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Blackwater May 21; night list May 12; mocker imitations; 2,291 Whimbrel (Virginia), deer.

From:

Harry Armistead

Reply-To:

Harry Armistead

Date:

Sun, 27 May 2012 15:01:08 +0000

BLACKWATER N.W.R., MAY 21, 2012; May 12 night list; mockingbird imitations; 2,291 Whimbrel on May 24 at Box Tree Marsh, E. Shore of Virginia.  Deer depredations.
 
BLACKWATER & EGYPT ROAD: Whit & Bonnie Mallam and I were at Blackwater the morning of May 21.  Nothing outstanding but good views of 2 Red-headed Woodpeckers, a Grasshopper Sparrow, 3 Dickcissels, 3 Brown-headed Nuthatches, and 2 Summer Tanagers.
 
9:30 A.M. ˇV 1:15 P.M.  Overcast, poor visibility at start (200 yards or less), becoming fair with good viz, 62-73˘XF., winds 10 m.p.h. from ? ˇK somewhere.
 
Also: 12 Great Blue Herons, 30 Great Egrets, 1 Green Heron, 4 Black & 12 Turkey vultures, 30 Canada Geese, 1 American Black Duck, 1 ABD X Mallard hybrid, 40 Mallards, 1 Green-winged Teal (incapacitated?), 12 Ospreys, 10 Bald Eagles, a Red-tailed Hawk, 5 Semipalmated Plovers, 3 Killdeer, 5 Greater Yellowlegs, 2 Spotted Sandpipers, 55 Semipalmated & 1 Least sandpiper, 10 Laughing, 2 Ring-billed, 2 Great Black-backed & 3 Herring gulls (some of the gulls at Cambridge).
 
1 Chimney Swift, 1 brilliant ˇń Ruby-throated Hummingbird (looked down at him from a distance of 30 feet on the dike by Pool 3, a ˇ§cripplingˇ¨ view), 2 Red-bellied Woodpeckers, 1 Northern Flicker, 3 Great Crested Flycatchers, 2 Eastern Kingbirds, 3 Blue Jays, 10 American Crows, 40 Purple Martins, 15 Tree & 20 Barn swallows. 
 
3 Carolina Chickadees, 4 Tufted Titmice, 3 Carolina Wrens, 6 Eastern Bluebirds, 1 Wood Thrush, 12 American Robins, 3 Northern Mockingbirds, 15 starlings, 4 Chipping Sparrows, 5 Northern Cardinals, 2 Blue Grosbeaks, an Indigo Bunting, 45 Red-winged Blackbirds,40 Common Grackles, 2 cowbirds, and 3 House Sparrows.
 
Non-avian taxa: 1 Sika & 1 White-tailed Deer, a Gray Squirrel, 5 Painted Turtles, 4 Redbelly Cooters, and a Muskrat.
 
NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD IMITATIONS.  As heard by George, Will Russell, and me at Rigbyˇ¦s Folly on May 20.  Iˇ¦ve misplaced my notes but remember 13 species were imitated, incl. Greater Yellowlegs, Royal Tern, Carolina Wren, Chuck-willˇ¦s-widow, Great Crested Flycatcher, Blue Jay, Tufted Titmouse, Eastern Bluebird, and Brown Thrasher, and a few others.  
 
What I understand is that mockers that sing the most are unmated, and also that the richer the repertoire ˇV not surprisingly ˇV the more diverse the birdlife in the area the bird resides in.  Iˇ¦ve noticed the mockers at Blackwater, for example, have a more varied repertoire than those at our place, where 13 imitated species is above average for there.  
 
NIGHT LIST, DORCHESTER BIRD COUNT, MAY 12:  midnight ˇV 5 A.M., mostly at Elliott Island Road and Griffith Neck Road:  great blue heron 1, great egret 27, snowy egret 2 (these egrets at a nighttime roost at Bucktown), Canada goose 1, American black duck 1, clapper rail 6, Virginia rail 23, sora 1, common gallinule 10, dunlin 1, eastern screech-owl 1, great horned owl 1, barred owl 1, chuck-willˇ¦s-widow 13, horned lark 2, purple martin 4, barn swallow 3, marsh wren 21, gray catbird 2, northern mockingbird 2, seaside sparrow 3, and swamp sparrow 3 (breeders).  
 
= 22 species, about average, but with my poor hearing, even with hearing aids, I have trouble detecting birds high in flight overhead, such as migrating thrushes, Savannah Sparrows, Indigo Buntings, cuckoos, etc.  Conditions were good, winds calm or nearly so, clear skies, temperatures varying (dropping) from 58 - 51˘XF., and the low tide was also an advantage.
 
WHIMBREL.  On the evening of May 24 at Box Tree Marsh on the Eastern Shore of Virginia 2,291 Whimbrel were counted 6:20-8:50 P.M. by Sue Rice, Barry Truitt, Fletcher Smith, Bryan Watts, Ned Brinkley, George Armistead, and several others, apparently close to a new state high count for one isolated place.  
 
An aerial survey of the entire E. Shore found 41,623 (!!!) on May 9, 1995.  These curlew bulk up on Fiddler Crabs here, then fly non-stop to the high Arctic, as verified by recent satellite transmitters.  The species is in steep decline.
 
DEER DEPREDATIONS: NYT editorial/op-ed essay about deer vs. forests and birds by my friend, Dan Cristol, biology professor and ornithologist at the College of William and Mary.  Thanks to George for giving me a heads up on this as well as on the Whimbrel.
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/19/opinion/why-bambi-must-go.html
 
Best to all. ˇV Harry Armistead, Philadelphia. 		 	   		  

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