Hi Folks,

On Friday, 5 Oct, I stopped by the Halethorpe Farms Pond (Patapsco Pond #5)
after work to look for any migrants that might be around.  Nothing overly
exciting, but there were a few birds of interest:

Ruddy Duck--1
DC Cormorant--1
Great Egret--1
Snowy Egret--1
Magnolia Warbler--1 male
Yellow-rumped Warbler--1
Black-throated Blue--1 male
Blackpoll Warbler--2 or 3
Ovenbird--1, hopped out of a tree, and walked toward me almost close enough
to be out of the focus range of my binioculars; I thought it was going to
hop on my feet before it turned away
White-throated Sparrow--1

I was also here two days earlier with Brian Sykes, with N. Waterthrush being
the only additional bird of interest for that outing.

On Saturday morning, 6 Oct, I set out at O-dark-early to look for Great
Horned Owls in Frederick Co.  I thought the vicinity of Lilypons would be a
good area, with its combination of open fields and edge habitat.  No dice,
despite my best possible GHO immitations.  As daylight emerged, I headed to
Mt. Ephraim Rd. nearby, and in four stops was only able to muster the
following of interest:

Red-shouldered Hawk--1
Red-eyed Vireo--1
Brown Creeper--1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet--1
Swainson's Thrush--2
Black-throated Green warbler--1

Things got better when I got to Hughes Hollow in Montgomery Co., where I
spent a very birdy two hours, nabbing all seven species of woodpecker, and
some other goodies:

Cooper's Hawk--1 further down Hunting Quarter Rd.
Chimney Swift--8
RED-HEADED WOODPECKER--3 (2 adults and 1 juv)
YB Sapsucker--2
Hairy Woodpecker--2
Pileated Woodpecker--4
E. Phoebe--7
White-eyed Vireo--1 singing!
Ruby-crowned Kinglet--3
Yellow-rumped Warbler--2
Co. Yellowthroat--2
Song Sparrow--20
Swamp Sparrow--12
LINCOLN'S SPARROW--1 or more (multiple sightings may have all been same
bird)
White-throated Sparrow--25
PURPLE FINCH--1 brownie

On my way back home in the late morning I stopped at Little Bennett Regional
Park (MoCo) for about 20 minutes where I found:

Sharp-shinned Hawk--1
Red-breasted Nuthatch--1 beeping
(Yellow) Palm Warbler--1

Today, 7 October, despite the record-breaking afternoon heat, has been a
banner day for bird variety in our yard (Ferndale, AA Co.).  It began early
in the morning with our first migrant thrush of the season--a GRAY-CHEEKED
THRUSH.  After that, we saw (and heard) our first GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET of
the season and heard our first-of-season White-throated Sparrow, one day
later than our first last year.   In the late afternoon, our little
RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH was actively feeding in our spruce trees; it's been
with us now for nearly four weeks.  An early-evening flyover AM. KESTREL, is
our first, and probably only, one of the fall.  We had four CHIMNEY SWIFTs
flying over, as we count the days till they are gone for the year, and then
at dusk a flyover NIGHT HERON was a real treat, but I didn't have a good
enough look to tell which one.  Time of year suggests strongly that it was a
Black-crowned.

Best to all,

Stan Arnold
Glen Burnie