Date: Fri, 9 May 2003 19:18:51 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "Paul P." Subject: Great day in DC! - it's all relative Comments: cc: Janni Ottavio MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I was at Rock Creek as well this (Friday, 5/9) morning, and I thought it was brilliant. Mind you, I missed it the past few days, so I don't have those days to compare it with, but I thought both numbers and diversity were astounding today. I finished the morning with 22 warbler species, and I missed Worm-eating. The other two that I heard, and were not mentioned by Gail were HOODED and CERULEAN (both heard at the north end of area 17/18 - I arrived late in the morning, and most of the gang was well to the south of this area). I also heard numerous SWAINSON'S THRUSHES (6), as well as a few VEERIES (2). Other birds that I identified to add to today's list were ACADIAN FLYCATCHER (2), and on the more unexpected side, a RED-HEADED WOODPECKER (1 - heard while driving between area 17/18 and the Maintenance Yard). Oh, and there was a RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD at the Maintenance Yard. As Gail mentioned, I saw 2 BLACK-BILLED CUCKOOS in the Military Field, both very obliging. I think I even got some decent video of one of them. Thanks to Rick Sussman for showing me how responsive/curious cuckoos are, as both birds came in close when I did my "rendition" of a Black-billed. Rick & Linda - sorry you had to leave before they showed up. After Rock Creek I went to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. Passerine-wise I only added WARBLING VIREO to the day's total because the rain started coming down pretty good and kept a lot of other birds quiet. But the shorebirds made up for it. At the end of the boardwalk I saw the following: 3 SOLITARY SANDPIPERS 3 SPOTTED SANDPIPERS (1 was at the ponds) 20 LEAST SANDPIPERS 1 PECTORAL SANDPIPER 1 SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER But the biggest surprise was the SEMIPALMATED PLOVER and alt. plumaged DUNLIN that circled together overhead a few times looking for a place to land. Unfortunately the tide was near high, and they couldn't find a spot so they continued flying south. 7 species of shorebirds, none of which were Killdeer or a yellowlegs, is a decent day in DC. Also seen were 2 LAUGHING GULLS that flew overhead. Last but not least, I swung by Hains Point, and there's still 1 RED-NECKED GREBE still hanging out on the river, about halfway up. And yesterday (Thurs) there was a LINCOLN'S SPARROW seen from the gravel road at the south end of the golf course. One other sighting of note, even though it's on the wrong side of the river, was a MARSH WREN heard singing from a dense clump of honeysuckle along the Mt. Vernon Trail (just south of the RR tracks). This was on Wednesday. Clearly a migrant, and certainly the last place I'd expect to hear a Marsh Wren. Good birding, Paul Pisano Arlington, VA cheep@erols.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================