The highlight from my morning walk around Schoolhouse Pond was an adult, breeding plumage Black-crowned Night Heron.  The bird was perched low on a limb in some thick vegetation near the pond's edge.  Looking from the road, it was on the left hand side of the pond about half way before you get to the office townhouses.  It is a beautiful bird, with a long white plume trailing down the back of its head onto its back.  

Otherwise it was fairly quiet, with the usual breeding birds singing.  These included American Redstarts, Northern Parula, Common Yellowthroat, Indigo Bunting, Red-eyed Vireo, and White-eyed Vireo.  Also singing was a House Wren near the residential townhouses and a 1st year Orchard Oriole.

Fred Shaffer
Patuxent MOS