Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 15:32:12 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Frank Powers Subject: Lunchtime, Fletcher's Boat House MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit These are the days to live for!! (shhh....which is why I sneaked out to Fletcher's Boat House over lunch to check on all those birds I've been reading about.) Slow-flying ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS greeted me at the bridge. A WARBLING VIREO (lifer!) called to me down by the river bank. I found him/her/it after a while (sounds just like on Stokes' CD) moving among the branches overlooking the river. Can't get lunch tables like that very easily on such beautiful spring days. BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHERS were everywhere, with their low, but constant pweee always in the background. Overhead, both Vultures, TURKEY & BLACK were soaring. A BELTED KINGFISHER buzzed overhead, followed soon after by a fast-moving HAWK, dangling some kind of food from its beak; species not clear, until I went up on the towpath to see if I could find it in the treetops. Sure did! An adult RED-SHOULDERED was on the nest, bobbing its head up and down as if feeding something beneath it. After a bit, she/he/it took off and began soaring overhead, where its color, markings and 'windows' became clear. Soon after, it was joined overhead by an even larger Red-shouldered who soared with it for a while. Eventually, one of them came back to the nest, sticking to one side of it and looking over whatever is inside. Two noisy male BALTIMORE ORIOLES (first of the year!) started fussing at each other on the fringes of a tree overlooking the towpath. They hopped from branch to branch, hollering oriole-speak (shirrrup?) until one finally flew across the canal into some brush surrounding a sycamore stump/tree. In that brush, sure enough, was a female Baltimore Oriole, flitting about. Couldn't find her or anything else when I crossed over to get a closer look. My crossing was interrupted by two BARN SWALLOWS flying about and under the bridge to its deck-work. Perhaps nest-building? (or is it too early?) Finally, an EASTERN KINGBIRD flew to the tree tops to start its buzzy, electrical call. Whew. What a day. Glad I brought lunch. Got to eat it back at work in peace & quiet. Good birding! Frank Powers Glen Echo, MD mattfp@aol.cm ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================