Today was my first chance to use my recently acquired hearing aids in 
the field, and the effect was amazing.  Immediately upon getting out of 
my car at the MD121 parking lot, I was bombarded by bird sounds. 
Granted, much of the sound was from a C. Wren only 30 yards away (which 
I could easily have heard without the aids from much farther away), but 
the rest was from a feeding flock around the parking lot.  It moved off 
fairly soon, but I managed to see 2 Purple Finches, a Red-breasted 
Nuthatch, a Black-throated Green, a Redstart, and a couple of 
Chestnut-sided before they left.

For at least 25 years, I have had substantial high frequency hearing 
loss, in the range roughly 2000-8000 Hz.  As recently as 3 years ago, I 
was told that hearing aids would not give me significant improvement. 
Since then, however, digital technology has caught up with my problem. 
Apparently there are several options, but what I bought was ReSoundAir. 
  ReSound also makes the Metrix, which is about 60% more expensive, and 
from what I could tell, no better for birding (but supposedly better in 
a crowded room).  Anyway, it was an amazing experience.

Although I birded from 8:30 until 1:00, most of the birds were 
encountered near the beginning and end of that time interval.  As I was 
on my way back to the car about 12:45, I encountered another feeding 
flock only about 1/4 mile from the parking lot.  This one was much 
bigger - I would estimate well over 100 birds.  It appeared that 90% of 
them were Red-eyed Vireos (certainly the most I've ever seen close 
together), but I also saw a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a few Gnatcatchers, 
and a White-eyed Vireo (with some others singing).

	Bob Hartman
	Colesville


Black Vulture                   3
Turkey Vulture                  5
Red-shouldered Hawk             2/h
Mourning Dove                   2
Yellow-billed Cuckoo            1/h
Red-bellied Woodpecker          1/h
Downy Woodpecker                2/h
Hairy Woodpecker                1/h
Eastern Wood-Pewee              2/h
Carolina Wren                   5/h
House Wren                      1
Gray Catbird                    5 10/h
Northern Mockingbird            1
Eastern Bluebird                3
Swainson's Thrush               1
American Robin                  8
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher           3
Carolina Chickadee              10 20/h
Tufted Titmouse                 2 2/h
Red-breasted Nuthatch           1
White-breasted Nuthatch         8/h
Blue Jay                        2 10/h
American Crow                   2/h
White-eyed Vireo                1 3/h
Red-eyed Vireo                  10
Northern Parula                 1
Chestnut-sided Warbler          1/a 1/i
Black-throated Green Warbler    1
American Redstart               1/m
Scarlet Tanager                 1 1/h
Northern Cardinal               5 15/h
Rose-breasted Grosbeak          1/f
Purple Finch                    2
American Goldfinch              1