Have you ever seen a bird at a particular location and looked for the same bird at the same location each time you go back? How about looking in a particular patch of habitat for a bird that's never there? Well, I've been driving up Rt. 4 from Solomons to work for the last 14 years and there's a stand of dead trees just south of the light at White Sands where I've looked alternately for either Red-headed Woodpeckers or Olive-sided Flycatchers. I've never seen either there until last Friday when I saw an adult Red-headed Woodpecker fly between two of the dead trees. Now that I've seen one there, it'll only reinforce my scanning the trees as I drive by.

This morning, as I climbed the meteorological tower here at SERC, the trees were alive with chip notes. Yellow-rumped Warblers had descended en masse. I counted 12 between the edge of the woods and the top of the tower. On my way back down, I saw 6 at once feasting on poison ivy berries bringing my total to 18. There were also 6 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, one each Red-belly, Downy, Hairy, and Pileated Woodpeckers and one Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Overhead, 13 Canada Geese, 3 Am. Robins and 3 E. Bluebirds. Looks like an excellent day to be out doing stream monitoring!
 
Tyler Bell

California, Maryland