Eleven of us turned out for the Montgomery Bird Club's annual Hugh Mahanes Presidents' Walk today, Sunday.  It was a beautiful morning.  We started at Riley's Lock on the C&O Canal hoping for some of those Hanna birds, but didn't find anything unusual.  We then moved on to the Hughes Road polo fields but found only Killdeer and Horned Larks.  We ended the morning at Hughes Hollow.   Jim Green reported yesterday that the impoundments were filling.  By this morning they were all full, totally changing the habitat from what it had been a few days ago.  It will now be great for waterfowl but not shorebirds and other waders.  The numbers of Great Egrets, Great Blue Heron, and Green Heron were down from last weekend.  We saw only one warbler the entire morning and no hummingbirds.  Our trip total was 39 species among the three locations.  Full lists from my eBird reports are below.

Jim Nelson
Bethesda, MD

Location:     C&O Canal, Riley's Lock
Observation date:     9/7/08
Number of species:     25

Canada Goose     1
Double-crested Cormorant     7
Great Blue Heron     2
Green Heron     2
Black Vulture     7
Osprey     1
Mourning Dove     1
Yellow-billed Cuckoo     1
Chimney Swift     2
Belted Kingfisher     2
Red-bellied Woodpecker     2
Eastern Wood-Pewee     9
Eastern Phoebe     2
Blue Jay     8
American Crow     2
Fish Crow     1
swallow sp.     12
Carolina Chickadee     2
Tufted Titmouse     5
White-breasted Nuthatch     2
Carolina Wren     8
Black-and-white Warbler     1
Northern Cardinal     6
Common Grackle     8
American Goldfinch     1

Location:     Hughes Rd. polo fields
Observation date:     9/7/08
Number of species:     10

Canada Goose     1
Mallard     4
Turkey Vulture     6
hawk sp.     1
Killdeer     36
American Crow     2
crow sp.     4
Horned Lark     2
Barn Swallow     4
European Starling     12

Location:     Hughes Hollow - McKee Beshers WLMA
Observation date:     9/7/08
Number of species:     29

Canada Goose     73
Wood Duck     1
Mallard     4
Great Blue Heron     4
Great Egret     20
Green Heron     2
Black Vulture     1
Turkey Vulture     2
Red-shouldered Hawk     2
Rock Pigeon     12
Mourning Dove     2
Chimney Swift     2
Belted Kingfisher     1
Red-bellied Woodpecker     1
Downy Woodpecker     1
White-eyed Vireo     1
Blue Jay     6
American Crow     4
Northern Rough-winged Swallow     22
Barn Swallow     6
swallow sp.     10
Carolina Chickadee     2
Tufted Titmouse     2
White-breasted Nuthatch     1
Carolina Wren     2
House Wren     3
Gray Catbird     9
European Starling     3
American Goldfinch     1