Hi all,
 I led a small group from The Backyard Naturalist in Olney around the  Mash 
this morning. The parking lot filled quickly again as the Frederick County  
bird club also had a walk there. We co-mingled off and on throughout the  
morning. A few folks from the Montgomery Bird Club were also there.
 
Highlight of highlights were the many hundreds of kettling  Broad-winged 
Hawks circling overhead and moving through, some very low. They  gave us excellent 
looks and I was able to show my group where the term "kettle"  comes from, as 
the bubbled up in great numbers. I'm sure there were perhaps  between 200-300 
birds visible at one time, and this occured a few times through  the morning. 
The best single flight I have seen in Montgomery County! I would  not have 
guessed there would've been a big movement today based on the overcast  
conditions, but I guess it is getting on in the season and they simply had to  move. 
Many were flapping by rather than circling on thermals.
 
We had some other nice finds too, with other raptors being very  visible 
today; Osprey, A. Kestrel, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, at least 2  Northern 
Harriers with a nice showing by an adult male. And Helen Horrocks'  Frederick 
group had 2 Peregrines which we did not see! Way in the back of  the park, 
right about where I had one last September was a very yellow  YELLOW-BELLIED 
FLYCATCHER, giving brief but nice looks. It was so bright that at  first I 
thought it was a goldfinch! It sat in a tree by the edge of the woods  before flying 
back into the trees.
 
Other goodies included my first (and a very early) immature WHITE-CROWNED  
SPARROW of the season along the fence by the leach ponds, along with 2 Palm  
Warblers there too. We saw 5 different Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, a single Scarlet  
Tanager, an adult RED-HEADED WOODPECKER twice, a few Least and a single 
Pectoral  Sandpiper on the big pond, along with Great Egret and 2 Green Herons, and 
a  Great Blue Heron. Lots of Eastern Phoebes were around, and many Tree 
Swallows  were passing overhead, as were Chimney Swifts. We saw very few warblers, 
and no  vireos of any type, and very few sparrows yet.
 
My group had only 48 species, but because of the quality, it seemed like a  
lot more. A very fine morning of birding! What will tomorrow bring?
 
Rick Sussman
Ashton,MD
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