Today, my husband and I took a late morning stroll around School House Pond (Upper Marlboro) and I got a good close-up look at a pair of PALM WARBLERS -- my first warblers of the year and my first Palm Warblers ever!!   What a wonderful feeling to see a new species (but I don't have to tell you guys that!).  I said, "Wow, he looks just like his picture!"  So now (for me), spring is officially here!

We also saw:

10-15 Yellow-rumped Warblers (butter-butts, golden-glutes, canary-cans . . .)
1 Pair of Mute Swans (female on nest)
4 Canada Geese (one appear to be on a nest)
1 Pair of Wood Ducks
6-8 Mallards
2 Snipe?  (Can someone help me out here?  They were in the marsh and they flew away rather quickly -- about 10-11", short-bodies compared to their wings, mottled brown with buff bellies and very long thin beaks).

Also, later in the day, I took a walk around the Sewell's Orchard Pond (near where I live in Columbia), and I watched 2 gorgeous male CASPIAN TERNS.  Boy do I LOVE these birds -- I think they are my new favorite birds to watch -- so sleek and beautiful with that impressive orange beak, and the way they race up and down the water like fighter jets, changing direction so effortlessly when they see a fish, and then pinning their wings back to dive (seemingly with abandon) toward the water and then, what a SPLASH!!  It seems that most of they time they come up empty, shaking their heads (to cast off the water, and perhaps the headache from the impact?).  I could watch them forever!  What a joy!

Anyway, I am so thankful that I found this list.  All your wonderful and detailed bird reports are so helpful! 

Jenny McClintock
Columbia, MD

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