Hi,
A late posting for a late-starting walk in an area off Tracey's Store Rd.
A leisurely walk of 41/2 hrs starting at 1100, yielded only 27 spp. of
birds, including 5 warblers, consisting of probable Parula (alternate
song), Prairie, Ovenbird, Chat and Hooded. Of course, being serenaded
at the outset by both Prairie (must've had at least 6 of those guys) and
Oven sorta skewed my hopes for the day. Big misses were both Wormy
and KY, which I'd seen on nest last year as a last-gasp addition to the
Atlas total for the area. Intriguingly, there were a couple of othe warbler
songs I couldn't ID in my reborn electronic persona (SongFinders). An-
other warbler "miss" was the Black 'n' White, plus the Yellowthroat, a
"usual" for the area.

On the last leg of the outing-and on my last legs!-I was startled by a loud
flurry of wing-beats and "something" ending up lurking in a depressed
area just to the left of the trail, which I eventually teased out to be-a Whip
poor-will! It was involved in a paroxysm of distraction displays, making
a lot of noise and, finally, once more taking to wing to settle nearby in a
bush just to the right of the trail. I had just set up my tripod extension to
my monopod, and had just mounted the 200-500mm equiped camera to
take a quick photo before moving on, when-all of a sudden, two Labrador
dogs make a beeline for me, scouting out ahead of a short, heavyset guy
in lederhosen. They effectively scattered the bird and, even after I waited
til the guy and dogs moved on, I was only rewarded by a couple of "chip"
notes(?). I assume this means breeding is in progress, very heartening
news, as I'd last seen them with nests/eggs some years ago, but NOT in
time for the Atlassing effort. Over the years, I'd seen numerous evidence
of their breeding in the area (nest, eggs, chicks, display behavior), but had
resigned myself to their extirpation from the area in light of no evidence
of their prescence in recent years. SO! A big plus for the day.

Paul Noell
Balto.  MD