Dear folks, Well, Saturday turned out to be the worst weather ever documented for the World Series of Birding since its inception, this according to the guru Pete Dunne. Also according to Pete Dunne: "Before you leave the banquet this morning, be sure to get a look at the MD Yellowthroat team hats! They are kick ass!" Anyway, it was raining at midnight when the Yellowthroats began birding and it really didn't stop for more than 5-10 minutes at a time for the remaining 24 hours. Hal, Lynn, and Mark tallied 153 species, placed 11th out of 32 teams (overall standings) and either 3rd or 4th in the Single County group. Leading them were the Canadians (the fearsome Kowa team who decided this year to only do Cape May County), with 176 species, closely followed by expatriate Michael O'Brien's team, the Leica Nighthawks, with 173 species. Fran and I were thrilled at the opportunity to be birding on the same ground as all these phenoms and we managed to tally 93 species during about 8 hours of very WET birding ourselves, including a life Piping Plover on the beach off the Cape May Meadows. As of right now, the pledge total has climbed to $8.30 and donations to $1,090. We have 5 offical team hats we will be auctioning at the upcoming MOS Annual Meeting, as well as 5 really spiffy WSB T-shirts. See y'all at Wisp! Once again, to all of you who supported our efforts this year--THANKS! Best, Norm =============== Norm Saunders Colesville, MD osprey@ari.net