Hi Folks,

I was surprised to get to Swan Creek (AA Co.) this afternoon and find three 
birder's cars there.  Rob Ostrowski and Ed Carlson were scoping the north 
dredge cell and Leslie Starr and Joe Turner were down at the wetland.  I 
joined Rob and Ed for a little scoping, and we managed 3 BLACK-BELLIED 
PLOVERs, one DUNLIN, and some unidentified peeps, along with many Killdeer. 
Rob left shortly thereafter, and Ed and I donned our boots and headed down 
to the wetland.  There we met Leslie and Joe who had heard a rail, so we ran 
the ipod through all the rails, getting a VIRGINIA RAIL to answer.  After 
that, Ed and I tromped through the marsh, walking in the path of the marsh 
vehicle that was used to spray the phragmites last week.  Ed had the best 
find while we did this, coming face to face with an AMERICAN BITTERN which 
quite obviously had an injured left leg.  The bittern did not move much, so 
I was able to get several digiscoped images through the reeds.  The hundred 
or so sparrows represented five species, with a couple White-crowns being 
about the best.  They've been around since last week.

Stan Arnold
Ferndale (AA Co.)