I finally was able to go looking for crossbills or redpolls this weekend. Yesterday at Ft. Howard in the afternoon was a washout--not even many of the ordinary birds. Today at Fort Smallwood made up for it! I got there around 3pm, met some other birders, tho no one who had seen anything unusual--tho we heard reports that crossbills had been seen earlier. After an hour or so, almost to where the road turns left to go past the Battery (if you haven't been yet, it's that big white "building" that shows on the map at the outer end of the peninsular), I spotted folks with a scope and joined them in watching a bunch of white throats, two towhees, some juncos, and such flying out of the brush in the middle of the area and going under the pines, sweet gums and I think sycamores among the picnic tables there to feed on the ground.
The light wasn't great, the birds stayed the same for a long time, but patience paid off--we started to notice new birds, and they were getting up into the trees--Red breasted Nuthatch (my first in Md. in ages), a pair of redwings, then a few goldfinches, and suddenly there was something different. Amazing how brown that red cap can be when the head is turned wrong, but the scope was on her, and she actually stayed in view while all 3 of us got great looks, high fived, and each took another look. A very cooperative bird! who I don't think I'd have gotten without the sharp-eyed young couple who spotted her first. Thanks Christie and Jose for a lifer Common Redpoll!
Patricia Wood
Silver Spring MD
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