I tried to get ahead of the heat by going early, but didn't make it over there til 7:30; pretty warm by then but not too bad. It was 90 when I left about 9:30 and really muggy. Still a nice birdy morning, even tho nothing unusual, not even an oriole, let alone blue grosbeak. Still, lots of yellowthroats, field sparrows, swallows and chimney swifts, and nine mockingbirds. I heard 3 other birds that I couldn't honestly put down--too faint in the case of the meadowlark and the grasshopper sparrow (I kept thinking, with that tiny sound, maybe it IS a grasshopper), and what could have been an odd sounding white eyed vireo. Most of the birds were staying well to the center of a shady bush to sing, and who could blame them?
For anyone thinking of going there, I saw a sign saying Mellwood Rd closed for repair on/about July 9. A big tree seems to be leaning on wires by a little bridge half way up the road, but despite a sign still saying the bridge is out, it was open today.
Going thru the woods on Mellwood south of Moores Lane (or is it Way?), I heard an Acadian flycatcher and a couple of wood thrushes--too bad it's so hard to find a pull off along there so I couldn't stop to see what else there might be - and it was getting too hot to linger, anyway.
Good birding.
Patricia Wood
Silver Spring
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