89th DORCHESTER COUNTY MAY BIRD COUNT, May 5, 2012 (in full).
[ADDENDA TO 90TH MAY BIRD COUNT REPORT, MAY 12, 2012: To “Early spring = early departure of wintering species” add Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler, Savannah Sparrow, and Common Loon to White-throated Sparrow and Lesser Scaup. To “Missed species” add Sanderling, which is almost always present on the sandbars opposite Swan Harbor Road. Non-avian taxa additions: Terry Allen saw an Eastern Mud Turtle on Wildlife Drive; Terry and Matt Whitbeck saw a 3’ Eastern Kingsnake, also on the drive.]
The count on the 1st Saturday in May I consider secondary to the count of the 2nd Saturday because it’s not an “official” count. However, participation was good for May 5; it is a pretty durn good count in its own right. 155 species, # of individual birds not totaled yey.
Abbreviations: BNWR, Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. EI, Elliott Island Road. HI, Hooper’s Island. I.S.S., in sight simultaneously. SH, Swan Harbor.
WEATHER and such from my personal notes: Beautiful full moon to keep us company through the wee small hours. Mostly overcast, occasionally clear, and overcast from 3:30 P.M. on with wind, virga, and then rain (mostly heavy) 3:30-4:15 P.M. (and yet none at Rigby’s Folly), winds calm mostly but NW 15 at 3 P.M., 15 from the NE 3:30-8:30 P.M.
Temperatures 70°F. at start, dropping only to 63°F. by 5 A.M., them up to 79 by 11 A.M.-noon, dropping to 62°F. by 8:30 P.M., so … cool, breezy, and overcast for the last few hours, essentially shutting down bird activity along EIR 5:15-8:30 P.M., but a warm, calm, moonlight-flooded night at the start. Lightning far to the S 1-2 A.M. and then far to the N c. 3 A.M.
Tides impacting areas we are in: At the end of Elliott Island Road high at 1:39 A.M., low at 8:33 P.M. At Barren Island high at 1:55 P.M. Shorter’s Wharf Road has a good new surface that is higher than the old one, so there is little tidal water over it - a welcome change. At Elliott Island Road, in spite of the full moon, there was little tidal water on the road.
EFFORT. (approximate totals): Miles: by car 347, on foot 7, at night 69. Hours: by car 15, on foot 39, at night 10. 4 parties, 7 observers. County N of Route 50: Karen & Bill Harris, Janet Shields, Danny Poet. Neck District: George Radcliffe. Elliott Island Road, Blackwater N.W.R. & Hooper’s Island, Harry Armistead (compiler). Blackwater N.W.R., Carol McCollough.
common loon 6. American white pelican 1 (BNWR; the flightless bird continues into its 3rd year here). brown pelican 56 (55 seen from HI at Opossum Island, where perhaps they may be considering nesting; 1 seen from McCready’s Creek). double-crested cormorant 101.
HERON TYPES: least bittern 1 (EIR). great blue heron 67. great egret 60. snowy egret 12. green heron 8. glossy ibis 1 (Egypt Road).
black vulture 14. turkey vulture 184. Canada goose 107. wood duck 23. American black duck 14 (mostly at EIR). mallard 136. blue-winged teal 4 (BNWR, Pool 1). northern shoveler 1♂ (BNWR, Pool 1). green-winged teal 10. lesser scaup 4. ruddy duck 39.
osprey 94. bald eagle 42. northern harrier 2 (EIR). red-shouldered hawk 2 (incl. 1 adult near Andrews where there may be 1 or 2 pairs breeding, atypically, in wet Loblolly Pine forest). red-tailed hawk 8. wild turkey 12. northern bobwhite 9 (4 parties).
RALLIDS: black rail 1. clapper rail 11 (EIR). king rail 1. Virginia rail 46. sora 2 (EIR). common gallinule 3 (EIR). American coot 1 (Shorter’s Marsh).
SHOREBIRDS: black-bellied plover 8 (SH). semipalmated plover 178. killdeer 17. American oystercatcher 1 (SH). black-necked stilt 2 (BNWR, Pool 5A). greater yellowlegs 20. lesser yellowlegs 65. solitary sandpiper 9. willet 7. spotted sandpiper 1. ruddy turnstone 1 (SH). sanderling 16 (SH). semipalmated sandpiper 19. least sandpiper 191. dunlin 800 (widespread). short-billed dowitcher (BNWR, Pool 1).
