Saturday Morning I had a few hours before the Budget Committee meeting so I drove to Black Hill Park. Best birds there were 9 PIED-BILLED GREBE, 275 TUNDRA SWAN, about 30 RING-NECKED DUCK, 3 WOOD DUCK near the boat launch area, and a single SPOTTED SANDPIPER feeding along the banks of a small puddle near the boat launch area as well. This is almost implausibly early, as my earliest prior observation of this species in MD was in early April a few years back. While working on the MOS budget for the coming fiscal year we were treated to a RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH at Paul Zucker's feeders in Potomac. This morning, Sunday March 1, Fran and I went up to Carroll County to poke around. We had virtually no bird activity at all along Pine Knob Road but Deer Park Road yielded WINTER WREN, flyovers of about 35 TUNDRA SWAN, two RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES, and one singing PINE WARBLER. Piney Run Park had a flock of about 20 or so COMMON MERGANSERS and one adult fly-over BALD EAGLE. Cheers, Norm =============== Norm Saunders Colesville, MD osprey@ari.net