Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2003 22:34:01 -0700 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "Christopher R. Kankel" Subject: G'town to Great Falls MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII This Saturday, I took a bike trip up the towpath from Georgetown to Great Falls and back with brief stops at Fletcher's Boathouse, Chain Bridge, and Olmstead Island. An even 50 species were identified, many only by ear from atop the bike. Trip details are here: http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~ckank/birding/lists/20030614.html Highlights include: 1) The ever-changing environs at Fletcher's Boathouse. This year's heavy rains have brought literally tons of driftwood to the banks of the Potomac and washed out or overwhelmed much of the underbrush which in previous years has provided habitat for Cm. Yellowthroats, Swamp Sparrows, and Gray Catbirds. Numbers of these guys seem reduced. This year, I haven't yet encountered a Prothonotary here. The squishy soil has caused a mighty oak to collapse into the river proving that you can't bird along the same river twice. 2) A juvenlile Bald Eagle flushing two Red-shouldered Hawks from the trees on the Virginia side of the palisades at Chain Bridge. Later, the hawks "mobbed" the eagle as it flew down river. 3) A total of 4 Yellow-throated Warblers and 3 Baltimore Orioles from Fletcher's to Old Angler's Inn, 2 Prothonotaries between approximately miles six and eight on the towpath, and 3 Worm-eating Warblers on the steep slopes along the detour path near Old Angler's Inn above Widewater. 4) A Northern Water Snake along the Olmstead boardwalk. ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================