Hi All,

Things were birdy from first light here at home what with the wrens 
tuning up and the local Red-shoulder making a fuss. I took a walk around 
noon time and had 44 species. Good numbers of kinglets (13 Ruby-crowns, 
just 4 Golden-crowns), "Myrtle" Warblers (18), Song Sparrows (16), and 
White-throats (24) around. Highlights were hearing my first migratory 
flock of Tundra Swans going over above the trees, a Blue-headed Vireo 
whisper-singing in the yard before Ian left this morning (my second Nov 
record), 4 Rusty Blackbirds feeding in the woods and on the lawn at the 
landing (3 males and a female; third local sighting), and 4 Chimney 
Swifts swooping around over the Elbon Rd meadow (my first ever in Nov). 
It was almost summery outdoors this noon, but I only had two butterfly 
species; a variegated fritillary, and 4 buckeyes with two still willing 
to fight over their patch of grass, a testament to the fire still raging 
in their tiny bellies. Life is resilient.

Good birding,

Walter Ellison

23460 Clarissa Rd
Chestertown, MD 21620

phone: 410-778-9568

e-mail: rossgull(AT)baybroadband.net

"Nothing is as easy as you would like it to be, and nothing is as hard 
as you might fear"