There was a report of damage at Irish Grove Sanctuary, so I went
there to check on it. Driving up to the house, you would not know
there was a problem at all, since what appears to have been a small
tornado passed just to the NORTH (i.e. back side) of the house, and
the damage is so confined that it can't be seen from the
driveway. The swath is about 60 - 80 yards wide, running from the SW
towards the NE, and less than 10 yards from the house. A lot of
shingles were taken off the roof, and one window was smashed, but
other than that, the damage was all to the trees. Large trees,
mostly pines but also a holly and a cedar, were snapped off about 30
feet off the ground, and the tops thrown considerable distances. One
tree was over a foot in diameter where it snapped. Trees were also
taken down in the woods across the fields to the SW, about 1/4 mile
away. In addition, there was substantial damage to the trees at
Conner's Corner, a couple miles to the north. The path this storm
took was parallel to another tornado-like storm that occurred in
April, 1993 (I think it was). It passed about 30 yards SOUTH of the
house, and took out the barn, and most of the outbuildings we had at
the time, again causing only minor damage to the house. I wonder how
many houses there are in Maryland that have had tornado-like events
pass by so close, one on each side, and still be unscathed?
After surveying the damage, I spread some sand on Rail Trail and did
some birding. It was very quiet, but below is a list of birds seen
around the house and down Rumbly Point Road:
Common Loon - 1
Northern Gannet - 5
Double-crested Cormorant - 6
Great Blue Heron - 1
Turkey Vulture - 4
Canada Goose - 2
American Black Duck - 2
Osprey - 1
Bald Eagle - 3
Northern Harrier - 1
Greater Yellowlegs - 3
Ring-billed Gull - 6
Herring Gull - 4
Great Black-backed Gull - 1
Forster's Tern - 8
Mourning Dove - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Yellow-shafted Flicker - 2
American Crow - 2
Fish Crow - 4
Carolina Chickadee - 3
Brown-headed Nuthatch - 3
Carolina Wren - 2
BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER - 1 (singing his heart out)
Eastern Bluebird - 2
Northern Mockingbird - 2
Brown Thrasher - 1
Myrtle Warbler - 23
Pine Warbler - 5
Eastern Towhee - 1
Song Sparrow - 3
Swamp Sparrow - 1
Northern Cardinal - 4
Red-winged Blackbird - 6
Eastern Meadowlark - 1
Brown-headed Cowbird - 2
When I got home in the evening, there was a V of Tundra Swans flying
west at a very high altitude just before sunset. There are still at
least 2 Red-breasted Nuthatches at the feeder.
Paul Bystrak
3709 Devonshire Drive
Salisbury, MD 21804
410-572-9950
443-783-1268 (cell)
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