Yesterday afternoon I finally got the chance to go looking for the 
REDHEADS that have been reported on the Potomac River.  
Upstream from Riley's Lock I found a good-sized raft of 35-40 of 
them (with the chop on the water, it was hard to count), with a few 
female scaup and at least 2 GADWALL mixed in.  There were good 
numbers of AMERICAN WIGEON widely scattered on the river 
(mostly toward the VA side) plus a few BUFFLEHEADS and 
PIED-BILLED GREBES and at least 1 HORNED GREBE.

Today I was able to spend nearly the whole day chasing waterfowl 
along the river in Montgomery and Frederick Counties.  I started at 
Violette's Lock, where I found a mixed raft of REDHEADS, both 
GREATER and LESSER SCAUP, and at least 1 RUDDY DUCK - 
probably close to 100 birds in all.  In the same area there were 
11 PIED-BILLED GREBES.

Upstream from the Monocacy Aquaduct, in Frederick County, I found 
3 COMMON MERGANSERS (all males) and a BELTED KINGFISHER.  
Just downstream from Noland's Ferry, I found 4 more mergansers 
(3 males, 1 female) and several MALLARDS on the far shore.

In the middle of the afternoon I ended up at Kershner's Pond on 
Rte. 17 south of Burkittsville.  Although the viewing conditions were 
not especially good, I was able to pick out the following:

Canada Goose - 800+
Tundra Swan - 38
American Black Duck - 4 or 5
Mallard - several
Canvasback - 24+
RIng-necked Duck - a few
Lesser Scaup - 2 or 3 
Hooded Merganser - 2
Common Merganser - several
Ruddy Duck - 2
American Coot - 1
Ring-billed Gull - 1

It was a great day to be out, and I was delighted to add 11 species 
to my miserably inadequate Frederick County list!

Elaine Hendricks
Greenbelt, MD  (PG County)



-- 
--
you @ usa.com
is available and 170 other free domains.
Sign up at www.mail.com