Despite previous "snipe hunt"ing :), I had been entirely unsuccessful this
year in finding any along the trail (not for lack of trying).  This morning
I stopped briefly to check out a small black bird (initial thought was
starling as there've been plenty of those around) in the field just above
the swamp.  When I stopped, I flushed a couple of shorebirds, thinking to
myself "oh a couple of killdeer".  But on closer inspection they were snipe.
 Not just that, but careful searching revealed at least 23 of them, likely
more.  It's *amazing* how well they can blend in when they're motionless.

The small black bird turned out to be a male rusty blackbird :), with a
second nearby.

Otherwise nothing I don't see regularly.

Good birding,
Ryan Farrell
College Park, MD