SMITH ISLAND, MD, SOUTH POINT MARSH, VA, & WORCESTER COUNTY, MD,
AUGUST 1-3, 2011, a time of Barn Swallows, arriving Monarchs & the start of
blooming Goldenrod.
ABBREVIATIONS: BCNH, Black-crowned Night Heron. YCNH,
Yellow-crowned Night Heron.
APOLOGIA PRO VITA SUA. Once a year or so I feel compelled to say
that my field notes are intended, first of all, to provide a record of what
I嚙踝蕭ve seen, but they also go to friends and family, some of whom know little
about birds, and, lastly, they are for my own pleasure and to help me remember
these days out-of-doors. Hence they may seem to some to constitute an excess
of detail. When I am old and dottery and perhaps may not be able to do these
things anymore, I hope they will enable me to relive the pleasures of these
minor adventures.
AUGUST 1, MONDAY. E of Salisbury, MD, 73 Canada Geese in a field,
Rt. 13, near milepost 33, with one pure white goose in with them, orange bill
and legs. Four Cattle Egrets in a field W of Rt. 413 just N of Crisfield.
AUGUST 2, TUESDAY:
SOUTH POINT MARSH, Accomack County, VA (essentially an extension of
Smith I., MD). 9 A.M. 嚙碾 3:30 P.M. A pelican banding trip with Dave Brinker
and John Weske as banders, Jennifer McNicoll, Hannah Sprinkle, and me as bird
catchers. This is a long day. At the end my legs feel as if I had summited
Annapurna, with consequent rather severe muscle spasms in spite of abundant
Gatorade consumption and a banana.
Just about perfect for the pelicans and the work we do with them:
clear, winds NW 20-25-10 m.p.h., temps in the low 80s. Tide low at 9:29 A.M.
at Janes Island light.
A group of c. 24 teachers who are taking a course with the
Chesapeake Bay Foundation under the direction of Kaitlyn Moss and others are to
join us but because of low water most of the day are unable to until we almost
finish late in the afternoon, when they finally get a good taste of marsh mud,
unstable substrates, warm bay water, and, more important, the spectacle of a
large pelican colony as well as exposure to the crazed, driven individuals such
as us who haunt it. They嚙踝蕭ll not soon forget it.
With regard to the CHESAPEAKE BAY FOUNDATION, while watching the
Nationals beat the Braves on TV at Crisfield嚙踝蕭s Pines Motel Monday evening, I
was pleased to see a CBF advertisement during the game, a nice relief from the
tiresome beer and cars ads.
We band a total of 553 pelican and 7 Double-crested Cormorant
chicks, probably c. 95% of the bandable peli chicks there. We see just one
pelican nest with eggs (2) and one nest with very small young.
Most of the time we嚙踝蕭re wrangling pelican chicks so birding is
limited but: 3 BCNH, 4 YCNH, 1 Tricolored & 3 Little Blue herons, 5
Black-bellied Plovers, 32 American Oystercatchers (in sight simultaneously), 13
Seaside Sparrows, 11 Glossy Ibis, 1 Willet, 9 Great Egrets, 5 Boat-tailed
Grackles, 7 Fish Crows, 16 Barn Swallows, 5 Royal Terns, 2 Ospreys and 25
unID嚙踝蕭d distant sandpipers. Twice I flush an American Black Duck from exactly
the same patch of Spartina alterniflora, a certain sign of an occupied nest,
and Dave Brinker sees an adult with one duckling, plus we see 3 other flying
AMBDs.
Non-avian taxa: 4 Diamondback Terrapin, 1 Green Darner, a Question
Mark, and 8 Monarchs. During these 3 days there is definitely a small but
widespread influx of Monarchs.
The South Point Marsh pelican cluster is no longer the monster it
was when over 1,000 pairs nested here for several years, but it is certainly
still impressive and perhaps the largest Brown Pelican colony N of North
Carolina.
SMITH ISLAND, MD, especially Tylerton and Rhodes Point. Earlier in
the day: 6 Glossy Ibis, 7 oystercatchers, 30 Barn Swallows, 8 Purple Martins, 7
Tricolored & 9 adult Little Blue Herons, 2 Red-winged Blackbirds, 20 Fish
Crows, 6 Royal Terns, 3 Ospreys, 1 BCNH, 3 Ospreys, 2 YCNH, and 6 unID嚙踝蕭d
peep. One Monarch. The 嚙踝蕭3 Stinkers嚙踝蕭 (Duncan MacDonald嚙踝蕭s term) are
present: 6 starlings, 4 House Sparrows and 2 pigeons. A species of cicada is
in Tylerton with a distinctive double 嚙踝蕭note嚙踝蕭. I have never heard them much
farther N than Blackwater N.W.R. on the mainland. I think it嚙踝蕭s called
Scissor-grinder Cicada and is featured on one of Lang Elliott嚙踝蕭s recordings.
