Hello everyone,

I checked a few places in Anne Arundel county before meeting up with Mike to do some afternoon birding in Montgomery County. We started out driving down a few country roads in the Poolesville area, hoping for field birds that were forced on to the roadsides because of the snow, which didn't produce anything unusual, but there were a few Fox Sparrows, lots of Juncos and lots of White-throated Sparrows.

Once we got tired of driving, we decided to see if there was any activity on the river, which there was. A lot.

Location:     C&O Canal--Riley's Lock
Observation date:     12/5/09
Number of species:     21

Gadwall     21     Good count for Montgomery.
American Wigeon     3
Mallard     5
Green-winged Teal     2
Redhead     5 (my new early date by two days)
Ring-necked Duck     3
Greater Scaup     3
Lesser Scaup     50
LONG-TAILED DUCK     2
Bufflehead     21
Common Goldeneye 2 (my new early date by two days)
Hooded Merganser     11
Red-breasted Merganser     24    Good count
RED-THROATED LOON     1     Spotted by Mike.
HORNED GREBE     28     New high count in eBird (previous high was 27 by Hans Holbrook at Brighton Dam)
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT     1 (getting late: new late date in eBird for Montgomery County)
BONAPARTE'S GULL     12     
Ring-billed Gull     76 (personal high count in Montgomery)
Herring Gull     1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker     1
Carolina Wren     2
Golden-crowned Kinglet     1

Robert Ostrowski
Crofton, MD