I decided to bird some of the ponds and wetlands in northern Prince George's 
County, hoping to see some out-of-place waterfowl from the recent 
Nor'easter.  I stopped at Greenbelt Lake, Lake Artemesia, and Bladensburg 
Marina.  

The highlight of the day was undoubtedly an American Bittern feeding on the 
edge of some grass and cattails along the edge of Lake Artemesia.  The bird 
was along the northern edge of the lake, in an area of tall grass mixed with 
some cattails.  I had parked at the lot near Berwyn Road, and was walking 
around the pond.  From the southern edge of the pond, I scoped the large 
group of Canada Geese when I saw the bittern feeding along the water's 
edge.  I watched the bird feeding slowly for about 20 minutes, getting good 
looks at the bill, striping on the throat and belly, and the head.  The bird 
slowly walked along the water, occassionally disappearing into the grass.  
Occasionally it would stand motionless (bill in the air), and successfully 
speared some food from the water.  I watched the bird from around 2:15 until 
2:35, before I left to look through a group of ducks.  When I walk back in 
towards the car, I relocated the bittern and watched the bird for another five 
minutes or so.  It was still there when I left at 3:10.   These were definitely 
the best and most extended views I ever had of an American Bittern! 

Birds at each stop included:

Greenbelt Lake:
Ring-billed Gulls
Canada Geese
Mallard
Wood Duck
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant

Lake Artemesia:
Ring-billed Gulls
Canada Geese
Mallard
Fish Crow
Blue Jay
Ruddy Duck
Great Blue Heron
American Bittern
Ring-necked Duck
Redhead
Lesser Scaup
Double-crested cormorant
Osprey (circled the lake several times)
American Coots

Bladensburg Marina:
Great Black-backed Gulls
Herring Gulls
Ring-billed Gulls
Lesser Black-backed Gull (adult)
Killdeer

Out of the hundreds of gulls, there were no Laughing Gulls.  This is interesting 
as a similar sized flock at Schoolhouse Pond (about 15 miles away) during this 
time of year a majority of the gulls would Laughing Gulls.

Fred Shaffer

Patuxent MOS