Inspired by Mike Bowen's posting from Tuesday, I ventured out to look for waterfowl at Hughes Hollow in Montgomery County.  On my way there, I stopped at Violette's Lock and Riley's Lock on the C&O Canal to check the Potomac River.  The River is very high, and a pretty strong wind had already started.  The combination seemed to virtually eliminate ducks from the River.  Land birds were very limited along the towpath (I had Eastern Phoebe at both locations and a Winter Wren at Violette's).

When I got to Hughes Hollow and scanned the large impoundment, I figured out where all the ducks had gone.  It looked like every  Ring-necked Duck that had been on the Potomac had moved to the calmer waters in the impoundment.  My count of Ring-necks, very conservative, was 650.  Mixed in among them were some American Wigeon, Canvasback, Redhead, Bufflehead, and a Green-winged Teal.  In the smaller western impoundment there were Hooded Mergansers and Pied-billed Grebes.  

The wind was strong, which kept the land birds down.  Four Tree Swallows were hunting over the impoundments.

As I walked into the woods and fields beyond the impoundments, I encountered a river of Common Grackles moving through the woods and fields.  My conservative count was 8,000 birds.  A truly remarkable experience as I watched the massive flow of birds through the area.  

A complete list for Hughes Hollow from my eBird report follows.

One final note, when I got home and changed clothes, I found my first tick of the year.  I had not been walking in anything over 6 inches tall, so this was a surprise.

Jim Nelson
Bethesda. MD

Location:     Hughes Hollow - McKee Beshers WLMA
Observation date:     3/12/08
Number of species:     33

Canada Goose     49
American Wigeon     8
Mallard     2
Green-winged Teal     1
Canvasback     4
Redhead     11
Ring-necked Duck     650
Bufflehead     4
Hooded Merganser     3
Pied-billed Grebe     2
Turkey Vulture     3
Red-shouldered Hawk     1
Red-tailed Hawk     2
Red-bellied Woodpecker     4
Northern Flicker     3
Blue Jay     8
American Crow     2
Fish Crow     1
crow sp.     2
Tree Swallow     4
Carolina Chickadee     6
Tufted Titmouse     5
White-breasted Nuthatch     2
Carolina Wren     1
Golden-crowned Kinglet     1
Eastern Bluebird     4
European Starling     2
Song Sparrow     27
White-throated Sparrow     22
Northern Cardinal     8
Red-winged Blackbird     30
Common Grackle     8000
Brown-headed Cowbird     20