Hi Everybody: 
     I was grateful for the rain after I returned home on Tuesday night. I used it as an excuse to catch up on my sleep and not get up at 2 or 3 in the morning and try for some night birding. I did get up and leave the house shortly after 5 AM and headed for Washington County. My main target bird for today was Hooded Warbler. Last year John Hubbell had posted that he had a singing Hooded Warbler and A Kentucky Warbler on Warner Hollow Road in the NEern part of the county. Dave Powell and I visited this road last summer and had the Kentucky Warbler but missed on the Hooded W. I accessed the road from the southern end and about 3/4 of the way up the road I heard the Kentucky Warbler and the Hooded Warbler singing simultaneously. This is a very interesting road which starts by passing a reservoir and then is heavily wooded with some steep ravines and as you drive north on the road you are gaining elevation the entire time. When you reach the end of the road you are in Frederick County. Listed below is my Washington County birds for Warner Hollow Road:

     Downy Woodpecker    3
     Red-bellied Woodpecker    1
     Carolina Chickadee    2
     Cedar Waxwing    1
     Acadian Flycatcher    7
     Wood Thrush    6
     Red-eyed Vireo    3
     Ovenbird    2
     N. Parula Warbler    1
     Louisiana Waterthrush    1
     Hooded Warbler    1
     Kentucky Warbler    1
     Worm-eating Warbler    1
     Scarlet Tanager    1
     E. Towhee    1
     Chipping Sparrow    2

 I decide that the rest of the day I would  check the Hagerstown Airport, drive Broadfording Road from one end to the other and finish up at Antietam National Battlefield. I decide to stay on rural two-lane roads as much  as possible. Abridged highlights of my various birding locations follow, all of which were in Washington County. In the back of my mind I was looking for Red-headed Woodpecker, Blue Grosbeak and Dickcissel; all of which would be county birds. I figured that Dickcissels are being found in many counties this summer so why not in Washington County. I would not find any of these hopefuls but I did have a very enjoyable day.

OLD FORGE ROAD  
     E. Bluebird    1
     E. Kingbird    1
     Phoebe    1
     Brown Thrasher    1
     Grasshopper Sparrow    1
     Vesper Sparrow    1

CLOPPER ROAD 
     Red-tailed Hawk    1
     Gray Catbird    16
     Wood Thrush    1
     House Wren    10
     Great-crested Flycatcher    2
     Horned lark    2
     Baltimore Oriole    2 (pair)
     Field Sparrow    1

AIRPARK ROAD (at the Hagerstown airport)
     Killdeer    2
     Barn Swallow    8
     House Wren    1
     Grasshopper sparrow    1
     Eastern Meadowlark    1

BROADFORDING ROAD - Inspired by helping Mikey Lutmerding with the Somerset County Breeding Bird Survey the day before, I decided to do my own informal survey of Broadfording Road I began at the eastern end of the road just outside of Hagerstown and stopped opposite the school in Clear Valley (if my memory serves me correctly). I recorded all birds seen each mile of the road. The road is over 11 miles in length and goes through alot of farm country. There are not alot of places to pull over but it is easy to get 2 wheels off of the road and on a weekday at midday it was not a heavily travelled road. I will list a synopsis of highlights so as not to bore you with a mile by mile report. If anybody is interested in any specific locations email me off line (I will not be home until Sunday, my wife and I are visiting friend in Talbot County and this is where I am reporting this from).

     Yellow-billed Cuckoo    1
     E. Kingbird     6 (including 2 pair)
     Great-crested Flycatcher    1
     Wood Thrush    1
     Field Sparrow    2
     Grasshopper Sparrow    4
     Savannah Sparrow    2
     Indigo Bunting     6
     Eastern Meadowlark     3
     Red-winged Blackbird    3

BREATHEDSVILLE ROAD
     Eastern Wood Pewee    1
     Prairie Warbler    1

TAYLOR'S LANDING    along the C & O Canal at the Potomac River
     Rough-winged swallow    5

MONDELL ROAD
     Wild turkey    1
     Eastern Kingbird     1
     Tree Swallow    2
     Horned Lark    2
     Grasshoppersparrow    2
     Eastern Meadowlark    1

ANTIETAM NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD

DUNKER CHURCH ROAD (was not able to relocate the Dickcissel that I saw hear back in May)
     Field Sparrow     1
     Grasshopper Sparrow    1 
     Vesper sparrow    1

MANSFIELD ROAD
     Field Sparrow    1
     Vesper Sparrow    1
     Orchard oriole    2

BURNSIDE BRIDGE OVERLOOK (from the parking lot)
     Barn Swallow    1
     Cliff Swallow     4
     Yellow- throated Vireo    1
     Field Sparrow    1
     Yellow-breasted Chat    1
     Baltimore Oriole    1
 
Jim Green
Gaithersburg, MD

WORK IN MODERATION, BIRD IN EXCESS!!!