Howdy All! After house hunting in Baltimore today, I returned to Southern Calvert County. It was such a pretty day and I was already feeling just a little sorry about leaving. Encouraged by Marshall's post about the Brown-headed Nuthatches, I donned my lucky bins and hiked out Port Lane and made the one-mile trek down to the end of Rousby Hall Rd on foot. The nuthatches were probably at my feeders while I was out hunting... I was out from 3:30-5:30pm. I dipped on the nuthatches, but here's what I found: 2 Blue Jay 17 Com Crow 2 Ring-billed Gull 5 N Cardinal 8 Carolina Wren 17 White-throated Sparrow (Port Lane) 1 Song Sparrow 1 Hermit Thrush 3 House Finch 5 Brown-headed Cowbird 12 Red-winged Blackbird 40+ McMynas (Starlings) 7 Tufted Titmouse 9 Golden-crowned Kinglet 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 Brown Creeper 68 Yellow-rumped Warbler 18 Carolina Chickadee 1 N Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 2 N Mockingbird 2 Red-bellied Woodpecker 2 Downy Woodpecker 1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (only the 3rd I've seen in 2 yrs here) 2 Eastern Bluebird 0 Eastern Towhee 0 Am Goldfinch 0 Am Woodcock (a little too early; I sometimes here them from the back yard in the evenings in March; I heard that the neighbor drained the little marsh last Fall--hope the Woodcocks stuck around somewhere anyway...) 0 Pine Warbler (I've looked two winters about 1/2 mile from the end Rousby Hall with no luck, but I suspect that one or more may winter here--this area usually has singing Pine Warblers by the 2nd or 3rd week of March and I've seen them into November...) In the back yard overlooking the Patuxent River: 128 Oldsquaw (numbers are finally returning) 8 Am Goldeneye (low) 14 Bufflehead 1 Com Loon (low) 2 Horned Grebe (numbers were up 2 wks ago--had as many as 12) 2 Mallard 5 Am Black Duck (unusual--only my 2nd sighting) 4 Great Black-backed Gull (only 1 adult) 28 Herring Gull 45 Ring-billed Gull 1 Bald Eagle (adult) 1 Great Blue Heron 0 other diving ducks (I've had several species of ducks here the last 2 winters; most notably Canvasback, Ruddy Duck, and Lesser Scaup, but I've seen not a single one of these this year...someone 2 or 3 docks toward Solomons set up a blind at the end of their dock this year and I heard shots well into January...) At the end of the day, I stood out on the dock and watched the last flecks of liquid gold disappear from off the surface of the tranquil blue waters of the Patuxent River as the sun melted into the deep orange strand on the horizon. I felt my eyes blur slightly as they welled up with tears...a little remorse as I enjoyed again one of my last sunsets as a resident hear in pleasant Southern Maryland. But, as the sun sets on one horizon, it will surely rise on another...hello Baltimore and a new world of experiences... -- Greg Miller Lusby, Maryland, USA Home- gregorym@erols.com Work- gregory.b.miller@bge.com WWW- http://www.erols.com/gregorym