I had a nice walk around Schoolhouse Pond at lunchtime today.  Highlights 
included 2 or 3 Solitary Sandpipers calling and feeding on the mudflats at the 
rear of the pond.  Also present were large numbers of swallows flying back and 
forth across the water and the marshy edges of the pond.  Most numerous 
were Barn Swallows and Northern Rough-winged Swallows.  Several Tree 
Swallows were also present, and one Bank Swallow flew very close to where I 
stood on the observation platform at the rear of the pond.  Bank Swallows do 
not show up too often at this location.

Other birds included 3 Osprey, several Great Blue Herons, singing Northern 
Parula, Common Yellowthroat, and White-eyed Vireos, 2 Double-crested 
Cormorants, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and several Yellow-rumped Warblers.

Fred Shaffer
Patuxent MOS