Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 10:39:19 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Henry Armistead <74077.3176@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Ferry Neck March 14 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Route 301, c. mile 106.5, west of the highway a Beaver has gnawed a tree, apparently girdling it, at least a foot in diameter about 100 yards from the road. The tree is still standing. It was strange to see zero geese along Rt. 301 today. "Rt. 309 Pond", 1 mi. e. of the T-junction of Rts. 213 & 309, 11:15 A.M.: 45 Ring-necked Ducks, 1 Lesser Scaup male, 12 Green-winged Teal, 2,800 Ring-billed Gulls in a field across the road being ploughed, 1 Horned Lark. Some Chorus Frogs calling near the junction of Rts. 33 & 329. "Rigby's Folly", Armistead property on Ferry Neck, Talbot County, MD, near Bellevue. Sunday, March 14, 2004, 1 - 5:30 P.M. only. Mostly overcast, 46-50 degrees F., wind SW 10-20 m.p.h. Tide low and falling during the course of the afternoon. Liz & Harry Armistead. 1 adult Northern Gannet, 1,275 Surf Scoters (15th highest property count; highest I've estimated was 4,000 on March 14, 2002), 4 Bald Eagles (2 ea. ad. & imm.), 45 Common Goldeneyes, 35 Lesser Scaup, 2 Double-crested Cormorants, 30 Fish Crows (very vocal), 35 Long-tailed Ducks (very far offshore, through 32X scope), 175 Buffleheads, 2 female Red-breasted Mergansers, 120 Canvasbacks, 1 Common Loon (in pretty-far-advanced breeding plumage), 7 Horned Grebes (only 1 showing signs of breeding plumage), 1 adult Bonaparte's Gull, 1 Great Blue Heron, 3 House Finches, 1 Red-tailed Hawk. Strange to see all of 9 Canada Geese today, those far out over the Choptank in apparent migration. Once again Surf Scoters are a spectacle in the Choptank River. Several times this afternoon single eagles ventured out over them, flushing them all, their wings sounding like hundreds of distant bells in the distance, well-audible even over the 20 m.p.h. winds and the waves breaking against the rip rap. A couple of weeks ago over 57,000 Surf Scoters (and c. 6,000 Black Scoters) were present at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel, Virginia, where Ned Brinkley, Mitchell Byrd, Bill Williams, and others faced the daunting task of making such estimates. The eagles also put up the Canvasbacks and Buffleheads once. 5 gull species today on the property including 335 Ring-bills (6th highest property count) and 4 Laughers in a field. Only 2 Tundra Swans, in migration. Highest migration count for here was 3,130 on March 20, 1999. Farmer John Swaine has ditched (today, I think, judging from the water's relative discolorations at various sites) the north side of our driveway, perhaps the first time this has been done in my lifetime. Unfortunately this has led to the demise of a female Snapping Turtle, with a carapace c. 13" long. She was burst open and dull orangeish eggs, the size of small marbles, were visible. This color caught my eye as I motored past, at first leading me to think I'd passed a Box Turtle, until I backed up and found this hapless snapper. 3 deer (does). The fields and lawn areas are so dry I can drive almost anywhere in them now, even w/o 4WD, very unusual for late winter. Compare to last year when I got stuck in the yard - in mid-summer no less. It is gratifying that the land is finally drying out some after c. 1.5 years of excess rains and consequent abundant standing water. Goin' home. An Osprey at its huge nest (which survived Isabel apparently) on a 2-pole segment of the power line near mile 55 and west of Route 50 at 5:51 P.M. Home by 8:45 P.M., a 273-mile day trip. MARCH HIGHLIGHTS IN CERTAIN OTHER YEARS: Today was almost exactly the date of the 11th anniversary of the "Storm of the Century": March 13, 1993, at Rigby's Folly, Ferry Neck, Talbot County, Maryland. Somewhat like a moth drawn to the flame I wanted to be at our place when the much-bruited "Storm of the Century" was forecast to hit. Early in the morning, after 4 inches of snow fell, the wind steadily rose to 55 m.p.h. from the northeast. The house seemed to vibrate. The barometer plunged to 27.92. Precipitation changed to sleet and then rain. In the afternoon the winds calmed some and the rain mostly stopped. I put on my best rain gear and headed out for the first time. My notes say: "34-38 degrees today. Virtually unbirdable except 3-6 P.M." During this brief period I spotted a Common Loon eating a Hogchoker. An ad. gannet was at that time an earliest-ever date for the property. 11 great blues seemed high for such a day. 17 Green-winged Teal were an excellent count by local standards. 9 pintails were unusual for here. An ad. Bald Eagle was laboring out over the center of the Choptank River, perhaps 3 miles offshore. Closer in an ad. male harrier was making some headway into a 40 m.p.h. northeast wind. 3 migrating snipe were a property high count. At the height of the storm 5 American Pipits sheltered a few inches from the tires in the lee of my Chevrolet Suburban, which I had parked (and got stuck) 200 feet from the nearest trees in case of blowovers (we lost more than a dozen big Red Cedars). 38 species was the best I could do under such conditions. These were all birds that might have been present anyway, storm or not. In mid-afternoon an "impressive, vast squall line with lightning behind it approached from the southwest into a strong northeast wind bringing showers". In the face of these nearing, ominous, purplish-black clouds, coming from the western shore, even though there were some patches of blue sky, I decided it would be prudent to go back into the house. "Beautiful, complex gray clouds today. Very low tide." Electric power was lost 11 A.M. - 6:30 P.M. No trees damaged the house. When the strong winds shifted from NE to SW, trees were then blown over in the precise opposite direction of those that had fallen earlier in the day. The storm did not live up to its advance billing but it had its impressive moments. The drive back to Philadelphia the next day, where over 12 inches of snow fell, was a minor adventure also. Other March storms. A couple of days after the great Ash Wednesday storm of March 1-2, 1962 - a sort of proto-perfect storm - Will Russell, Paul Sykes and I were at Back Bay N.W.R., VA, walking the barrier strip. "What was that back there, a newspaper?", one of us said. "No, it was a rabbit." When we went back to look at the light-colored object we'd seen out of the corner of our eyes it was a light-phase Northern Fulmar tangled in the wax myrtle bushes, a then southernmost record for the western Atlantic. Paul wrote this up in "the Auk" (July 1964, p. 437), noting that it was "neither fat nor emaciated". Clearly it had been blown ashore by the strong winds that reached 51 m.p.h. It was near death and is now in the U. S. National Museum. It's a tough time of year with such storms often damaging nests of species with big stick nests such as Bald Eagle, Osprey, Great Blue Heron, and Great Horned Owl, all of which are usually at their nests by now. In 1983 at Rigby on March 12 there were gusts to 50 m.p.h. In 1989 on March 12 there was a "tremendous northeaster with 2 inches of rain" bringing 310 Ring-billed Gulls into the fields to feed. Beware the Ides of March, and also sometimes the tides of March. 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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================