Just a note.  We heard our first cicada tuning up in Bethesda on Friday, 
June 9, and then we saw our first fireflies of the year last night, Sunday, 
June 11.

Jim Nelson
Bethesda, MD
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Howard Youth" <>
To: <>
Sent: Monday, June 12, 2006 3:16 PM
Subject: [MDOSPREY] North Chevy Chase Yellow-crowned and BBWD at Rio


> This a.m. (Monday) at 9:15 a.m. I was headed west on East-West Highway and 
> turned right onto Beach Drive, this in North Chevy Chase. About 200 yards 
> after this turn, on my right, I spotted an adult yellow-crowned 
> night-heron hunting in an mowed grass field within Rock Creek Park. There 
> was no pull-off at the spot, but I doubled back and was able to stop on 
> the road for about 20 seconds (a miracle in itself) and see the heron grab 
> something cicada-sized and gulp it down. I have no idea what it was. I'm 
> sure it wasn't a cicada since it's too early. It was raining and overcast. 
> I wouldn't expect it to feed at that time on a sunny a.m. Anyway, this was 
> about three miles from the Elmhirst nest site. I believe that Mike Bowen 
> and someone else had reported seeing a yellow-crowned in this general area 
> during spring. It's not possible to confirm if this is one of the Elmhirst 
> pair, but night-herons do wander far and wide to forage. Two weeks ago, I 
> saw a lone night-heron fly into trees at North Chevy Chase Park off Jones 
> Bridge Rd. This is roughly between the Elmhirst Parkway nest and where I 
> saw this morning's bird. (On this bird, my general impression was lanky 
> and "longer-legged" than B-C N-H but I did not have binos and only saw the 
> bird at a distance.) Back near the nest, we've not recently seen a 
> yellow-crowned night-heron feeding at Stone Ridge (Cedar Lane and 355) as 
> first reported in spring, although last week I saw one fly over that 
> intersection at 9 p.m. headed west from the nest area. My guess is that 
> they are heading in all directions to gather enough food for their hungry 
> young.
>
> In other news, I saw the black-bellied whistling-duck at the Rio lake this 
> a.m. around 10 a.m. It was visible from the bridge over the lake near the 
> Rio Grande Cafe.
>
> Howard Youth
> 
> Bethesda, MD
>