Hi all,
 Our Montgomery Bird club outing this morning to Blue Mash enjoyed  perfect
fall weather, a nice crowd of old hats and new, as well as some fine  birding.
Personal highlight was a pair of DUNLIN on the edge of the big pond  (where
the ibis was). Other nice finds were at least 2 pair of Purple  Finches (with 4
more flying over) feeding in the trees/shrubs, lots of sparrows  including
many Fox and Savannahs, Field, Chipping, White-throated, Song, Swamp,  Juncos and
towhees. Few hawks were seen though we did have at least 6 Red-tails  and a
heard only Red-shouldered, and waterfowl were not really "in" yet, with a
single male Ruddy Duck on the small pond, 3 Green-winged Teal and 4 Blue-winged
Teal on the big pond, 2 Great Blue Herons, a pair of Wilson's Snipe and a small
 number of Killdeer seen. A Pileated flew right across in front of us and
landed  briefly in a small tree before it suddenly realized we were there, and it
flew  off. A couple of flickers and Red-bellied and Downy were the only
other woodpeckers, and a single flying Belted Kingfisher flew by the pond  area.
Chickadees and titmice were seen in low numbers, as were RC Kinglets. 48
species seen by group, which numbered 11.

Lots of Canada Geese flying around, and lots of goldfinches were all over
too. A very nice morning to be out...

Rick Sussman
Ashton,MD