6 June 2005
       I'm now in the midst of taking my breeding bird surveys at 
McKee-Beshers WMA, Montgomery Co.  Today I did Hunting Quarter Rd(Old River 
Rd to me).
Highlight was a female Hooded Merganser with one or two very large young in 
the wooded swamp east of the central parking lot.  This is my second 
breeding record here this year.  On April 21 I found a female with 3 small 
young along Sycamore Landing Rd.  Also on the May Count (5-14) I had two 
females perching on a duck box in the large Hughes Hollow impoundment.  Jim 
Green tells me that a friend of his saw a Hooded Merganser brood here 
earlier in the year.
       The yellow books shows Hooded Mergansers as historical breeders in 
Montgomery Co, but my experience
tells me they probably nest at McKee-Beshers every year.

Paul Woodward
Fairfax City, VA