Date: Sun, 19 May 2002 20:13:35 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "Laura M. Appelbaum" Subject: Late Afternoon Lifer at Rachel Carson MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit After working much of the day today (Sunday), I set out with my husband around 3:30 PM for Rachel Carson Conservation Area and was well-rewarded with some interesting sightings including a life bird! When we arrived we were greeted, strangely enough, by a Barred Owl asking about our kitchen arrangements (Who Cooks For You? ) quite insistently. But our best find was a Canada Warbler, a bird we'd never seen before. It was high on my list of "gee, I want to see that in person because it looks so gorgeous in the field guides." He was flitting around at the trail on the far side of the pond -- got one quick glance that made me think I'd seen a Canada Warbler, then a generously long and still (for a warbler!) chest-on view at close range. I couldn't get over how striking the color contrasts on this bird was, and it seemed like the yellow above his "necklace" was brighter than that on the rest of his breast. Made my day! Other birds we saw or heard in the woods and along the stream were a Prothonotary Warbler, Belted Kingfisher, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Turkey Vulture, Eastern Bluebird, Swainson's Thrush, lots of Wood Thrush fluting, Grey Catbird, Mockingbird, Cardinals, Rufous-Sided Towhee (these birds seemed to take the opposite approach from all the others -- instead of flying away as we walked up on them they practically jumped out of the woods in front of us), White-Throated Sparrow and high in a sycamore along the road on the way back to the car, Goldfinch. Not bad, I think, for three hours in the late afternoon! :D Laura Appelbaum Cloverly, MD ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================