Date: 8/15/25 7:28 pm From: Harry Armistead <harryarmistead...> Subject: [MDBirding] Ferry Neck August 3-9, 2025 (& Brigantine)
FERRY NECK, AUGUST 3-9, 2025. crepe myrtles blooming, everywhere, profusely. Has dried out a lot. Our sorghum only now developing seed heads. Loads of hibiscus blooming elsewhere. The big solar farm project along Egypt Road has many hundreds of trees planted next to the road, perhaps intended to hide the rows of panels. The east side of Egypt Road is still good and rural with a mixture of woodlands and crop fields. Nice.
AUGUST 3, SUNDAY. no notes survive concerning our arrival. c. 5:15?
AUGUST 4, MONDAY, 63-84, clear, light & variable. a beauty. 9-3, Blackwater NWR volunteers recognition. Excellent event, good talking, good food. Liz sees a monarch. This refuge does a lot and treats its volunteers and friends very nicely. Recently BNWR acquired the 460-acre Spiknall Tract (part of Kentuck Swamp), excellent woodlands, mostly hardwoods, that has spotted turtles. We learn that the # of volunteer hrs. is equivalent to 4.5 FTE personnel. Afternoon at Rigby’s Folly:
Sit out by the dock for several hours: spotted sandpiper 2. green heron 2, Canada goose 18, ring-billed gull 1, Forster’s tern 1, great blue heron 1, turkey vulture 3, purple martin 4, fish crow 1, cormorant 1, Carolina wren 1, osprey 2 (our cove pair; very vocal, 1 caught a fish 1’ long, a rare catch these days). 1 gray squirrel. feeders not up yet.
Pretty good numbers of dragonflies (that I don’t know how to id). No bluets seen today. No toads or froggies. No terrapin either. But a nice 10” skink on the front porch, I suspect an old female. Feeling especially tired, feeble, and off-balance.
AUGUST 5, TUESDAY. A rather scruffy looking immature red-headed woodpecker on the dead tree by the dock. I suspect out of a nest for just the last few days. The black cherry tree by the dock has been very fruitful mostly overcast, light winds, 70-low 80s. Liz sees a mourning cloak. Yes, sorghum starting to get decent-sized seed heads.
AUGUST 6, WEDNESDAY. overcast, light winds, 70-76, cool, very light sprinkles into the early afternoon. Good brown-headed nuthatch showing at the feeder. Mostly wrote today. 4 gray squirrels. pearl crescent.
AUGUST 7, THURSDAY. likewise, mostly wrote. 70-81. still a good firefly show. Liz sees an osprey with a fair-sized fish apprehensive because of a bald eagle. Adult red-headed woodpecker. low humidity.
AUGUST 8, FRIDAY. George & Kristin arrive. 65-81, fair, NE or E 4-11. low humidity, a gem. We all see: 45 chimney swifts, I see an imm. little blue heron on the boatlift busy preening, George calls our attention to an immature red-shouldered hawk, an indigo bunting. At least 31 bird species. Still lots of fireflies.
AUGUST 9, SATURDAY. Liz and I leave. George & Kristin stay. George reports a good day for aerialists: chimney swift 25, bank swallow 16, tree swallow 1, barn swallow 40, northern rough-winged swallow 1, and purple martin 13 - lots of swallow types hunting insects.
He also sees 14 cattle egrets. 2 little blue herons, a snowy egret, and 2 great blue herons. 11 ospreys. 2 bald eagles. an eastern screech-owl calling, evidently stimulated by tonight’s full moon. 2 red-headed woodpeckers and 1 pileated. a blue-gray gnatcatcher is a migrant to be expected in August. a blue grosbeak. 3 hummingbirds. 46 species.
Today’s star invertebrate identified w/ George’s photo thanks to iNaturalist: a brilliant jumping spider. Other insects identified in like manner thanks to George: Virginia metallic tiger beetle; gold-maned thread-waisted wasp.
PLANTINGS. George & Kristin have been VERY active here, planting numerous native flowers and other vege: swamp milkweed, eastern columbine, spotted bee balm, smooth blue asters, texas hibiscus, false sunflower, foxglove beardtongue, penstemon digitalis, and opuntia (cactus). These around the house foundation and also the periphery of the lawn. Their house in Roxborough (Phila.) has even more.
BRIGANTINE (FORSYTHE) N.W.R., NJ. July 29, noon - 3 P.M. George & I made a tour of wildlife drive, w/ emphasis on shorebirds. It was high tide and much of the impoundments areas were dry:
others: mute swan 44, hooded merganser 1, black-headed gull 1 (close photod.), black skimmer 13, gull-billed tern 22, least tern 60, white ibis 110, glossy ibis 180, great egret 130, bald eagle 2, marsh wren 5, and seaside sparrow 11.
The ospreys seem to be doing well here in contrast to many on Chesapeake Bay. Three nests here at the Brig each have 3 strapping youngsters, no doubt flight-capable.
Best to all. - Harry Armistead, Bellevue & Philadelphia.
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