This morning, Jennifer Kawar and I decided to try our luck in the  
Emmitsburg region. No Dickcissels or Bobolinks, but we found quite a  
few nice birds, beautiful views, and a pleasant light breeze.

We left 15N at Creamery Rd, driving back towards the Keysville  
intersection. After a one-lane bridge, Creamery rd turns sharply, with  
farm buildings on both sides. Just after the farm, we heard very  
agitated bird noises. I stopped on the side and noticed, uphill, a  
bird hovering above trees on the left side of the road. Numerous barn  
swallows and chimney swifts were flying around. The hovering bird took  
a sharp dive into the trees and things calmed down a bit. The bird  
looked pretty dark because of the lighting but from its behavior I  
suppose that it was a Kestrel. We then scanned the small trees across  
the road in what looks like a part of the farm. On top of a dead  
branch was a Red-headed Woodpecker. It flew around, came closer to us,  
and returned to the original tree where a second RHW materialized and  
we had very good views of both. There was also a single Cedar Waxwing  
nearby, a Great Blue Heron flew over and Swallows and Swifts provided  
constant background animation.

At the Keysville/ Creamery Rd intersection we heard and saw  
Grasshopper sparrows, Barn and Northern Rough-winged swallows, 9  
Killdeer, Bluebirds, several Eastern kingbirds, many Mockingbirds, and  
another Kestrel chased by a cloud of Starlings. To the North I saw 6  
goose-like birds flying in the distance which did not look like Canada  
(no white band, rather 2-toned grey) but I did not see them long  
enough to identify them. A bit further we also saw singing Chipping  
Sparrows, a House Finch and Goldfinches.

On the way back we briefly stopped by Lilypons where we watched a  
young Purple Martin trying to deal with a large dragonfly and heard a  
Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Nice morning!

	Evelyn

Evelyn Ralston
Bethesda, Md