Six of us, composed of three novices and three more experienced birders
toured the Beauvue Ponds and adjoining area yesterday.  Chilly temps but
bright sun produced a good outing (at least from my novice side).  Quick
read is that there were no owls to be seen, however all six of us saw our
first Osprey of the year.  Perhaps some of the more experienced guys will
post the exact list, but we saw male (2?) and female hooded mergansers, ring
necks, ruddies, a green winged teal (first for me), red heads (a few), a
fair amount of tundra swans, red shoulder and red tail hawks, eastern
meadowlarks, and the overhead Osprey.  We then moved over to Abell's wharf
and saw some yellow rumped warblers (foraging on the ground), a swamp
sparrow, a song sparrow, black capped chickadees, and ring billed, herring,
and black backed gulls.  Then we drove down to Newtowne Neck to the fields
near St. Francis Xavier Church and saw hundreds of tundra swans and canada
geese.  The sharp eyes of one of our leaders found some pipits and a snipe
for us.  A few bluebirds were also flitting around.  Sorry if I've missed
anything.  A good day, and we all learned a lot.

i have not seen any osprey around the lower patuxent today..

good birding all

Bill Moody
Lexington Park