Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2001 16:04:10 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Jim Felley Subject: DC Pelagic trip/Mall birds MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit On Friday, April 20, I had the opportunity to accompany my daughter's 5th grade class on a DC pelagic trip, otherwise known as the Spirit of Potomac boat trip to Mt. Vernon. The kids were entranced by the 'castle' (Fort Washington), I was entranced by lots of Bonaparte's Gulls, Double-crested Cormorants, and loads of Ospreys. It seemed like every other channel marker or buoy had an active Osprey nest on it (an exaggeration, but I certainly saw almost a dozen active nests from Bolling AFB to Mt Vernon). Even the green tethered cans in the middle of the channel had nests. The boat's wake made these bob up and down like a thrill ride, but the Ospreys didn't move. I suppose they have experience riding nests high in trees, in windstorms, etc. Today at lunch, a quick trip to Constitution Gardens and the DC Veteran's Memorial showed much the same as last week: lots of Yellow-rumped warblers, but other warblers only by ones and twos, including a Black-and- white Warbler, a (yellow-race) Palm Warbler, two Northern Parulas, a Common Yellowthroat. Not so many Hermit Thrushes as last week. Also many Chipping Sparrows seem to have come in. Jim Jim Felley Smithsonian Institution irmss668@sivm.si.edu ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================