We visited Black Water NWR yesterday (Dec. 7th).  It was quiet, cold  and a 
little windy with few people around. Very nice.  
 
I would appreciate any comments on the oriole (see end of post) as I had a  
hard time believing my eyes.
 
Great blue herons - 4
Canada geese (a few 1000)
Tundra swans (115 in one group S. of Visitors' Center, another more distant  
group to south)
Mallard - the commonest duck
Am. black duck 1
N. Pintail - groups of both sexes
Green-winged teal 4+/-
Red-breasted mergansers group of 15+/- off where observation tower used to  
stand
Unid duck sp. 1 - with mergs
N. harrier - 1 female hunting S. of Visitors' Center
Turkey vultures
Red-tailed hawks - 2 adults
Bald eagles - 4 adults, perched
Am. kestrels - 3
Killdeer (10+/-) at Rt. 335 & Key Wallace Hwy
Ring-billed gulls
Mourning doves
Red-bellied woodpeckers
N. Flicker - 1
Donwy woodpecker
Am. crows
Blue jays
Tufted titmice
Carolina chickadees
Brown creepers  MET 1-2
 
Brown-headed nuthatches  MET

Winter wrens (2 - Marsh Edge trail = MET, 1 - Woodland trail)
Golden-crowned kinglets (MET)
E. Bluebirds (Key Wallace)
Am. Robins
? Gray catbird  - at Visitors' Center - probable - but did not  get clear 
view of black cap
N. Mockingbird
E. Starlings
? Yellow-rumped warbler - heard a 'chip' at MET
White-throated sparrows
Song sparrows
Dark-eyed juncos
E. meadowlarks - 6+/- along Key Wallace Hwy
Brown-headed cowbirds - singles
Red-winged blackbirds (flocks)
Common grackles (flocks)
 
Balimore oriole - MET - foraging methodically and silently in  lower branches 
of oaks.  Entire underparts, from tail to throat,  were a beautiful, warm 
yellowy-orange, mimicing the color of the Fall oak  leaves nearby. Dark gray 
folded wings. Did not get clear view of dark gray head  markings or of bill. 
Viewed in sunlight from ca. 30 ft. from below for about 4  minutes as it pottered 
from tree to tree before flying off to the  south. 
 
Am. goldfinches - 1's and 2's
 
 
Robin Todd
Ellicott City, MD