There are times when it is absolutely great to be wrong, and this morning
was one of those times....because....I had SIX Worm-eating Warblers up on
Sugarloaf this morning. Three seen and heard, three heard. The paper by Russ
Greenberg showed the importance of leaf litter and there is leaf litter in
abundance up there. So maybe understory cover doesn't matter that much. 

Overall, it was a birdy morning in terms of number of species but not in
number of individuals, except for Great Crested Flycatchers. Loads of those
guys! 

The birds are patchily distributed. Along the 7 miles of the white and blue
trails, most areas are totally silent or have only the resident stuff. But
then you hit a bird party - Black-throated Green, Black-throated Blue, Oven
Bird, 
Scarlet Tanager, Black-and-White Warbler, Northern Parula, American
Redstart, Louisiana Waterthrush, Wood Thrush. 

I wish there was some way to combine hiking for health (e.g. need to keep
heart rate up) and birding. I deliberately do NOT take nocs so I won't be
tempted, and I console myself by saying that I am practicing birding by ear,
which is something I really couldn't do at all until a couple of years ago,
when I forced myself to go out without nocs. 

Ellen Paul
Chevy Chase, MD