Date: Wed, 24 Jul 2002 11:17:39 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Henry Armistead <74077.3176@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: pelicans & terns July 23 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline On July 22, 2002, at Skimmer Island, Ocean City, MD, Dave Brinker, John Weske et al. banded 117 Royal Tern chicks. Earlier this season they tagged 567 there, so the grand total is 684. This is the royals' northernmost colony. No sign of any Sandwich Terns nesting there. Earlier, also on July 22, John et al. revisited Fisherman's I. N.W.R., VA, finding only 3 new royals to band there beyond the 1,600 they had marked earlier this month. As is often the case they found dead chicks banded earlier this year, 14, most if not all probably R.I.P. due to gull predation. On July 23, Tuesday, I accompanied John and Dave, who were returning to the Fox Islands, close to Crisfield, MD, but in VA, for mopping up operations. We corralled and banded 77 royal chicks, that, added to the 897 caught in early July, make 974 for Little Fox Island. Also present were 200 or so pairs of Laughing Gulls (lots of chicks plus still a few nests with eggs), a few Forster's Tern young, 4 Willets, 4 American Oystercatchers, and a few pairs of Black Skimmers, incl. large but still downy young. There are still c. 45 royal nests each with their single egg. Great Fox Island, just across the way, is a Chesapeake Bay Foundation site, a marvelous old hunt club atop pilings. Unfortunately the C.B.F. this year has trapped mucho raccoons there. I think this is a new situation. Coons could really wreak havoc with the nesting birds on Little Fox. This year there seem to be fewer skimmers and Forster's, more laughers at the Foxes. The other numbers I am reporting here and elsewhere are about normal, at least for recent years, though the Fisherman I. royals are up a little. Then we went over to a Brown Pelican colony not yet visited this year, a sub-colony of the huge South Marsh Pt. complex, in VA, but really an extension of Smith Island, MD. This sub-colony is much smaller than in some recent years and we banded just 11 pelican chicks. Dave needed 23 to make it 1,000 for this year at South Marsh so he is still shy a dozen birds, something John Weske and I may remedy in another visit planned in 3 weeks or so. While here we saw some migrating shorebirds (4 Lesser Yellowlegs, 7 Short-billed Dowitchers & 9 Least Sandpipers), 4 Willets, a good total of 44 oystercatchers, 1 Yellow-crowned and 4 Black-crowned Night Herons, a Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow, 15 Black Skimmers, and 3 black ducks plus a Saltmarsh Skipper. Seeing these remote places again made my 2:30 A.M. Philadelphia wakeup call well worth the effort. Recent omissions. In my report from this area for July 18 I failed to note the 2 ad. and 1 imm. Bald Eagle seen in MD at the little Hog Neck hammock, where there is a nest. These were the first eagles I've ever seen on the Bay islands south of South Marsh Island but are hardly surprising since for several years they have also nested in the Glenn L. Martin N.W.R. on northern Smith Island at Cherry Island. Also in my report from Elliott Island for July 21 I forgot to list 2 other surprising misses: Red-eyed Vireo and Common Moorhen. "You might be a redneck if you are amazed at how clean the rest rooms are in gas stations." I am beyond being amazed by THAT but I am impressed with some of the new stations. The mega Wawas, some with 20 or more "service bays", are great for birders with their free ATM's and touch screens for ordering (every other place puts too much oil on my Italian hoagies no matter how I emphasize that I JUST WANT A LITTLE). The Exxon in n. Salisbury is spotless, has a fast food restaurant right in the lobby, and a TV screen with CNN lights up on the pump while you pump gas. Some of these places have free air. Whoop-dee-doo. And ... considering the nature of the beast, the rest rooms actually ARE quite clean with oldies piped in there and throughout the rest of the facility. Best to all.-Harry Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA 19119-1225. 215-248-4120. Please, any off-list replies to: harryarmistead@hotmail.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================