Hi all,

Made a trip with my mom up to her work in Chestertown, hoping to re-scan the WWTP on the way back, after failing to find the phalarope on friday (could of been there, rain and wind made scanning of lagoons almost impossible). I never made it to the WWTP, but instead, i found a nice flock of 1,000+ Canada Geese on the work property.  As I scanned, I also saw some N.Rough-winged Swallows hawking the pond, but soon noticed a smaller swallow with a pale upper tail coverts. Cliff? CAVE?!? I now was faced with the problem of poor lighting, wind, and following a small, darting swallow in a scope! It gave me few good looks, however i got to see its dark face with no forehead patch/color.  So I call this bird a juv. cliff swallow. After 15 minutes, a juv. cooper's hawk pushed the swallow flock up, and they headed south. I went to the yellowbook, and the late date is Oct. 18!  figures.
Finally I had the chance to scan the goose flock thoroughly and picked out a Cackling, and after I watched a merlin, perigrine, (high flying) herring gull, and a few more mixed swallow flocks use the north winds to their advantage.

Amanda Spears
Centreville, MD