KIPTOPEKE SOUJOURN, September 24-October 9, 2005, part 2. Commentary
restricted mostly to my own experiences and showing a distinct hawkwatch
platform bias, since most of my time was there.
Please see Part 1 for a list of people, places, various caveats, etc.
Tuesday, Oct. 4. A Fowler's Toad by the yurt. 3 hovercraft ("the wrath of
God") blasting away out in the Bay. Bill Williams arrives with several
busloads of high school students from Williamsburg. Talk with Mary Pulley.
One each of Red-headed Woodpecker, rough-winged and Bank Swallows. Zach
captures 4 peregrines. An ad. female and an imm. male are shown off at the
platform plus an imm. male, blind in its left eye, and emaciated (probably
as a result), very low on fat. The latter was banded yesterday on
Assateague Island. After dinner Hal & Lynn observe a Loggerhead Turtle,
present for some time, at the fishing pier in K.S.P.
Peregrine Falcon 65. Merlin 35. American Kestrel 142. Bald Eagle 10.
Osprey 99. Sharp-shinned Hawk 292. Cooper's Hawk 72. Red-tailed Hawk 6.
Broad-winged Hawk 11. Northern Harrier 4. Turkey Vulture 1. Black
Vulture 2. TOTAL: 741.
Wednesday, Oct. 5. Randy observes 9 menhaden ships. I am able to make out
some of their names: 'Shearwater' and 'Tangier Island'. Marty Daniels
arrives. I talk with Ellen Nelson of Folly Farms, Accomac. She has a pair
of binoculars that date from World War II and look like veterans of several
battles. Betty Lemley, "the bonecrusher", is here for a visit of several
days. Zach catches an imm. male peregrine. A male Merlin streaks by
giving the infrequently-seen, incredible, shrike-like flight which makes
him seem like a Tree Swallow or other passerine - presumably a stealth
maneuver allowing him to sneak up on prey. At 9:30 P.M. Hal & Lynn, Bob
Rineer, Sue Ricciardi and I visit the fishing pier and have good views of
the Loggerhead Turtle as well as of gars (up to 2' long), spot, crabs, and
many hundreds of other fishes.
Peregrine Falcon 71. Merlin 71. American Kestrel 41. Bald Eagle 6.
Osprey 60. Sharp-shinned Hawk 226. Cooper's Hawk 46. Red-tailed Hawk 5.
Broad-winged Hawk 27. Northern Harrier 2. Turkey Vulture 3. Black
Vulture 19. TOTAL: 577.
Thursday, Oct. 6. A Green Tree Frog calls (inside?) at the yurt at 3:05
and 5:35 A.M. Hal & Lynn find 2 Eurasian Collared-Doves at the entrance to
K.S.P. today (and yesterday) and Sam & Jethro see one on Route 600 E. of
the park Oct. 7. Baron & Tina Gibson are here. Zach traps an imm. male
peregrine and a juv. red-tail, shown to all. Sue and the Minors leave.
Marty prepares a great jambalaya meal (rice, sausage, shrimp, ochra,
tomatoes) plus salad, bread and various beers and throws a party for 11 of
us at the yurt. In the midst of much conversation and music and lights we
are serenaded by an oblivious screech owl nearby plus a katydid and cicada.
Randy, Tina & Baron see the Loggerhead Turtle again at the fishing pier
after the party.
Peregrine Falcon 31. Merlin 19. American Kestrel 21. Bald Eagle 4.
Osprey 35. Sharp-shinned Hawk 63. Cooper's Hawk 10. Red-tailed Hawk 2.
Broad-winged Hawk 2. Northern Harrier 1. Turkey Vulture 6. Black Vulture
5. TOTAL: 199.
Friday, Oct. 7. Lead an ESVB&WF field trip aboard Capt. Monty Webb's
'Safari' out from Willis Wharf into the MACHIPONGO RIVER 2-5 P.M. Too
rough to go into Hog Island Bay and out to Cobb and Hog islands. Tide
above normal but falling rapidly. 22 participants on this dreary, overcast
day with winds and a little light rain. 65 Black-bellied & 12 Semipalmated
Plovers. 4 adult Bald Eagles. A good look at a Clapper Rail. 1 Whimbrel.
