Inspired by the good sightings of Gail Mackiernan and Barry Cooper 
over the last week, Chip Clouse of the American Birding Association 
in Colorado Springs, CO, and I went over to Brookside Gardens/Wheaton 
Regional Park this morning, 9/28.

Alas, we could not get to the Gardens until after noon, by which time 
the wind had picked up considerably (accompanied by sundry branches 
falling from the sky!).  Nevertheless, we found that Gail's and 
Barry's designation of the viburnum bush area as an active one was 
still right on:  we had a pair of Black-throated Blue Warblers there 
quite quickly, although we utterly failed to find the previously 
reported Yellow-bellied Flycatcher.  Gray Catbirds and Robins, as 
Gail and Barry reported, were very common in this area, where we also 
found a static Wood Thrush , my first of the fall Ruby-crowned 
Kinglet and a very yellow warbler that escaped our view almost as 
soon as it was spotted.

Around the pond below the Wheaton Regional Park Nature Center we 
found numerous American Goldfinches, one or two Eastern Phoebes, and 
a young female Common Yellowthroat.

During our return to the Bradmoor area of Bethesda, where I live, we 
stopped along Beach Drive east of Cedar Lane and almost immediately 
found 2 drake and 3 hen Wood Duck in the creek.  All were now out of 
drab eclipse plumage and looked as fabulous as I remembered them as a 
new birder, more than 40 years ago.

Mike Bowen
Bethesda, MD

D.H. Michael Bowen
8609 Ewing Drive
Bethesda, MD  20817
Telephone: (301) 530-5764
e-mail:  dhmbowenATyahooDOTcom

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