Date: 7/7/25 1:46 pm From: John McKitterick <john.mckitterick...> Subject: Re: [MDBirding] Ferry Neck, July 1-5, 2025.
Harry's comment about fireflies "Come dusk a huge turnout of fireflies" is
what I have been experiencing in my backyard here in Columbia for the past
10 days or so. I don't remember seeing so many in the recent past, maybe
not this millenium. And I have heard from others in various parts of the
state that it has been a good year for lightning bugs for them, too.
Small beacons of light in these dark times...
--John McKitterick
Columbia, MD
On Mon, Jul 7, 2025 at 3:07 PM Harry Armistead <harryarmistead...>
wrote:
> JULY 1-5, 2025, FERRY NECK.
>
> JULY 1, 2025 TUESDAY. arrive just before the rains begin. Several
> fireflies, not seen previously this summer. Finally some blooms on the
> main rose of Sharon bush.
>
> JULY 2, WEDNESDAY. Rains began with thunder and lightning yesterday
> evening, totaling 2.25” before halting at noon today. In our main bathroom
> on the 2d floor a Horace’s duskywing (butterfly) in the wee small hours
> (12.42 and 1:36 A.M. but not at 3:58 A.M.), blackish, in stark contrast to
> the cream-colored wall.
>
> “it’s dark and it’s rainy. and the moon gives no light. my pony can’t
> hardy travel, Lord, this dark road tonight.” from an old Texas folksong.
> could describe last night, minus the pony.
>
> previous years a black rat snake, Cope’s gray tree frog, and chimney swift
> have been found in this bathroom, testament to how porous our house is,
> although seemingly it is sealed tight against the outside world. The
> duskywing is a welcome change from the wasps, flies, and stinkbugs we are
> used to seeing inside here.
>
> forgot to write much in notes the last few days, may have mixed it up some.
>
> JULY 3, THURSDAY. bald eagle 1, killdeer 1, Cope’s gray tree frog 3,
> bluet 1 (in the past sometimes 100+ of these damsel flies in a day), a 2.5’
> northern watersnake, 4 deer (does) in the Big Field, a baby Fowler’s toad
> the size of a large pea. A finely-marked skink, at least 12” long, on the
> front porch, nice female.
>
> clear, sunny in the afternoon, 74-83, not much wind. In spite of the 2+
> inch rain, not that much in the ditches or vernal pools. disappointing.
> late in the day many hundreds of folks at Bellevue waiting to see the
> Oxford fireworks. Come dusk a huge turnout of fireflies. “All the
> twinkling starry host” (‘Fairest Lord Jesus, ruler of all nature’) refers
> to the night sky but could just as well describe this evening’s firefly
> show.
>
> JULY 4, FRIDAY. Sunny, low humidity, light NW wind, 70-84, dead calm at
> sunset. As fine an early summer day as one could hope for. 1 tiger
> swallowtail (overdue), 3 red-spotted purples, a silver-spotted skipper.
>
> The sort of day when: “If you live, a time will come.
> I said if you live, your time will come.
> When the sun will shine
> And the crops will grow
> and you won’t think you’ll gonna have trouble no more,
> and if … you live … a time will come.”
> -Mose Allison.
> The words “time will come” sung with a desultory, dismissive tone.
>
> At Lucy Pt. an ad. red-headed woodpecker. At Bellevue a gray squirrel.
> The first tiger swallowtail in a while.
>
> Out front are perhaps 100 segments of bark from the sycamore I brought
> from Philadelphia (Benezet Street) and planted, perhaps in the 1980s, it’s
> now I’d say 50 feet high. The shedded bark fragments, many of them 3” by
> 12” or more. I used to climb this tree in March, get up 40 feet or more,
> above the level of the house, before any trees had leafed out. It provided
> a splendid view of the surrounding environs. Good photographic
> opportunities. Andrew Wyeth liked to portray sycamores.
>
> “I shall return to seek this secret place/that wears the ageless shawl of
> Queen Anne’s lace.” from the poem ‘Rigby’s Folly’ by Lysbeth Boyd Borie.
>
> The daylight period is getting shorter, especially in the morning.
>
> Twice this visit a killdeer goes over, a couple of hundred feet up, in
> full cry, heading east above the dock, as if to show that, even after what
> seems to be a failed breeding season, it still has the energy and spirit to
> carry on. I find that very affecting. Go go, Bird. You go!
>
> JULY 5, SATURDAY. sunny, 78 degrees F., calm. Leave 10:37 A.M. A red
> fox as we are going out the driveway.
>
> Best to all. - Harry Armistead, Bellevue and Philadelphia.
>
>
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