LARIDS: laughing gull 4036 (most likely NONE of them will breed in the county). ring-billed gull 44. herring gull 132. great black-backed gull 15 (SH). royal tern 7. common tern 2 (HI). Forster’s tern 29. least tern 11.
rock pigeon 45. mourning dove 66. yellow-billed cuckoo 9. barn owl 2 (EIR). eastern screech-owl 6. great horned owl 5. barred owl 2. chuck-will’s-widow 62. whip-poor-will 14 (all N of Route 50). chimney swift 43. ruby-throated hummingbird 8.
red-headed woodpecker 4 (BNWR & Robbins). red-bellied woodpecker 14. downy woodpecker 13. hairy woodpecker 1. northern flicker 6. pileated woodpecker 18. eastern wood-pewee 33. Acadian flycatcher 9. eastern phoebe 3. great crested flycatcher 84. eastern kingbird 25. white-eyed vireo 27. blue-headed vireo 4 (2 parties). PHILADELPHIA VIREO 1 (KH,BH; good, close study). red-eyed vireo 27.
blue jay 26. American crow 87. fish crow 13. crow unID’d 26. horned lark 18 (3 parties). purple martin 105. tree swallow 158. northern rough-winged swallow 2. bank swallow 3. cliff swallow 8. barn swallow 336. Carolina chickadee 35. tufted titmouse 78. brown-headed nuthatch 21 (4 parties). Carolina wren 37. house wren 13. marsh wren 50. blue-gray gnatcatcher 25.
eastern bluebird 44. wood thrush 22. American robin 214. gray catbird 26. northern mockingbird 61. brown thrasher 13. European starling 276. cedar waxwing 17 (3 parties).
WARBLERS: northern parula 16. yellow warbler 1. CAPE MAY WARBLER 1. black-throated blue warbler 2 (2 parties). yellow-rumped warbler 16. yellow-throated warbler 5 (2 parties). pine warbler 44. prairie warbler 34 (3 parties). blackpoll warbler 4 (2 parties). black-and-white warbler 22. American redstart 8 (3 parties). prothonotary warbler 12. worm-eating warbler 32 (3 parties). ovenbird 62. Louisiana waterthrush 4. Kentucky warbler 1. common yellowthroat 106. yellow-breasted chat 15.
summer tanager 26. scarlet tanager 14. eastern towhee 53. chipping sparrow 108. field sparrow 15. VESPER SPARROW 1 (a scarce breeder in the NE part of the county). Savannah sparrow 3. grasshopper sparrow 23. saltmarsh sparrow (Shorter’s Wharf Road). seaside sparrow 50. song sparrow 3. swamp sparrow 3 (EIR).
northern cardinal 101. rose-breasted grosbeak 2. blue grosbeak 64. indigo bunting 85 (a lot for so early in May). DICKCISSEL 2. red-winged blackbird 563. eastern meadowlark 6 (4 parties). common grackle 435. boat-tailed grackle 5 (EIR – McCready’s Creek). brown-headed cowbird 120. orchard oriole 63. Baltimore oriole 7. house finch 10. American goldfinch 40. house sparrow 46.
Miscellaneous observations (HTA): At night 124 SIKA DEER (Griffith Neck Road, always a good location for them in the wee small hours, but this is my most ever), 11 White-tailed Deer, 2 Virginia Opossums, plus big choruses of Cope’s Gray Tree, Green Tree, Southern Leopard, Green, and Bull frogs and a few Fowler’s Toads (but no Carpenter Frogs, of which they’re usually a few calling around Savanna Lake).
Shorter’s Wharf Road: a d.o.r. Least Sandpiper, 1 Sika Deer, 1 Raccoon, 1 Mud Turtle, 1 Eastern Cottontail, and a live NUTRIA. The Nutria extermination program has been so successful that this is the 1st one I’ve seen or heard in several years.
Blackwater N.W.R.: 2 d..o.r. Red Foxes, 1 d.o.r. possum, an Eastern Cottontail, 2 Redbelly Cooters, 2 Painted Turtles, and a small chorus of Cricket Frogs.
Egypt Road: 29 Painted Turtles at the “Prothonotary place.” This little wooded stream shows up on Map 21, coordinates J6, on the ADC county atlas. During the “Perfect Storm,” which affected Chesapeake Bay, water was so high in the adjacent Little Blackwater River that this stream flowed backwards from the influx.
Cambridge. 1 Woodchuck along Route 16, 13 Diamondback Terrapin by the Malkus Bridge.
Upper Hooper’s Island, from Creighton Road: 34 Diamondback Terrapin.
Bestpitch-Transquaking River. 1 Raccoon.
EIR: a pair of Canada Geese with 5 small goslings.
EIR-McCready’s Creek: 1 Diamondback Terrapin.
Best to all. – Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.
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