there are 2,190 Surf Scoters, 17 Northern Gannets (all full adults, as usual), 10 Horned Grebes, 95 Lesser Scaup, 85 Buffleheads, 3 Double-crested Cormorants, 6 Forster’s Terns, and 8 Common Loons plus 4 boats in sight and a single Diamondback Terrapin.
8 Turkey Vultures are roosting next to the garage, a situation I hope will not continue. In the cove are 2 ø Hooded Mergansers, 2 Mallards, and a pair of Canada Geese.
MARCH 31, SATURDAY. Clear the brush at Lucy Point so that the view of the Choptank River from the front porch is maximized. Overcast, 55-58°F., winds 5-10-10+ variously E becoming NE. I’m out there 11 A.M. - 1 P.M. and 2-3:30 P.M. doing this, but about 1/3 of that time is spent as a sea watch:
Surf Scoter 1090, Northern Gannet 7, Common Loon 7 (1 in full, resplendent breeding plumage is dealing with a citation-sized Hogchoker), Horned Grebe 8, Bufflehead 85, Lesser Scaup 50, Bald Eagle 2 (1 imm., 1 ad.), Northern Flicker 1, Laughing Gull 1, Great Blue Heron 2, and Fish Crow 31 with 3 boats in sight. Two Gray Squirrels in the yard.
APRIL 1, SUNDAY. Continue to tidy up at Lucy Point. Surf Scoter 650, Bufflehead 310, Northern Gannet 9 (incl. one sub-adult, the only one seen all year), Lesser Scaup 35, Horned Grebe 17, Common Loon 5, Bald Eagle 1 adult, Canada Goose 2, and Herring Gull 7. Mostly overcast, calm, 46°F.
Spend 3-5:15 P.M. clearing the overhanging vegetation from the entire driveway and the Warbler Trail. Good exercise. From the driveway along Field 4 I see a beautiful Red Fox, a Spotted Turtle, a deer, and a ♂ Eastern Towhee, and, nearby a single Slate-colored Junco, 22 White-throated and one Chipping sparrow, and an adult Red-tailed Hawk.
Liz sees a pair of Eastern Bluebirds, a Pine Warbler, and a very vocal Northern Mockingbird, the latter setting up shop, as usual, in the Hawthorns along the driveway in front of the house. Four Gray Squirrels have at the deer corn in the yard, as do some whitethroats, American Crows, Blue Jays, and cardinals.
APRIL 2, MONDAY. Mostly overcast becoming fair then clear, 46-60°F., winds NW 25-20, then calm at night. Liz spots the Red Fox right in the yard.
We spend 1:30-2:30 on the Olszewski Trails, that, in spite of an extensive period of the land drying out, are muddy, and, in some places, wet. Here we see an adult Bald Eagle, a lovely ♂ Pine Warbler, 6 White-throated Sparrows, 2 Tufted Titmice, a cardinal, a Carolina Wren, a Red-tailed Hawk, a Turkey Vulture, and a Myrtle Warbler plus 3 Gray Squirrel dreys and 3 small frogs that leap into Lake Olszewski, probably leopard frogs.
Then we sit in the sun in the 2 plastic lawn chairs that are installed here and see 18 sulphurs in Field 3, 8 sulphurs, 4 Cabbage Whites, and a dragonfly in Field 4. Where these chairs are is usually out of the wind and in the sun and it is easy and pleasant to doze off, even if fitfully, here.
I trim the overhang of the Irish Creek, Choptank, and Lucy Point trails from 5-6:15 P.M. Thus all the trails are “done” but will need doing again in just a few weeks. Only one Northern Gannet today. Neighbors have noticed that in their Osprey nest there is what appears to be a plastic Christmas wreath. ‘Tis the season.
APRIL 3, TUESDAY. Clear, NW<5, 46°F. Out at Lucy Point, 7:30 A.M., Bufflehead 160, Common Loon 7, Northern Gannet 1, Great Blue Heron 3, Lesser Scaup 7, Bonaparte’s Gull 2 (first of the year), Savannah Sparrow 1 (first of the year), and - get this - all of 6 Surf Scoters. During this entire visit, Irish Creek, where 1000 or more waterfowl were frequently seen from February through mid-March, NO waterbirds are seen during this visit except for an occasional single Horned Grebe or Common Loon.
Fort Smallwood Park, Anne Arundel County, MD, 11:45 A.M. – 2:45 P.M. Not a great flight but nevertheless we see 10 species of raptors, all in small numbers, plus a steady stream of Tree and Northern Rough-winged swallows, and, offshore, a few Horned Grebes, Common Loons, Buffleheads, and Bonaparte’s Gulls. As usual the good company here is worth the visit by itself, as is the setting, a strip of land bounded by Chesapeake Bay on one side, a fresh water pond with abundant turtles on the other.
We could use a good, soaking rain. I’m not going to comment much on the very obviously early vegetation, but to think that some Wisteria, azaleas, and Dogwoods are already blooming, and the oak trees’ catkins are luxuriant in the first days of April. Unrelatedly, I haven’t seen a Winter Jellyfish all year.
Best to all. – Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.
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