Hi all,
My second walk of the season, with 6-8 in attendance. We saw good numbers  of 
up close Yellow-rumps and Palm Warblers, flitting about together and feeding  
on swarms of flying insects in the small locust trees by the big pond. In the 
 pond, a pair each of Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal, Mallards, and 
Killdeer.  A "gray ghost" male Northern Harrier was viewed briefly near the big 
pond.  Sparrows included Swamp, Song, White-throated, Chipping and Field and many  
singing towhees. Junco and Fox Sparrow were absent; Foxes may have moved on 
but  I still have juncos in my yard. We had good luck with raptors as well. We 
had a  nice small kettle of 12 Broad-winged Hawks, Cooper's and Sharp-shinned, 
 Red-shouldered and Red-tailed. 
 
3 female Hooded Mergansers were on the small pond. Brown Thrashers were  
present in small numbers but increasing since last week, and Tree Swallows were  
every where. A pair of Barn Swallows were sitting on a fence near the back of  
the settlement pond.
 
A pair of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers were over the parking lot and a single  
Ruby-crowned Kinglet was seen. We also enjoyed looking at 3 male A. Goldfinches  
in one small tree, all 3 in varying stages of molt. And we saw a very sad  
looking male Purple Finch in late stage of conjunctivitis; one eye completely  
shut and the other nearly so.
 
Back home I saw more hawks, with Osprey, A. Kestrel and Cooper's Hawks fly  
over the yard. A nice hawk day for sure, and it seems the weathermen were  
completely wrong once again! Must be nice to have a job that pays so well for  
such poor performance!
 
We saw 48 species on the walk today (including 3 flyover DC Cormorants seen  
flying over the store in Olney but not seen at Blue Mash!).
 
Enjoy the weekend,

Rick Sussman
Woodbine,MD
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