8 Short-billed Dowitchers. 4 Dunlin. 20 Great & 9 Snowy Egrets. 3
oystercatchers. 7 Greater Yellowlegs. 55 turnstones. 20 Caspian, 1 Royal
& 12 Forster's terns. Our modest counts of 24 Marbled Godwits and 215
Willets are improved upon onshore by Hal & Lynn and Ariel White who are in
Willis Wharf when the tide is optimal (and we are several miles away) to 36
and 450 respectively plus they find a YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD in a flock of
500 cowbirds and see a Yellow-crowned Night Heron.
Zach catches a color-banded imm. male peregrine thought to have been banded
as an eyass in New Hampshire. The color band is punctured and therefore
removed and one of the bird's legs is swollen. Sidney Gauthreaux gives an
excellent talk on his radar ornithology studies, which have produced
astounding, compelling results. We are sorry we never got to the radar
facility at Oyster for a demonstration. Liz and I expel a Green Tree Frog
from the yurt at 10 P.M. At the hawkwatch: Peregrine Falcon 25. Merlin
2. American Kestrel 3. Bald Eagle 1. Osprey 26. Northern Harrier 1.
TOTAL: 57.
Saturday, Oct. 8. Torrential rain all last night and much of today. Green
Tree Frog calls at 6:15 and 6:45 A.M. by the yurt. Hawkwatch manned
(personed?) only a couple of hours = 2 Merlins, 2 Ospreys, and a peregrine.
Visit the festival grounds and pick up copious freebies, make a few
purchases. Fenton Day and I lead a festival trip, 17 of us, to the
Chesapeake Bay Bridge & Tunnel, for the most part in torrential rain.
About all we are able to find under such adverse conditions are 40 Sandwich
& 10 Royal terns, a few cormorants and gulls, and a nice pod of dolphins
that afford us good looks. In view of a really spooky forecast the trip is
cut short by CBBT authorities. For the last couple of hours of the day the
weather breaks, there are big patches of bright blue sky, a rainbow, wild
and wooly wind gusts, and extremely complex and varied cloud formations
with a forecast (that never materializes) of winds of 50-70 m.p.h. We see
the quarter moon and Venus head towards their setting. Apres storm 5 Wood
Ducks go by and there is a flight of recovering Royal Terns but no ocean
birds, to my knowledge, are blown into the Bay in spite of several days of
strong SE winds. In the evening Gerri & Bobby Howe throw their annual
chili dinner in the campground, always welcome but especially so in view of
the weather.
RAMP LANE, ESVNWR, 3 EVENING COUNTS. On Sept. 26 two Caspian Terns seen
here taking turns diving at an imm. Bald Eagle. On Sept. 27 c. 2,000 Tree
Swallows are here doing their great vortex swirls before roosting in the
middle of a big Spartina alterniflora marsh far from any trees, bushes or
trees. They were not seen to do this the other 2 evenings, being
practically absent on those dates. Very few Boat-tailed Grackles in
contrast to some other times. X = seen but numbers not recorded. Selected
species:
Sep. 26/Sep. 27/Oct. 1
5:30-7:30/6:30-7:30/6-7:30
Brown Pelican (scoped on FINWR): 300. 450. 230.
Great Blue Heron: 8. X. 8.
Great Egret: 51. 18. 31.
Snowy Egret: 106. 70. 32.
Little Blue Heron: 3. 0. 0.
Tricolored Heron: 19. 25. 11.
Black-crowned Night Heron. 0. 7. 4.
Yellow-cowned Night Heron: 0. 0. 1.
White Ibis: 123 incl. 30 adults. 31. 66 incl. 12 adults.
Glossy Ibis: 3. 2. 1.
Black Vulture: 30. X. 49.
Canada Goose: X. X. 69.
Wood Duck. 0. 1. 0.
American Black Duck: 6. X. 0.
Osprey: 3. 0. 0.
Bald Eagle: 3. 0. 5.
Merlin: 3. 0. 0.
Peregrine Falcon: 1. 0. 0.
Clapper Rail: 1 (seen flying). 3 (1 seen flying). 8 (2 seen flying).
Great Horned Owl: 0. 1. 0.
Belted Kingfisher: 1. X. 2.
Seaside Sparrow: 0. 1. 1.
