Fran and I took a walk along the Northwest Branch of Rock Creek this morning (Sunday, 23 November), the stretch of the river between Randolph Road and Bonifant Road in Montgomery County. We turned up the following species, including two we needed for our 1997 list! We saw 4 BELTED KINGFISHERS hunting up and down the stream, all of the woodpeckers except Red-headed, a flock of several hundred AMERICAN CROW ranging overhead all morning, both RED- and WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCHES, and BROWN CREEPERS. We had over a dozebn CAROLINA WRENS and a lone WINTER WREN, a flock of aobut 25-30 YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS, 3 FIELD SPARROWS, 4 FOX SPARROWS, 33 SONG SPARROWS, and well over 100 of each of WHITE-THROATED SPARROW and DARK-EYED JUNCO. This turned out to be a wonderfully deserted section of bottomland forest and stream through the heart of the most developed areas of Montgomery County, a most pleasant surprise indeed! We'll be coming back to this area during spring migration to see what surprises turn up. So, now I need 5 species and Fran needs 11 to hit the magic number (this year's magic number, anyway...grin)! Cheers, Norm =============== Norm Saunders Colesville, MD osprey@ari.net