Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2004 19:33:03 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Gail Mackiernan Subject: Nat'l Arboretum today Mime-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Hi -- Would have posted this earlier but some apparent problem with U. of MD internet connection... Barry and I went out to the National Arboretum late this morning, after calling to ensure that the roads were open. They are but in some places we were glad of the Jeep's 4WD as the surface was packed snow. The birdiest place was the Asian collection, but we didn't see the Orange-crowned Warbler (could have easily missed it). Birds seen included: Great Horned Owl (1), Red-tailed Hawk (1), Cooper's Hawk (1), Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (3), Hermit Thrush (3-4), Towhee (10-12?, lots!), Ruby-crowned Kinglet (3), Carolina Wren (1), Carolina Chickadee (only 4, a low number), Tufted Titmouse (2, also low), Goldfinch (6), White-throated Sparrow (25), Song Sparrow (6), Pileated Woodpecker (1), Downy Woodpecker (1), Blue Jay (8), as well as American and Fish Crows, and distant Canada Geese. All the water was frozen except for a few running streams. A pleasant pretty day with the sun on the snow but unfortunately not too successful for special birds (we had also hoped for Red-breasted Nuthatch), although the sapsuckers and thrushes are always nice to see. Gail Mackiernan and Barry Cooper Silver Spring, MD ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================