[va-bird] Smith Island MD/VA Aug. 13

From: "Harry Armistead" <harryarmistead@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 16 Aug 2002 14:30:22 +0000

From: Henry Armistead <74077.3176@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> >To: Harry Armistead
Subject: Smith Island MD/VA Aug. 13 >Date: Wed, 14 Aug 2002 10:07:46 -0400

Smith Island, MD/VA, Tuesday, August 13, 2002, 8 A.M. - 5:15 P.M., clear

but hazy, 75-90, SW 10-15 to S 5-10 to SW 10. John Weske (bander &boat
captain), Bob Ake, Nancy Richards West, Russell Fish &myself. Very
pleasantweather with a nice breeze making it quite bearable most of the
time. >>John set up camp the previous evening on South Marsh Pt., VA, and

banded >from 10 P.M., Aug. 12, until 3:30 A.M., Aug. 13, (!!) banding about
50 >Double-crested Cormorants and 70 Brown Pelicans. Most of these were

late-hatching chicks but John was also able to capture a few adults of both
species. He saw a Willet in the night also. He feels the birds are much
less disturbed by night banding than during the day. After a few hours of
sleep John came in to pick the rest of us up at the Crisfield marina at
7:45 A.M. >>Our first stop was at Little Fox Island, VA, c. 5 mi. s. of

Crisfield. >Three weeks ago we had estimated no more than 40 late Royal Tern
eggs here. >We were wrong because today we banded 62 royal chicks, an
excellent total >for a 3rd visit to this colony, esp. since even 2nd visits
in such colonies >usually end up with few new birds and sometimes none at
all. A total of >1,032 royal chicks were banded here this summer, the most
ever by 100 or >so, I think. Also here were 115 Great Black-back Gulls, 95
juvenile >Laughing Gulls (locally hatched), 1 Semipalmated and 1
Black-bellied >Plover, 1 Common Tern, a couple of flying young Forster's
Terns, a Least >Sandpiper, 4 Black Skimmers and 3 American Oystercatchers.
Little Fox is >only a couple of acres. >>Our next stop was back out to South
Marsh Pt., a sort of extension of Smith >Island, MD, but in VA c. 3 mi.
southof the MD/VA line. In short order we >banded 50 pelican chicks and
couldhave banded quite a few more but it was >getting a little too hot and
for the sake of the birds and ourselves we >quit in time for lunch back at
Ewell at Ruke's Restaurant - the usual >delicious celebratory crabcake
sandwich platters with iced tea. At South >Marsh Point we saw 17
oystercatchers, 1 ad. Black-crowned &1 ad. >Yellow-crowned Night Heron, 3
Least Sandpipers, 3 Seaside Sparrows, 1 >American Black Duck, and I
carefullyestimated 1,210 Brown Pelicans >(capable of flight) in sight from
one spot at one time, with numerous >others out of sight behind walls of
Spartina alterniflora, these last seen >a little later. Fiddler Crabs
swarmedeverywhere today where there was >exposed mud. A total of over 1,100
pelican chicks have now been banded at >South Marsh Point this summer, a
project under the direction of Dave >Brinker. >>In Maryland on Smith I.
including the Ewell area, the west jetties, and Big >Thorofare southeast of
Ewell we saw the birds listed below, many of them on >the extensive, exposed
flats in the vicinity of Swan Island and the >adjacent jetties (the tide was
very low): 55 pelicans, 47 Little Blue >Herons, 12 black ducks, 3
Black-bellied Plovers, 25 Canada Geese, 17 >oystercatchers, 45 Fish Crows, 2
Sanderlings (on the outermost part of the >south jetty), a Spotted Sandpiper
(on the north jetty), 7 Tricolored >Herons, 3 Glossy Ibis, and,
interestingly, no Yellow-crowned Night Herons, >plus 2 Diamondback Terrapin
in between the jetties. I wish we had had the >time to do some landbirding
the way Jim and Matt did last Friday. >>The marsh around Swan Island is
emergent. Nice to see it building up when >in so many areas it is eroding.
Swan Island per se has a nice developing >forested area. When I first saw it
in the 1970's it had no trees at all. >It has turned into a respectable
hammock as has the refuge tower/cabin area >(about a mile to the east of
SwanIsland) which now has a good growth of >trees and an attendant heronry.
In the 1970's it had no trees at all but >through the efforts of then refuge
(Glenn L. Martin N.W.R.) technician, the >late Stanley Marshall, trees
finally became established after the dredged >soil began to lose some of its
salinity through leaching by the rains. >Incidentally, if I were a Reddish
Egret in the lower Bay I would frequent >the flats adjacent to Swan Island.
Swan Island abuts the base of the north >jetty. Maryland's only 2 Roseate
Spoonbill records are from nearby areas >of Smith Island. >>Bunker oil,
again. Noticing some slick areas in Tangier Sound I commented >on these and
Russell Fish, who is a Chincoteague waterman, said they were >made by the
bunker bait (Menhaden) used in the many extensive lines of crab >pots in
thisarea. >>Perhaps you heard already but (I got wind of this indirectly) a
Rufous >Hummingbird banded near Richmond, VA, last November by Mary
Gustafsonwas >recaptured in early August in Montana. The chance of this
happening is >about like winning the biggest ever Powerball lottery. An
astounding >foreign recovery. >>Best to all.-Harry Armistead, 523 E. Durham
St., Philadelphia, PA >19119-1225. 215-248-4120. Please, any off-list
repliesto: >harryarmistead@xxxxxxxxxxx

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[va-bird] Smith Island MD/VA Aug. 13

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