Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2001 11:04:58 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Gail Mackiernan Subject: Fletcher's Boathouse today 6/29 Hi all -- Barry and I decided to set out on this muggy morning for Fletcher's Boathouse DC to see if we could connect with the Yellow-crowned Night-Herons reported earlier. Unfortunately, we did not (does anyone know if these were seen in the morning or in the evening?) but we managed to see some other nice birds. There were about 6-8 Black-crowned Night-Herons at the mouth of the little creek near the boat dock (at 7:30 am), as well as a male Hooded Merganser just offshore, diving and feeding. Wood Ducks, Mallards and a hoard of Canada Geese rounded out the waterfowl. Passerines included such nice birds as: Warbling and Red-Eyed Vireos, Prothonotary Warblers (3), Parula (2-3), a singing male Yellow-throated Warbler near the Crescent Trail mile 8 marker, Baltimore Oriole, Phoebe, Eastern Kingbird, Great Crested and Acadian Flycatchers, Rough-winged, Barn and Tree Swallows,Indigo Bunting, a pair of Fish Crows with an apparent adult "helper" feeding just-fledged youngsters from a dead carp, as well as such locals as Blue Jay, Downy and Red-Bellied Woodpeckers, Chickadees, Titmice, Carolina and House Wrens, etc. etc. Lots of Common Yelowthroats still singing, and Ospreys hunting over the river. We also saw two Beavers swimming upstream of Fletchers, one very large one which looked the size of a chocolate Lab! The Red-shouldered Hawk's nest near the mile 8 marker is empty and I assume the youngster has fledged. Not a lot but a nice morning and we got going back home before it got hot! Cheers, Gail Mackiernan Colesville, MD ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================