Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2001 15:32:50 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Frank Powers Subject: Glen Echo & Great Falls Park MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Number of new visitors to our yard in Glen Echo, MD (Mont. Co.) early this am. Chipping Sparrows (3), Ruby Crowned Kinglet, Chimney Swift, Merlin, Cedar Waxwings (8) and some kind of Vireo all made a first appearance of the year. They were joined by Golden Crowned Kinglet, White-throated Sparrow (2), male/female Downies and Red-bellied Woodpeckers, along with the typical assorment of Chickadees, Cardinals, Starlings, House Sparrows, Mourning Doves, Blue Jays, House Finches, Amer. Crows, Am. Goldfinches, White-breasted Nuthatch, Dark-eyed Junco, Common Grackles, Brown-headed Cowbird and Am. Robin. Fly-overs included Double-crested Cormorants, Canada Goose and some sort of duck species. The real treat, tho', was a trip to Great Falls with my 21 year-old son, who even took binoculars along! Not much of a crowd when we started about 8:45am. After passing a Black Vulture on a tree stump by the road on the way in, we were greeted in the parking lot by a Pine Warbler singing its heart out and a couple of American Goldfinches (which turned out to be all over the place). There were five DC Cormorants in the river at the head of the island where the Bald Eagles' nest is (but no eagles at all during our trip, much to his chagrin, since that was a large part of the enticement); one male Ring-necked Duck was in the water beneath the nest-tree. Two male and one female Wood Ducks were in the middle of the fast-rushing, roaring river. About a half-dozen Turkey Vultures soared above as did another Black Vulture, while about another half-dozen Great Blue Herons made their way to their rookery on the island (later saw many pairs in their tree-top nests). Two Tree Swallows flitted about and an Eastern Kingbird landed in a branch near the observation deck/aqueduct. A Northern Parula gave us great views just south of the moored canal boat (later, we heard at least another four of them in the woods between the canal and the river). On our way out of the overlook trail, we both followed a Broad-winged Hawk. We saw four Blue-grey Gnatcatchers along the Billy-goat Trail, saw/heard 6 or so Carolina Chickadees, two Ruby-crowned Kinglets and three Golden-crowned Kinglets. From the trail's edge, over-looking the river, we watched a Pileated Woodpecker fly over to the Virginia side to a tree right above a kettle of rock climbers. Later, in the woods along the river bank and opposite the eagles' nest, we saw a Northern Flicker, heard two Praire Warblers and were accompanied by a dozen or more Yellow-rumped Warblers. Heard in the woods were: Blue Jay, Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers. On the way out, seven Cedar Waxwings said goodbye from perches high along the canal. Good birding! Frank Powers mattfp@aol.com Glen Echo, MD Montgomery County ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================