Today 9/11/99 at Ft Howard Park (Baltimore Co where the Patapsco meets the Chesapeake) I had the big fallout of fall warblers I've been missing for years: not a great variety (10 species) but big numbers, too active and packed together to accurately count but here are some approximations: Chestnut-sided 25 Magnolia 15 Redstart 10 Blackburnian 3 Black&White 8 Blk-thr Green 8 Blk-thr Blue 3 Ovenbird 1 Yellowthroat 1 Wilson's 1 There were also about 5 Swainson's Thrushes. It was often very difficult to decide which of the warblers to focus on. I wish I had that problem more often, like some of you closer to the Potomac seem to have all the time. Ft Howard is a nice, easy-to-bird park that ought to be birded more often. It has quite a variety of tress, both old and young, with lots of paths and sub-paths, and balconies in the form of old fortifications with stairs and fences. I have mainly birded it the spring, and it's usually quite decent then, too. Note, as far as I know it is effectively closed from about Oct 1 to March 1. I was also trying to do some hawk watching on the theory that this should be geographically the fall counterpart to Ft Smallwood. But alas, there were virtually no hawks there and at North Point St Park where I gave up around 1 PM. Only one fairly obvious migrant hawk: a Kestrel heading steadily south at North Point. Otherwise, just a Sharpie and a Coopers Hawk that seemed to be hunting locally. This is about the same as I've found in the past when I've looked for migrating hawks in that area. Incidentally, I saw 14 Bobwhites at the roadside at North Point Park just beyond the turn off for the east parking area. Finally I spent about 45 minutes at SW area park with only two each of local-type Red-shoulders and Red-tails. Based on Kevin Graff's last posting perhaps I should have stuck it out until later in the afternoon but my easy-chair was calling me. It will be interesting to compare my results with Kevin's. If he and the other field-trippers who are there today get a lot today this might help clarify where the hawk highway is. Kevin's house is in NW Baltimore city, a little bit closer to the fall line than the areas where I was today. Steve Sanford Randallstown, MD