Rather than going farther afield, just did my Ft. Bayard Park run this morning.  Warbler activity was slow again--a couple of blackpolls and redstarts, and nothing else.

First bird of interest was a single CEDAR WAXWING, the first I've had in the park and the first I've seen in the East since August.  Couldn't find any others, but I'll keep an eye out.

Second was an oddball tanager that turned out to be a SUMMER TANAGER.  I heard the song first and was relatively "sure" that it was a Scarlet--very "burry" sounding, and I've had a couple of Scarlets in the park this week.  The bird sounded close so I decided to track it down, and got good looks of a mostly red bird with mixed gray-green and red wings, with a big pale bill and a somewhat peaked/crested head in breezy conditions.  No black feathers at all.  As it turns out, basically a dead ringer for a redder version of Sibley's 1st spring male.  I don't have any real doubt this was a Summer, but the song was odd (though I'm hardly a tanager song expert).  Does anyone have experience of Summers singing what sounds like Scarlet song?

Jason Waanders
NW DC
jwaandersATstarpower.net