Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 09:20:32 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Gail Mackiernan Subject: DC and MD birds 4/24 Hi all -- We took two visiting Brits out birding yesterday -- happy to have such a nice sunny day after all the cold, wet weather. Our first stop was the west ridge of Rock Creek Park, DC, doing picnic areas 17/18, nature center and maintenance yard. There was a lot of bird acrtivity, dominated by Myrtle (Yellow-runps) -- we recorded at least 130 of these. Other migrants seen included Black and White (8), Palm (3), Parula (3), Ovenbird (1), Louisiana Waterthrush (1), Common Yellowthroat (1), Black-throated Green (1), Blue-winged (1), Pine (1) in the warbler category, as well as ca. 25 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, ca. 25-30 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, 3-4 Wood Thrushes, 1 Brown Thrasher, 1 Purple Finch (fly-over), ca. 20 Broad-winged Hawks going north, 1 male Ruby-throated Hummingbird in the Maintenance Yard, and some lingering Juncos. We then went over to the C&O Canal in Montgomery County, hoping to catch up with some of the local breeders. It was rather late in the morning by then, and unfortunately we were not able to find Prothonotary or Yellow-throated Warblers, but we did connect with 3-4 Prairies, 1 Redstart, 6-8 Parulas, 1 Yellow, and 2 Yellowthroats (all probably on territory), plus ca. 10 Myrtles, 1 Northern Waterthrush, 1 Baltimore and 1 Orchard Oriole, 2 Eastern Kingbirds, 3 Phoebes, 1 Great Crested Flycatcher, 1 Catbird, plus the added spice of a Wild Turkey flying across the canal at Pennyfield and a Barred Owl regarding us from a tree at Seneca. Oh yes, one White-eyed Vireo as well. All and all, a good day out -- but migration would benefit from a few days with clear skies and southerly winds! Cheers, Gail Mackiernan and Barry Cooper ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================