I missed not seeing Johansen (the great bearded character and storyteller),
Tad de Bordenave, Sam Oglesby ('the Ogre', a fraternity brother I expected
to see after a lapse of 45 years), Talbot Bird Club members, George
Armistead, Bill Lagerstrom & Lee, and Robert (Klages).
Disappointing not to have a 1,000+ day for hawks. Really low numbers of
flickers, Blue Jays and sharpies but a good fall for Yellow-billed Cuckoos.
Kestrels were strong early on but with disappointing numbers during my
stay.
Sunday, Oct. 9. A screech and a horned owl calling at the yurt at 6 A.M.
"And bring with tremulous cadence slow
The eternal note of sadness in." - Matthew Arnold, 'Dover Beach'. Sorry to
be leaving but cheered that I'll be back for 4 days in November.
An ESVB&WF field trip to TANGIER ISLAND today led by George & Aurora
Roberts and myself. Eleven of us in the "Bay Eagle", captained by Larry
Laird, Jr., of Crisfield. Overcast and choppy with winds c. 15 m.p.h. but
no rain. In spite of this I see 4 Monarchs and a Viceroy out there. It's
over 15 miles to Tangier and we pass remote, uninhabited Watts Island (now
a unit of Blackwater N.W.R.) on the way, where a hermit spent most of his
adult life in the previous century. Our objective, Port Isobel, consists
of c. 250 acres of Tangier I., owned by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. It
is a gem with hundreds of trees planted by Pennsylvanian Randy Klinefelter,
the former owner. Isobel was (is?), I believe, his wife. Randomly,
charmingly, displayed are a huge Fin Whale jaw and Giant Clam shells.
There are woods, saltmarsh, lawn, and lovely beach areas spangled with
goldenrod above the modest dunelines. Manager Dave Cola shows us around.
There's a small hawk flight going on: 2 harriers, 1 peregrine, 2 Merlins,
5 kestrels, an Osprey, 1 Cooper's, and 7 sharpies. Also: 75 Brown
Pelicans, 9 Little Blue Herons, 2 Tricoloreds, 11 Sanderlings, 40 Royal
Terns, 5 black ducks, 30 Canada Geese (incl. a cafe au lait-colored one),
35 Tree Swallows, 1 pewee, 4 kingfishers, a Carolina Wren, and 2 Swamp
Sparrows. But most unusual is a Hairy Woodpecker, notoriously rare on
remote islands, spotted by George. Because I promised Dave a complete list
here's the rest: 20 cormorants, 8 Great Egrets, 2 great blues, 95
Laughing, 30 Herring, 1 Ring-billed & 20 Great Black-backed gulls, 1
Caspian Tern, 7 flickers, 12 Boat-tailed Grackles, 2 wigeon, 12 Fish Crows,
and 1 Black-crowned & 1 Yellow-crowned night heron. There's an Osprey nest
on the beach right on the sand, not unusual for the Smith-Tangier is. area.
Leaving Onancock one cruises out Onancock Creek for miles with its
well-appointed houses and otherwise gentrified look. Here we see a
Pied-billed Grebe, a Cooper's Hawk perched, 2 Common Loons, and a distant
Bald Eagle and its nest in a pine hammock in Parkers Marsh Natural Area to
the north. 2 Gray Squirrels grace the Onancock lawns (yes, grace them).
On the way back in some of the group see several dolphins.
Monday, Oct. 10, Columbus Day. Rigby's Folly: 1 immature Bald Eagle. 1
Spotted Sandpiper (latest date ever was Oct. 12 one year). 1 Osprey. 1
phoebe. 3 bluebirds. Spent most of the morning relocating and
reorganizing things from my stay in Virginia. Met with Katherine and Peter
Paul in the afternoon. Not much at Blackwater N.W.R. Still with low water
in the impoundments and high water in the tidal areas, both conditions not
conducive to good birding but: 4 ad. Bald Eagles, numerous great blues and
Great Egrets hunting in the shallow waters plus 10 kestrels on Egypt Road.
A few of the big, white Marsh Hibiscus still blooming at this late date.
With my big annual vacation over I feel the usual baffling mixture of mild
tristesse and irritability but also elation thinking of all the great
people, places, and bird spectacles of the past 2 weeks. Or, as Bobby Howe
puts it, sort of like watching your mother-in-law drive over a cliff in
your cadillac. However, in my own case, I'd much rather lose the car.
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
wanted to include a lot more but it's time to move on ...
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