Hi all --

Barry and I went out to Lilypons Frederick Co. today, to scout for an upcoming field trip. We were pleased to see that it had not floated away despite yesterday's torrential rains. We got there late due to some deck-cleaning folks arriving unexpectedly, and it had gotten a bit bright and breezy. Not  huge number of birds, sparrow numbers low, but we had 6-8 FOX Sparrows and about 20 RUSTY BLACKBIRDS, good for this date. Couple of Coots (adult and young bird, did they breed there this year?) and some Hooded Mergansers in the back ponds.

The fields nearby are getting more and more useless with every passing year. The demise of dairy farms and loss of agricultural land to development is creeping over the Oland Road/New Design area. We saw about 20 Horned Larks along Rt. 85. otherwise nothing.

The best birds we saw were two RAVENS flying (and playing in the wind, it appeared) over Rt. 95 in Montgomery County, about 1/2 mile before the Frederick Co. line.

Gail Mackiernan and Barry Cooper
Colesville, MD