Ferry Neck, Blackwater & Hallwood NW Virginia atlas block, June 12-16, 2017.
Harry Armistead
FERRY NECK, BLACKWATER, EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA (Hallwood NW atlas block), JUNE 12-16, 2017.
JUNE 12, MONDAY. Rigby’s Folly, Ferry Neck, Talbot County. Arrive 12:40 P.M., hot, 87-92, clear, SW5+, water clarity excellent, no rain in gauge since last visit. Carolina wren update: Having already nested, or tried to, this season in a folding director’s chair, then inside the clothes dryer vent, they are now established, with 4 eggs, inside a rectanguler, 4” X 4” opening at the base of our former osprey nesting platform, tilted on its side under the garage car port. An immature bald eagle flushes from Field 4, we suspect one of the 2 fledged from our nest.
gray squirrel 2 including “snowshoes” (has white paws and legs) and “half-redtail” (the distal portion of tail is reddish brown; Liz also see “halftail”), eastern cottontail 2. The yard chipping sparrow sometimes has a untypical long song, lasting 7 seconds. A great crested flycatcher flushes from the bluebird house up 15’ on the yard loblolly pine. The English ivy has withered on the black cherry by the dock after having been cut 2 weeks ago. Good.
JUNE 13, TUESDAY. RIGBY’S FOLLY: 1 each of cattle and snowy egrets. 23 common grackles on the yard lawns. northern watersnake 4, a good year for them so far. Liz sees a bald eagle and another cattle egret. One A-10 Warthog.
IN DORCHESTER COUNTY:
EGYPT ROAD, 91 degrees F., 12:30-1, a lazy drive, only stop twice: northern bobwhite 1, prothonotary warbler 1. bald eagle 1, blue grosbeak 1, orchard oriole 1, common yellowthroat 4, and indigo bunting 3 plus a tiger swallowtail and 5 painted turtles.
BLACKWATER N.W.R., 1-2:15, 91-92 degrees F. great egret 41, great blue heron 17, bald eagle 7, killdeer 1, orchard oriole 6, red-eyed vireo 1, eastern bluebird 6, osprey 10, pine warbler 2, eastern wood-pewee 1, great crested flycatcher 1, mallard 30, American white pelican 1, indigo bunting 3. NON-AVIAN TAXA: 1 deer, 2 painted turtles, 1 redbelly slider. Inside the porta-potty a female five-lined skink with a roach in its jaws.
PUGNACIOUS RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD on the observation platform: a male strikes the baseball cap on my head two times, often perches on the railing at close range, scolding. 91-92 degrees F. Most of the herons are in Pool 1 and Pool 5 that have been drained real low.
MIDDLETOWN BRANCH ROAD: 1 sika deer and a painted turtle basking on the road, that is rescued, with duck weed all over its carapace.
ON TO VIRGINIA:
VIRGINIA BREEDING BIRD ATLAS 2, Hallwood NW block, Accomack County. the north border is the MD-VA boundary, June 13-14. This is in extreme NW Eastern Shore, and includes such entities as Bulbegger Creek, Miona, Pitts Creek, Tunnels Mill, the non-existent, defunct, Sawyer Airport, Holland Road, and Neal Parker Road. The upper part of Pitts Creek has lovely deciduous bottomland forest as well as open, lush freshwater vegetation. There is extensive brackish marsh where Bulbegger Road crosses Bulbegger Creek, and semi-open, freshwater swamp where Tunnels Mill Road crosses Tunnels Mill Branch.
But most of the Hallwood NW block is unremarkable farmland and loblolly pine forest, although perhaps a third of the open fields are now firmly established solar farms, under construction last year, that are not that much less hospitable to birds than conventional cultivated fields, except for swallows cursing over the fields. At least the solar panels are back a ways from the roads with surrounding, low, fallow areas and they are higher and more widely-spaced than many solar panels at other places.
The west extremity of Pitts Creek, that which is within the block, merges onto low Loblolly Pine forest that abuts open tidal marsh, where I found the block’s first 3 brown-headed nuthatches June 13. And nearby the block’s first chuck-will’s-widows the same date. Best of all were two GRAY FOXES at close range at Dunns Swamp Road, in the headlights, 9:10 P.M., June 13, plus hundred of fireflies.
