Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 18:52:21 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Bonnie Ott Subject: HO CO (highlights) MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=Windows-1252 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT This morning the Howard Bird club enjoyed a morning in paradise. An ATLAS MOTH (newly emerged) was the highlight among hundreds of incredible tropical butterflies. Spectacular orchids created a jungle like atmosphere in the Arts and Industries building of the Smithsonian. It is well worth a visit and the exhibit runs until May. For a dose of reality I tried birding some of my atlas block in the afternoon. No need for a workout after a couple hours of trying to trudge through the snow! 4 AMERICAN PIPITS found the only bare patch of ground and were sharing with ROBINS and BLUEBIRDS. A couple YELLOW-RUMPS were fly-catching (bugs were out when the sun was shining). 20 AMERICAN BLACK DUCKS exploded of the wet field. A mass of leaves in a thicket turned out to be a used cardinal nest filled with lovely red feathers. Enough about the red-necked grebes! We don't have any open water in Howard county!! Bonnie Ott Howard County Field Trip Chair Ellicott City, MD ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================