While doing the Walk for Wildlife this morning at Patuxent River Park (Jug Bay area), I saw my first Rusties of the season in the scrub shrub wetland at Mataponi Creek.  This annual event is held to raise funds for wildlife programs and public awareness, and includes a 10K run, 5K run, and 3K walk that hundreds of people participate in.  I do the walk with my kids and wife.  Although not really a bird walk or remotely even close to one, I watch for whatever we can find, which is influenced (just a little!) by the hundreds of other folks using the same trail.  Despite the commotion from this and constant conversation along the way, we saw or heard 40 species on the 50 minute walk:

Canada Goose
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle
Killdeer
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Blue Jay (many)
American Crow
Fish Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Rusty Blackbird (6)
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch

Cheers!
Jeff Shenot
Croom MD