Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2001 22:31:11 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Joel Martin Subject: Swallow Falls SP, 8/16-20 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sorry for the late post, but while others are reporting from the shore I'm still unpacking from a long weekend in that "other" God's country, western Garrett County. Since this was a family camping trip most of my time was not spent birding, but how can you go wrong in such a place? It was a treat being awakened by singing Hermit Thrushes and the tinkling songs of Brown Creepers. Vireos were everywhere, with Red-eyes giving their "smeer" calls. I was hoping for some warbler movement, and there might have been much I didn't see, but there were some BTG's in with the BC Chickadees. Near the falls, Waxwings were abundant, and a Raven posed nicely at the top of a dead hemlock. (To my untrained eye the hemlocks seem to be doing pretty well here as opposed to what I hear about Shenandoah). And a soaring adult Broad-winged Hawk was on the move over Herrington Manor Lake. By far the highlight of the trip was a young black bear, watched for about 5 minutes by my daughters and me near the park office just before dark on Sunday. Funny, but after actually seeing this unassuming critter I think we all felt even less apprehensive about their presence. Joel Martin Catonsville, MD jcdlmartin@aol.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================