Other highlights, June 13, 5:20-9:20 P.M., 49 species: Canada goose 245, little blue heron 1 adult, glossy ibis 1, bald eagle 3 (incl. an adult tending to a nestling), Virginia rail 2, white-eyed vireo 4, starling 60, yellow-throated warbler 1, common grackle 300.
Most of these counts are surpassed, June 14, 6-11 A.M., 53 species, a much better time of day for singing, with wood duck 9 (incl. 2 young with a female), Virginia rail 1 (new location; unsolicited), laughing gull 250 (hawking dragonflies), yellow-billed cuckoo 3, pileated woodpecker 3, Acadian flycatcher 2, white-eyed vireo 7, red-eyed vireo 6, horned lark 2, bank swallow 1, Carolina wren 11, great crested flycatcher 6 (incl. 1 carrying food), ovenbird 5, worm-eating warbler 1, prothonotary warbler 5 (at 3 sites), yellow-breasted chat 3, field sparrow 1, grasshopper sparrow 1, blue grosbeak 11, indigo bunting 34, orchard oriole 9.
NON-AVIAN TAXA (best counts of the 2 days): deer 18, muskrat 2, gray squirrel 1, eastern cottontail 2, Virginia opossum 1 (d.o.r.), painted turtle 4, bullfrog 3, green tree frog 7, green frog 9, tiger swallowtail 1, variegated fritillary 1, cabbage white 6, unIDd sulphur 2.
On Tuesday evening 4 vehicles stop to ask if I need help, on Wednesday morning 2. So far, in these 2 years, these species have not been detected: great horned owl, king rail, northern bobwhite, house wren, clapper rail, song sparrow, swamp sparrow, seaside sparrow, and brown thrasher. Some of these species may not occur in this block. No blue jays yet this year. The species grand total for both years combined is 85. I doubt if it will get up to 100 by the end of efforts there in 2020.
Covering all of the paved, public roads in this block comprises 22.1 miles, including some unavoidable backtracking. Our Nissan Murano is quiet. Driving along at well-under 10 m.p.h. with the windows and sunroof open, I’m able to hear almost as much as if I stop or stand next to the car. However, I do make frequent stops, get out a lot, and do some nice walks, too. Taking 5 hours to cover these 22.1 miles in this manner I feel the block gets very well covered, except for some areas that can only be done by boat. Nice and slow.
JUNE 14, WEDNESDAY. POCOMOKE CITY at 5:40 A.M. 2 green herons and an adult bald eagle fly over the parking lot at the Holiday Inn Express.
RIGBY’S FOLLY: cedar waxwing 1, yellow-billed cuckoo 2. Liz hears a great horned owl twice. Our first-of-the-year fireflies.
FINICKY: One gray squirrel processing fallen mulberries next to the pumphouse. Holds them in its paws, spinning them frequently, nibbling each 20 or more times. At breakfast I’ll chew each of the 3 kinds of berries on my Fiber One a few times only, then swallow ‘em. I don’t know why squirrels’ eating habits are SO labor-intensive. Chickadees are just as much so, will take a single sunflower seed kernel, fly off with it, perch, put the kernel between their feet, then peck it 20-30 times.
JUNE 15, THURSDAY. RIGBY’S FOLLY. Liz sees a fledged Carolina chickadee begging its parent. One glossy ibis (one seen later, so possibly 2). Four sightings this year, unusual, often go 3-4 years between sightings, Poplar Island birds? (plus, George Armistead sees one on Sat., June 17). Seven cattle egrets follow the enormous disking machinery in Field 4. Later, after the disking, I count 80 common grackles in Field 7, 14 in Field 6, nothing in Field 5, and 7 American crows in Field 4. One adult bald eagle. A 7” skink on the front porch with a small bumblebee in its jaws.
JUNE 16, FRIDAY. Four wild turkeys in Field 4. Leave Rigby’s Folly 8:45. ROUTE 301, gray squirrel, 1 d.o.r. (never to scamper again) milepost 99, red fox, 1 d.o.r. milepost 111. pileated woodpecker 1, milepost 113.
Best to all. - Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.