I took some time off to do some birding this morning, which I've not done much of so far this Spring.
   
  I started at the Maintenance Yard at Rock Creek at 7:30 but didn't get much more than a YB Cuckoo, single Yellow Warbler and many Yellow-rumped Warblers, plus a few Blue-headed Vireo and a couple of Indigo Bunting.
   
  It rained for a while and I drove over to Hughes Hollow and it had stopped by the time I got there.  A Common Moorhen called a couple of times in the 2nd impoundment on the right.  Both Prothontary and Yellow Warblers are on territory in several spots, as are Common Yellowthroat.  The only other warbler sp there was Northern Waterthrush, which was very plentiful today - about 10 in total seen or heard at various spots.
   
  I tried the canal off of Sycamore Landing rd for a while, which yielded Red-eyed Vireo, Black-throated Green, Chestnut-sided and Palm Warblers and American Redstart but no other migrants.  Then I retraced my steps and did the rest of Hughes, and came across a very obliging and spectacularly-plumed Yellow-crowned Night Heron in the wet woods off the middle path, which I got a few pics of, with the usual technique of holding the camera up to the scope eyepiece:
   
  http://www.harrisbirds.com/Yellow%20Crowned%20Night%20Heron.htm
   
  I briefly checked Hughes Rd whch had several singing White-crowned Sparrow just before the Polo ground.
   
  Last stop was at Riley's Lock, where I walked all the way down to Violette's Lock.  A small feeding flock had a singing Blue-winged Warbler and a silent Black-and-white.  Around 10 Cliff and about 20 Bank were in with the Barn and Tree Swallows, and a couple of Forsters Terns joined the Bonies foraging over the falls.
   
  I had 13 warbler species today (incl Parula and Praire). As always at this time of year, about 95% of the warblers I got my bins on turned out to be Yellow-rumped.
   
  Regards
   
  Clive Harris
  Cabin John, MD