Not too much action at the Mt. Briar Wetland Preserve in Rohrersville this
evening - I'll go again a few more times and update the listserve. This is a
forested wetland with Sphanum, remnant I should add with maybe 4-5 ac. of
actual forested wetland in the 30 acre of the whole Preserve.

Nice to see some swamp white oaks and silver maple with some age in a
snippet of its origial habitat, but its pretty compromised - very narrow,
lots of noise from nearby houses, former channels on the west side and
tractor or big truck tracks from who-knows-how-many-years-ago still visible
on the south end...woohoo, mud it up y'all.  To think there were 1000's of
acres of forested wetlands in the valleys here, anywhere...sigh, we'd cry
for sure if we could see what our predecessors saw before draining them.

Still, I'm sure it'll get some use by birds soon and the wood ducks were fun
to see.  Anyway -

WOODCOCK - 1:  kept quiet once it heard me

N.THRASHER - 1:  at forested wetland / woodland edge and my first NT song of
05.

WOOD DUCK  - 4:  spookly little things aren't they. Two pairs and the first
fI've seen in 05 though I'm sure they're at the C&O in the old canals.
R.B.W-pecker - 1:  per usual

Am. TREE SPARROW - 1: surprise of the day, flitting about in a greenbriar
thicket at the base of a tree and splashing in water. Probably packing its
bags for the north.

RW BLACKBIRDS - in the trees and flying evening sorties.

Millions of spr. peepers, a single green frog, and plenty of spotted sali (I
think) egg masses.

Kevin Caldwell
Knoxville, MD
Wash.Co.