January 18-21, 2003. Virginia & North Carolina. Harry & Liz Armistead.
Part 2.
Mon., Jan. 20. Clear, winds W 35-5 m.p.h., 28 - 50 degrees F. Almost
everywhere we went today we saw scattered Tree Swallows. 125 Boat-tailed
Grackles on the pavement right outside our motel room at dawn.
This morning we drove SW on Rt. 264 over 70 miles to New Holland. This is
a most beautiful, God-forsaken area across Croatan Sound from Roanoke
Island with vast, wet woodlands of Loblolly Pines, Myrica, Red Bay, and
impenetrable tangles of Smilax mixed in with huge wetlands consisting of
brackish, semi-tidal Juncus grass marshes and Panicum. There are frequent
stretches of straight highway through this impressive wilderness that run
from one to six miles without a bend. Black Bears, Bobcats, Red Wolves,
and 68 species of reptiles and amphibians live here. Much of this
comprises Alligator River N.W.R. Before arriving at New Holland there are
immense fields, some several miles across, and some of the flatest country
I have ever seen.
Mattamuskeet N.W.R. This 50,180 acre refuge was established in 1934 and
consists mostly of the 40,000 acre lake (the largest in NC) by that name,
which has an average depth of 1.5 feet and is 5 feet at its deepest,
surrounded by a belt of cypress swamps with huge farmlands beyond the
cypresses. The fields are often favored by large flocks of Tundra Swans.
The lake is 6 X 18 miles. An historic hunting lodge next to refuge
headquarters was originally a steam-powered pumping facility capable of
pumping 1,200,000 gallons of water per minute. Built in 1915-1916, it
successfully drained the entire lake in 1916, then 1920, and finally for 6
years starting in 1926. The lake was converted to farmland but became
unprofitable and was sold to the government in 1934.
At Mattamuskeet we saw 2,000 pintails, 2,000 Tundra Swans, 2 Baltimore
Orioles (actively feeding in the grass on the east road shoulder; present
for some time on the lake causeway just s. of the fishing pulloff with the
sign about Crappies which in turn is n. of the Charles Kuralt observation
platform about a mile), a White-eyed Vireo (next to refuge HQ), a phoebe,
an Orange-crowned Warbler, a Cooper's Hawk, 10 Great and 3 Snowy Egrets, 6
Black-crowned Night Herons, 2 Fox Sparrows and great views of 4
Golden-crowned Kinglets. We dipped on the Western Kingbird present
yesterday on the causeway. The triangular impoundment SW of West Main
Canal was loaded with thousands of waterfowl. Hundreds of swans were on
the north shore of the lake, extremely vocal. Only 2 coots and no Snow
Geese. In December 12 species of warblers were seen on the Mattamuskeet
Christmas count.
We lunched at the charming little park in Engelhard, where the lawns are
still spangled with yellow dandelion blossoms. A mile east of Engelhard a
juvenile Peregrine Falcon was terrorizing robins and Mourning Doves over a
large field. Engelhard has a sizeable shrimp fleet and even back from
Pamlico Sound pelicans sit on the rails over little tidal guts right next
to the highway.
In the afternoon my first visit to vast Alligator River N.W.R., 152,000
acres (238 square miles!!). We confined our visit to Wildlife Drive, where
Liz found some Red Wolf prints on Grouse Rd. We joined 3 others at the
halfway point on Long Curve Rd. who were watching raptors. They had, by
scopeing, counted 30 harriers in sight at one time. Using only binoculars
I got up to 23 at one time. Since we could only see at most one 5th of
this central farming area from our vantage point this might extrapolate to
150 or so Northern Harriers present here. We also saw 6 Red-tails, a
Red-shoulder, a female Merlin (which put on an impressive hunting flight),
2 kestrels, 800 Tundra Swans in a privately owned field bisected by Cub
Rd., a Pileated Woodpecker, hundreds of robins, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet,
various Hermit Thrushes flying in front of the car, and 2 Fox Sparrows. As
we were leaving a USF&WS truck with radio telemetry antennae was entering,
I suspect to track the wolves.
Bryan D. Watts has written an excellent assessment of Alligator's field
areas that had previously alerted us to its outstanding concentration of
harriers: "Winter use of early successional habitats by birds within the
Alligator River, NWR and Pocosin Lakes, NWR: evaluating the benefit of
alternate management scenarios" (Center for Conservation Biology, College
of William and Mary, 2002, 40pp.). I thank him and Mitchell Byrd for
drawing my attention to this fine document. Anyone who may think ecology
is a "soft" science should read this. It will change their mind.
Hundreds of robins going to a roost somewhere at dusk flying past our room
at the Duke of Dare Motel.
Tue., Jan. 21. Mostly overcast, a raw NE wind 15-20 m.p.h., occasional
flurries, 41-21 degrees F. Becoming partly sunny late in the day.
Liz spots a juvenile peregrine on one of the many Osprey nesting platforms
from the Rt. 158 bridge (over Currituck Sound) west of Kitty Hawk, NC,
feeding on something. Our only real stops today were brief ones in VA on
the C.B.B.T. where it was cold, raw and overcast with a NE wind. From
Island 1 we saw 435 Lesser Scaup, 61 Double-crested Cormorants on the
rocks, and 2 (locally uncommon) Rock Doves. Island 2 had a nice, close ad.
Lesser Black-backed Gull. Island 4 provided great looks at an imm. Iceland
Gull and the 4 Common Eiders. Other C.B.B.T. totals were 26 Great
Cormorants, 160 Surf and 75 Black Scoters (very close and calling
continuously, a beautiful, bell-like sound, very un-ducklike), 16 bonies,
12 gannets (leaving the Bay), 6 Common Loons (entering the Bay), a Brown
Pelican, and 70 Long-tailed Ducks (also quite vocal).
South of Mappsville, VA, on the Eastern Shore just s. of Rt. 676 was a
field with c. 6,000 Snow and 60 Blue Geese, many hundreds right next to the
road shoulder on the west side of Rt. 13. A field 12 mi. s. of Dover, DE
(just s. of milepost 38) had a couple of thousand snows as did another
field east of Rt. 1 e. of Dover Downs, Dover, DE.
Best to all.-Henry T. Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA
19119-1225. 215-248-4120. Any off-list replies, please, to:
harryarmistead@xxxxxxxxxxx
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