This morning I was in the yard basking in the cool clear sunrise, and wondering 
what the weather had brought in last night.  To my surprise, there were 
noticeably fewer birds.  Warblers are often hit or miss here at the house (Jug 
Bay area, PG County), but vireos, grosbeaks and tanagers are normally always 
present here in fall.  It is apparent that the trickling numbers of them have 
now dwindled down to nothing!  I did't find any this morning, for the first time 
this fall.  However, there may be another reason for the lack of songbird 
activity here.  I saw 2 Red-shouldered Hawks (local breeders). a big (female) 
Coopers Hawk, and...

the first Merlin of the year (all were hunting)!  Merlins are hard to find here for 
some reason and I have only seen a few here.  I saw what I thought was a 
small Sharpie (male) gliding over at treetop level, and did not look carefully.  
Then it flapped, giving it away as a falcon.  When I looked with the bins it was 
dark brown with a nice facial patch, either a female or a hatch year bird.

Cheers!
Jeff Shenot
Croom MD