Hi --

Barry and I led a birdwalk for Friends of Sligo Creek today, doing the section north of University Blvd. in Silver Spring (the area written up in the birdfinding guide for Montgomery Co.)

It was cold, overcast and a bit breezy and there were few apparent migrants but some of the local summer visitor/breeders are now in and we got good looks at a number of them.

We saw or heard 45 species which isn't bad for the kind of day it was. No raptors, the local Red-shoulders must have been sulking!

Birds of interest:

Common Loon (1, flyover)
Solitary Sandpiper (3)
Spotted Sandpiper (1)
Eastern Phoebe (1, breeds)
Great Crested Flycatcher (3, breeds)
Barn Swallow (3, flyover)
Veery (3, breeds)
Wood Thrush (1, breeds)
Gray Catbird (7-8, breeds)
Red-eyed Vireo (5, breeds)
Northern Parula (3, breeds)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (~20)
Ovenbird (2, breeds)
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (8, breeds)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (2)
Chipping Sparrow (2, breeds)
White-throated Sparrow (15)
Eastern Towhee (10-12, this species does breed here but most were probably passage migrants)

Plus the usual Chickadees, Cardinals, Woodpeckers, etc. etc. Most Crows were Fish Crows, interestingly enough. 

Gail Mackiernan and Barry Cooper
Colesville, MD