Went on a walk at lunch around the SERC property. The woods were,
typically, silent. There was a nice raft of about a hundred Ruddy Ducks
on the Rhode River with a few Lesser Scaup on the periphery. Cutting
across to Muddy Creek, there were one Mute Swan, 6 Tundra Swans, 4 Black
Ducks, 3 Buffleheads and 3 Northern Shovelers.

Seen from the boardwalk was a nice assortment of raptors. In a small
kettle there was an Osprey, one Red-tail and one Cooper's Hawk as well
as a couple of fly-by Bald Eagles (one full adult and one almost with a
white head but splotchy tail).

On the way back to the main campus, I finally ran into some passerines.
A bunch of White-throats kicking around and some Yellow-rumped Warblers,
Carolina Chickadees, Titmice and a White-breasted Nuthatch.

Soon we'll be running up and down the canopy tower to discourage the
Osprey from building their nest amongst all of the sampling gear. Good
exercise!

Tyler Bell

California, MD

Tyler Bell

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
Edgewater, MD