I  watched the rain pools at the Summit Hall turf farm (upstream from 
Sycamore Landing, at milepost 28) grow over the past three days. On Friday 
afternoon there were 3 Dunlin present. On Saturday morning there were 2 American 
Golden Plovers, 2 Pectorals, 5 Dunlin, Wilson's Snipe, and American Pipits. 
Early on Sunday Morning there were 3 Golden Plovers, a White-rumped 
Sandpiper, and 20 Dunlins. 
 
Sunday midmorning at Violettes Lock the rain ended and birds began to move. 
Three Snipe and 4 Pectorals flew upriver. Two Gadwalls dropped in. 200 
Cormorants headed south very high in the sky. A Northern Harrier got up and two 
Merlins made repeated passes at the Tree Swallows, eventually catching one. 
At 10:40 an adult Laughing Gull flew upriver. They are remarkably scarce in 
western Montgomery.
 
I went back to the turf farm at noon. The best shorebird puddle was 
occupied by an adult Peregrine taking a bath. The smaller shorebirds were gone, but 
the Golden Plovers and Killdeer were huddled behind some tractors a few 
hundred yards away.
 
Back at Violettes with the sun out, the small birds became active, 
including a latish Mourning Warbler and Pewee, Black-thr Blue and Black-thr Green 
Warblers. A few dozen Chimney Swifts were high in the sky, compared with the 
thousands of a week ago,
 
So the rarest bird of the day by far was Laughing Gull.
 
Dave Czaplak