I hear 3 here.
CLUMP ISLAND, a few miles E. of South Point Marsh. The plan is to
conduct Royal Tern mopping up operations here later today, or on Wednesday, but
we run out of time (time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana) and
there are also boat engine issues. Perhaps in the next few days. 1,190 royal
chicks were banded here in July.
AUGUST 3, WEDNESDAY. 21 Cattle Egrets in the aforementioned
Crisfield field at 9 A.M. 115 Canada Geese around a pond off Onley Road in
Worcester County at 9:46 A.M.
WORCESTER COUNTY, MD, birds seen at 3 landings in the S part of the
county. The attractive saltmarshes here are so different from those in the
Chesapeake, predominantly low Spartina alterniflora no more than a foot high.
Rich woodlands, with many deciduous trees, lie on gradually sloping land
leading down to the marshlands.
In the distance, in Chincoteague Bay, are marshy islands, some with
considerable Loblolly Pine groves: Shelldrake, Rattlesnake, Mills, Tizzard, and
Assacorkin islands as well as Ready Cove and Robbins tumps. Farther still in
the misty, shimmering, blue-gray distance, c. 5 miles away, are the extensive
pine groves of Assateague Island.
Sheldrake is a colloquial local name for Red-breasted Merganser.
Tump is a term for small, marshy islands, usually with peaty sod banks one or
two feet high. I嚙踝蕭ve only known it to be used, mostly, in the MD/VA boundary
area, but on both sides of the Delmarva Peninsula in the Chesapeake and here in
Chincoteague Bay, although farther S near Willis Wharf there is Parchaby Tump.
Hereabouts, and elsewhere I suppose, apostrophes are often dropped
from place names just as g嚙踝蕭s are dropped when Sarah Palin speaks; I嚙踝蕭m
supposin嚙踝蕭 it makes speakin嚙踝蕭 and spellin嚙踝蕭 easier:
Taylor嚙踝蕭s Landing, 9:50-11:20 A.M. 3 Seaside Sparrows, 2 Brown
Pelicans, a Great Blue Heron, a Blue Grosbeak, 2 Snowy & 11 Great egrets, 2
Glossy Ibis, 13 Least Sandpipers, a Royal & 27 Common/Forster嚙踝蕭s terns (mostly
but not all Forster嚙踝蕭s), 10 Double-crested Cormorants, 1 adult Bald Eagle, 1
Marsh Wren, and 95 Barn Swallows plus a Tiger Swallowtail. Dave Brinker comes
in after censusing Big Bay Marsh, a low marsh island offshore, where he has
counted 136 Brown Pelican nests, a record for coastal Maryland. At the landing
Dave also has 2 Northern Bobwhite, a Spotted Sandpiper, and a Green Heron.
Truitts Landing, 11:50-12:30. No fancy ibises, rails, or
shorebirds. Most of the birds are in the big, semi-impounded area S of the
dirt road here. 30 Great & 8 Snowy egrets, 3 Brown Pelicans, 1 Glossy Ibis, 16
Least Sandpipers, 7 American Black Ducks, 1 Greater & 5 Lesser yellowlegs, 65
Forster嚙踝蕭s Terns, 3 Brown Pelicans, 3 Seaside Sparrows and 1 imm. Little Blue
Heron plus a Gray Squirrel, 100s of Seaside Dragonlets, a Monarch, and a
Spicebush Swallowtail. The N side of the road is a quite fresh impoundment,
alive today with tiny fishes, with some cattails; I assume this is where the
King Rails occur.
Scotts Landing, 12:35-1:30. 1 Glossy Ibis, 40 Brown Pelicans (most
of these at their colony on Big Bay Marsh, 2 miles distant, but quite visible
at 10X), 40 Barn & 2 Tree swallows, 2 Eastern Wood Pewees, 4 Seaside Sparrows,
3 Great Egrets, 1 Greater Yellowlegs, 7 Fish Crows, 1 Common & 7 Forster嚙踝蕭s
terns, a Great Blue Heron, 9 Least & 4 Spotted sandpipers, a 嚙踝蕭 Blue Grosbeak,
an Eastern Bluebird, and an Eastern Kingbird hitting on a Black Vulture plus a
Gray Squirrel and a Tiger Swallowtail. Nearby - a roadkill Raccoon at Ayres
Lane Road.
Somerset County, though Maryland嚙踝蕭s poorest county, has some big
time agriculture, as does lower Worcester County. Driving up Route 12 towards
Salisbury there are notices out that the Blessing of the Combines will take
place later in August at Snow Hill.
PEEP ID. All of the peep seen well these 3 days are Least
Sandpipers, which is a good fit with the muddy areas visited.
PENNSYLVANIA, sometimes called Pencesylvania now that Hunter Pence
is in right field for the Phillies: Bald Eagle, 1 adult, outskirts of
Philadelphia, flying low down the Schuylkill River right over I-476 and
downtown Conshohocken.
