[va-bird] Ocean City, Chincoteague, Wachapreague
- From: "Harry Armistead" <harryarmistead@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: harryarmistead@xxxxxxxxxxx, lroslund@xxxxxxxxxxxx, mdosprey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, wayne.bell@xxxxxxxxxxxx, va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2003 19:16:44 +0000
From: Henry Armistead <74077.3176@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> >To: Harry Armistead
Subject: Ocean City, Chincoteague, Wachapreague >Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2003
10:59:56 -0500 >>Ocean City, MD. Chincoteague and Wachapreague, VA. Jared
Sparks and I >spent the weekend of December 13-14, 2003, at these places.
Ocean City inlet. Sat., Dec. 13. c. 11:45 A.M. -1:30 P.M. Clear,
mid-30s, NW 10-15. Tide almost full then ebbing while we were there. Of
most interest: 1 female Common Eider and a female Merlin, the latter flew
in across the inlet and perched on a post providing nice scope studies.
Kevin Graff was here and said early in the morning he had seen both eider
species on the s. side of the s. jetty, which is where there were still
many ducks, now badly backlit and hard to ID in the haze of the afternoon.
Kevin and some Ohio birders there saw a few gannets we missed. Jared and I
also saw: a migrating Sharp-shinned Hawk, 3 Double-crested Cormorants, 9
oystercatchers roosting on the high rocks of the s. jetty, 6 Forster's
Terns, 55 Surf &2 White-winged scoters. >>Chincoteague N.W.R., mostly from
the road between Swan Cove Pool and Tom's >Cove. c. 2:45-4:45 P.M. Low
tideand getting lower, wind N 5-10, c. 34 >degrees F. >>2 Ross's Geese, both
well-seen at medium distance in flight for several >minutes each as the
birdscircled with Snow Geese and eventually landed in >Swan Cove Pool. In
both cases - diminutive birds compared to the Snows >with proportionately
shorter necks and stubby, triangular bills, all these >features easily and
repeatedly seen: 1 an immature blue phase, the other an >adult white bird.
Iam aware that blue phase birds are even more likely to >be hybrids than the
white ones but to the extent we could see, everything >fit for Ross's.
Alsoat Chincoteague: 2,000 Snow plus 29 Blue Geese, 175 Tundra Swans, 1
ad. and 1 imm. Bald Eagle (flushed the waterfowl several times), 225
Green-winged Teal, 300 pintails, 75 shovelers, 65 Lesser Scaup, 1
kingfisher, 20 Great &1 Snowy Egret, 11 Greater Yellowlegs, 75 Gadwalls, 1
Horned Grebe, 5 harriers, 125 Buffleheads, 4 Forster's Tern, 1 ad.
Bonaparte's Gull (trading back and forth right next to the road at very
close range), 15 Boat-tailed Grackles. Next to the outlet pipe at low
water 10 Tricolored Herons and 15 Red-breasted Mergansers at very short
range and so close to each other they almost intermingled, feeding on small
fishes, a minor spectacle, strange bedfellows. 5 Sika Deer appeared at
dusk on the marsh edges. >>On the road in from Rt. 13 there were perhaps
3,000 blackbirds in a flock >in one field, many of them cowbirds plus 2
Willets and 3 Tricolored Herons >along the causeway. >>The wan winter light
here with the low, somewhat incandescent sun visible >through the complex,
changeable gray cloud formations made for a beautiful >scene accented by the
thousands of waterfowl feeding, circling, or making >sorties from one body
ofwater to another as Tundra Swans uttered their >marvelous calls. It was a
Peter Scott sky. >>"And winter's dregs made desolate the weakening eye of
day." Thomas Hardy, >'The Darkling Thrush'. >>Wachapreague Christmas count,
Sun., Dec. 14. 8 A.M. - 4 P.M. A gale with >sustained easterly or
northeasterly winds 30-35 mph, heavy, continuous >rain, temps. in the 40s,
beginning c. 3 A.M. and continuing until c. 1 P.M. > Demoralizing, close to
impossible conditions for birding, except from the >car and various peoples'
living rooms and balconies. Tides reached 2 feet >above normal at c. 11
A.M.nearly topping the Spartina alterniflora. Jared >and I almost gave up,
came close to just returning to Philadelphia after >breakfast. From 2-4
P.M.the rain and wind ceased and it became foggy with >visibility c. 100
yards. The amount of standing water in the fields was >exceptional. Some
stretches of roads under rain water for 100 yards or >more. Temperatures
reached into the 50s after the winds and rains stopped, >prompting a Chorus
Frog to call at 3:33 P.M. >>Jared and I covered the Locustville area. 55
species, including a lovely >male Common Yellowthroat plus a Pine Siskin at
the Reigers' feeders. The >best birding was in one of George Reiger's
fieldswhere we saw 6 Western >Palm Warblers, 40 Killdeer, 1 Greater
Yellowlegs, 3 Western Sandpipers, 110 >Dunlin, 8 Short-billed Dowitchers,
and2 Common Snipe, all actively >feeding. This was a harvested soy bean
feeding with abundant pools of >standing water. This Christmas count
tallied93 species. The soggy fields >were full of gulls (almost all
Ring-billeds), blackbirds, crows, and a few >shorebirds and ducks. >>We
stayed at the Reigers, whose house gives a marvelous view down tidal >Finney
Creek towards Burtons Bay and Parramore Island. From the comfort of >their
balcony Hooded Mergansers, numerous Buffleheads, Green-winged Teal, a
Long-tailed Duck, and other fowl were visible. George has written the
introduction of a new book that features the wildlife art of Lynn Bogue
Hunt, whose paintings I enjoyed as a boy. Though not as great an artist as
Walter Alois Weber, Maj. Allan Brooks, or Louis Agassiz Fuertes - others
whose paintings I enjoyed frequently then - Hunt's art was nevertheless
considerable, and far superior to the crude renderings of Bruce Horsfall.
Michael Male and Judy Fieth were to take us to Cedar Island today in their
Carolina Skiff with its big, silver Honda 4-stroke but given the weather
this was impossible. Disappointing not to spend the day on this fine
barrier island with its rich variety of sea, bay and saltmarsh birds, where
I snack on Salicornia almost every December. Michael and Judy's videos on
warblers, sparrows, and wading birds feature superlative photography,
excellent sound, and just the right amount of narration, which is
entertaining and informed. I highly recommend them. Their "Watching
Sparrows" is now available on DVD as well as VCR. www.birdfilms.com >>At
dusk as we drove through Accomac a Gray Squirrel scrambled over the road >on
a phone line. The drive back to Philadelphia at the end of the day was >a
bit trying since the windshield wipers failed close to the
Maryland-Delawareline with well over 100 miles to go in the rain. >>Here in
Philadelphia a Chipping Sparrow has been frequenting our feeders >beginning
with the snow storm of Friday, December 5, the only one I have >ever seen at
the feeders here in the fall. >>Best to all.-Harry Armistead, 523 E. Durham
St., Philadelphia, PA >19119-1225. 215-248-4120. Please, any off-list
replies to: >harryarmistead at hotmail dot com
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