Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 12:03:15 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Henry Armistead <74077.3176@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Chesapeake pelagic & other stuff MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Howdy, 1. May 18, 2001. Rigby's Folly, Ferry Neck, near Bellevue, MD. George A. saw a Horned Lark in apparent migration over our Big Field, only the 2nd record ever between May 1 and Sep. 29, the other being one I saw on May 30, 1998. Anomalous records. 2. May 20. After having slept a couple of hours in the early morning fog in Salisbury following their 204-species big day on May 19, George Armistead, Mat Hafner, and Marshall Iliff, looking like 3 zombies, arrived at 4:30 A.M. Six hours later we left in my boat, the "Mudhen", on a Chesapeake Bay pelagic trip. One of the highpoints of the long boat ride today was hearing the details of their big day, achieved without the use of tapes in full compliance with A.B.A. rules, driving over 600 miles, boating over 40 from Annapolis to Poplar Island to Cambridge. George's personal list was 200, LOWER than the others'. Here's hoping Marshall will provide a full accounting in MDOSPREY. Birds (all seen at least 1 mile from shore, mostly in Dorchester waters): 0 loons, 25 Double-crested Cormorants (Marshall says loads are nesting again at Jefferson Island [Poplar Island archipelago]), 5 Brown Pelicans, 3 great blues, 3 scoters (no doubt all Surfs but only 1 ID'd as such; they WEREN'T White-wingeds), 4 Ospreys, 6 Common Terns, 5 Laughing, 2 Herring, and 4 Great Black-backed Gulls, 1 hummingbird (headed east), 3 Barn Swallows, 4 Purple Martins, 8 swallows (sp.). Also: 1 Red Admiral (migrating east), 1 unid. butterfly, 1 probable Cow-nosed Ray and several Winter Jellyfish. A bit early for Wilson's Storm Petrels but we heard 2nd or 3rd hand that some were seen off Tilghman's a few days ago. Route: Bellevue ferry/marina to the pound nets (favored by Brown Pelicans last summer but none today) 1+ mi. s. of Tilghman Island to Sharps Island Light south to red buoy 80 south to red buoy 78A east to Cook's Point east and home to Bellevue. 10:53 A.M. - 4:21 P.M. 48.2 miles. Overcast. Wind SE - E 10-25 mph. Water 62-65 degrees. Air: high 60's. Seas 1 - 2 feet. Light rain c. 1/5th of the time. Cold and windy. At times the wind blew long windrows of salty froth on the water surface. This was not the trip we wanted. Had it been calmer we would have penetrated 20 mi. farther south into Dorchester waters in the shipping channel. Twice we drifted to the west and north of the 2 buoys for c. 45 minutes each time laying a chum slick with last year's leftover fish oil. Water depth 12 to 73 feet. A rough trip. For the first time I had 4 persons aboard but "Mudhen" was still able to plane for long distances at 22-24 m.p.h. going into the wind and chop but at higher rpm's and speed than is good for the engine in the long haul. At Cook's Point we saw 2 Bald Eagles harassing an Osprey. Several Ospreys were carrying big fish a foot or so long. For them to be able to fish in such weather seems remarkable. My thanks to Marshall for keeping the log and to the others for their forbearance in the face of my occasional outbursts of Bligh-like behavior. Scarlet Tanager singing in the yard today. 3. My friend, George Reiger, Conservation Editor of "Field & Stream", has written on the prospect of oil drilling at Arctic N.W.R. in the June 2001 issue, pp. 34-35, entitled "A pipeline of lies". This includes some information on opinion polls, oil spills at Prudhoe, and various broken promises by the oil industry I was unaware of. George is no knee-jerk tree hugger and has well-reasoned conservative views on some issues. He does not hesitate to take courageous stands on conservation issues. Cf.: www.fieldandstream.com 4. The current, Summer 2001 issue of "New Jersey Audubon" has two items I find of special interest. One is Clay Sutton's interview with Dave Sibley, which has several anecdotes that can only serve to further Sibley's mythic reputation as an artist, birder, and person. The other is "Note on Black Bear use of 'Phragmites' " by Brian Hardiman (p. 19). Has 2 photographs and short article showing a 400 pound male bear at home on its heap of phrags, described as its overwintering ground nest on which it sleeps, which looks like a huge Mute Swan nest! I am appalled by how phrags have degraded many of my favorite marshes but it is good to know they have some uses. 5. Brooke Meanley sent me a copy of "Had I the wings: the friendship of Bachman & Audubon" by Jay Shuler (U. of Georgia Pr., 1995, 233pp.). I found this great reading. Two of Audubon's children married two of Bachman's. Bachman was a good field man, often detecting new birds when he heard songs he did not recognize (including the first Bachman's Warbler known to science). That isn't so strange now but 170 years ago seems very progressive and enlightened. The descriptions of the scientific meetings of educated folks, esp. doctors, held in the Charleston area speak of a time of generalized interest in science and life that seems pretty rare thesedays. Best to all.-Harry Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA 19119. ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================