REEDY ISLAND, MD, ROYAL TERN MOPPING UP OPERATIONS. On July 26 a
revisit was made to Reedy I. in N Ocean City and 16 royal chicks were banded by
Dave Brinker, John Weske, et al. They嚙踝蕭d been too small to band a month or so
earlier when 139 were tagged.
AUK, July 2011, pp. 577-586, arrived in today嚙踝蕭s mail and contains
an article, 嚙踝蕭Reproductive success of Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis) on
suburban golf courses,嚙踝蕭 by Kerri L. Cornell and 9 others associated with the
College of William and Mary. The upshot is that bluebirds have better breeding
success on golf courses than on other urban or suburban open space areas
(parks, college campuses, cemeteries, etc.). They monitored more than 650 nest
boxes in Virginia. The 10th author is Dr. Daniel Cristol, who I suspect gave
himself last place due to his unassuming modesty. Recently Dan received the
Mitchell A. Byrd Award for Scientific Achievement of the V.S.O, its first
recipient, for his research on the effects of mercury on birds. He is on the
board of advisors of the Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory.
AMERICAN ROBINS are starting to congregate on lawns in numbers
surpassing the local breeding populations in the immediate vicinity of those
lawns.
DROUGHT OR LACK OF IT. Most of the areas this trip are lush green,
not nearly as dry as at our Talbot County place or in Philadelphia. The apple
trees carry a large burden of fruit. It rains in Crisfield, briefly, on Monday
night.
嚙踝蕭FREE嚙踝蕭 2012 UNSOLICITED CALENDARS, the 1st one in June, from
conservation organizations I belong to, have been coming in, 6 so far, each
costing the organization $1,000s of $$. I put one each in 3 bedrooms, the
kitchen, and living room of our MD house, in 3 strategic spots of our PA home.
Typically, attractive as they are, they include minimalist, sometimes
incorrect, information with the photograph captions. One has Elliot Island
instead of Elliott Island, another misidentifies a Solitary Sandpiper as a
yellowlegs.
Years ago, as a result of this onslaught, I stopped buying Ansel
Adams calendars as a birthday gift for Liz each year. Also unasked for are
1000s of address labels and dozens of greeting cards from other organizations,
some of which I嚙踝蕭ve never belonged to. Where is Joyce Kilmer when you need
her?
HUNTING IN MARYLAND. Proposed regulations for the upcoming season
stipulate (source the [Salisbury] Daily times, Aug. 3, p. B3) that it嚙踝蕭s O.K.
to shoot one Fulvous Whistling Duck and one Mottled Duck, per day. The
so-called light goose season (lite goose?; limit of 25/day) gives the dates and
bag limits which include, in aggregate, both Greater and Lesser Snow Geese as
well as Ross嚙踝蕭s Geese.
In as much as there have never been any records for Mottled Ducks
in this state and precious few for Fulvous Whistling Ducks (I嚙踝蕭ve seen them
twice in MD in 61 years of birding here) one might wonder if templates from
other states may be in play, just as the Arctic oil field disaster plans were
in part transmitted to the Gulf of Mexico and mentioned the Walrus. A
facetious op/ed piece in the newspapers on the recent Gulf oil disaster
headlined that 嚙踝蕭No walruses were harmed.嚙踝蕭
The crow season opens August 15, Wednesdays to Saturdays only. A
special light goose spring season is proposed to extend from Jan. 30-April 14
嚙踝蕭with no bag limits嚙踝蕭 and O.K.嚙踝蕭s the use of unplugged shotguns, electronic
calling, and extended hours.
A public hearing on the proposed regulations will be at Chesapeake
College, August 15, 7 P.M.
Speaking of templates a few years ago a friend嚙踝蕭s Virginia bird
banding permit emphasized that no Waterbucks, an African antelope, were to be
banded. Really! We could all use copy editors. I certainly can. See
immediately below.
A READER嚙踝蕭S GUIDE TO MY JULY 24-27 FIELD NOTES. In addition to
the mistakes noted earlier, which are referenced in their entirety below*,
please also note that the Fosters嚙踝蕭 Mississippi Kite was seen at ESVNWR July
23 not June 23. Murning Cloak should be Mourning Cloak. Back Duck Marsh
should be Black Duck Marsh. Kazyak should be Kayzmak. Honey Tolu is the brand
name on the old bottle.
*Jimsonweed, not Jimson Weed. Add: 2 Semipalmated Plovers to the
Holland Island list. But more important, I neglected to state that Dave
Brinker is the one in charge of the pelican banding, a project of his for over
10 years, well over 20,000 banded. Of course he was with us on Holland Island,
along with his daughter, Laurel. Thank you for your forbearance.
Best to all. 嚙碾 Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.
