Ferry Neck, April 12-14, 2026.

[Harry Armistead]

FERRY NECK (Rigby’s Folly), APRIL 12-14, 2026.  Liz, George & myself.

APRIL 12, SUNDAY.  Along Route 481 near its junction with Route 309 maybe 800 gulls, ring-billed and lesser nos. of laughing, following 2 huge plowing rigs.    

Arrive at 5 P.M.  A gem:  fair, 72, S 10-15.  9 deer in Field 1.  gray squirrel 2.  bald eagle 4, red-tailed hawk 1, Cooper’s hawk 1, black vulture 4, turkey vulture 12, osprey 3, mallard 2, wood duck 4, great blue  heron 1, killdeer 2 (possibly breeding [again?] in Field 1), eastern bluebird 4, mourning dove 1, brown-headed nuthatch 2, Carolina chickadee 4, Carolina wren 2, fish crow 7, American crow 3, common grackle 55, American goldfinch 1.  The start of a forecast extended dry period.  

George drives me around the fresh berms of Fields 1, 2, 4 and 6 that enclose new wetlands.  Those are still a little rough but will be smoothed over soon.

APRIL 13, MONDAY.  warm, 57-72, SW 15-20, fair or mostly overcast

46 species (from George’s 3 eBird lists & my own miscellaneous observations, attempting to minimize duplications):

common loon 1.  great blue heron 1.  glossy ibis 1.  mallard 4.  wood duck 6.  duck unIDd 12.  laughing gull 1.  herring gull 4.  ring-billed gull 1.  Forster’s tern 1.  double-crested cormorant 36.  black vulture 1.  turkey vulture 7.  bald eagle 4.  Cooper’s hawk 1.  sharp-shinned hawk 1.  osprey 4.  red-tailed hawk 1. 

greater yellowlegs 12 (in 2 of the new “wetlands”.  previous high 8 on April 16, 1995).  lesser yellowlegs 1 (previous early date April 20).  killdeer 2 (Field 1).  mourning dove 4.  tree swallow 2.  purple martin 1.  American crow 5.  fish crow 9.  blue jay 4.  Carolina chickadee 8.  tufted titmouse 5.  brown-headed nuthatch 2.  Carolina wren 4.  

pileated woodpecker 1.  red-bellied woodpecker 1.  northern mockingbird 3.  American robin 4.  eastern bluebird 8 (5 eggs in the yard nesting box, photographed by George).  European starling 28.  pine warbler 2.  house finch 1.  field sparrow 1.  chipping sparrow 4.  white-throated sparrow 40.  northern cardinal 7.  American goldfinch 3.  common grackle 55.  red-winged blackbird 5.  brown-headed cowbird 6.

Right next to the south side of the house: a 16” bald eagle primary feather; as chance would have it years ago I found a 14” such feather in exactly the same place.  George queries iNaturalist with an insect photograph = idd as a Horned Passalid Beetle.  Lots of unIDd bumble bees around.  A big Cope’s gray tree frog chorus at dusk on the south side of Field 1.  George sees a northern watersnake in the cove.  The 3 of us spot a muskrat swimming in the cove.  A mere 4 diamondback terrapin.  George and I revisit the same berms we drove on yesterday.   

APRIL 14, TUESDAY.  Snowy egret on the dock NW post busy preening for an hour+.  George sees a sharp-shinned hawk.  A very fat Fowler’s toad next to the west-outside of the house and nearby a baby toad the size of as small lima bean.  A singing ruby-crowned kinglet in the yard. 

Leave for PA at 10:36, calm, 70 degrees F., fair.  Forecast 60-80 degrees F. today.  Out Ferry Neck Road a ways a wild turkey and a red fox d.o.r.  100s of mostly ring-billed gulls following the plow at milepost 103, Route 301.

TICK.  Found 1 on me April 9 that had been in residence there since at least April 6.  Not many so far in 2026. 

Best to all. - Harry Armistead, Bellevue & Philadelphia.

600 words.  April 17, 2026.