Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 15:40:50 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Andy Rabin Subject: Violette's-Riley's Locks (Mont Co) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi all- We had a nice walk this morning (4/29), starting at Violette's Lock . The highlight was a NASHVILLE WARBLER- a lifer for all 8 of us. The bird was nice and low and cooperative, which made it that much specialer. A couple in our group saw a probable SNOW GOOSE. I'm guessing it's the same white goose that's been seen in the company of a couple of Canada Geese in recent days. Other highlights included (approx 65 species total): Horned Grebe (Riley's) Red-breasted Mergansers (2 at Riley's) Bald Eagle (imm.) Osprey Broad-winged Hawks (5 or 6) Bonaparte's Gull (in breeding plumage floating down the river) Caspian Terns (3 sitting on a rock near Violette's) Yellow-billed Cuckoo (I'm pretty sure I heard one along the towpath between the two locks) Great-crested Flycatchers (several along the towpath) Purple Martins Cliff Swallows (flying over the aqueduct) Blue-winged Warbler (heard about 2/3 of the way from Violette's to Riley's along the towpath) Palm Warbler (yellow, at turning basin) We may have heard a Worm-eating Warbler, but upon reflection, Chipping Sparrow seems more likely. Pretty sure we heard a couple of Baltimore Orioles too (I shouldn't have taken the batteries out of my bird clock!). There were also many other birders around. We heard second-hand reports of Prothonotary, Black-throated Green and B-T Blue warblers at Riley's. Finally, someone in our group told us about a Common Loon he saw yesterday in an unexpected place- the lake at Rio in Gaithersburg (I-370 & I-270). Andy Rabin Gaithersburg, MD andyrab@wam.umd.edu ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================