Hi Gail,

I don't know what your "somewhat late" translates into but I also  
drove the same roads around 8:45 -9 AM with J. Kawar. Same result and  
no consolation wild turkeys, no Canada Geese, or other birders even.  
It felt like everyone knew something we didn't. Upon reading Edward  
Boyd's post about Canada Geese leaving en masse today I thought that  
maybe that explained it all.

We then went to Hughes Hollow which was windy and unbirdy but we had  
the consolation of a Phoebe along the main dike. When leaving we  
encountered a large group of men with one dog in the parking lot. They  
told us they were from the Rockville Isaac Walton League and were  
going to check the Woodduck boxes.

	Evelyn

Evelyn Ralston


On Mar 7, 2010, at 3:31 PM, Gail Mackiernan wrote:

> Hi all --
>
> Went out this morning somewhat late to look for the Sandhill Crane  
> at the
> NIH facility in Poolesville, with no success. We drove pretty much  
> all the
> roads in the area several times and could not even find any Canada  
> Geese.
> Met some other birders who had had the same lack of success. That  
> doesn't
> mean it's gone -- it could easily be missed if over the brow of a  
> hill or
> behind buildings. One consolation were the 6 WILD TURKEYS along  
> Elmer School
> Road between the road and the NIH fence -- great looks before they  
> flew
> away!
>
> Afterwards we checked out the Potomac at both Riley's and Violette's  
> Locks.
> There was a good number and variety of waterfowl above Seneca  
> Breaks, as
> well as scores of Ring-billed Gulls moving upriver. We looked in at
> McKees-Beshers but it was full of folks training their dogs so we  
> gave it a
> miss.
>
> On the way home we stopped at the former "National Geographic" Pond  
> off Rt.
> 28 which held quite a few geese and some ducks. We saw one very  
> small goose
> which may or may not have been a Cackler but it went out of sight  
> before we
> could be sure.
>
> Waterfowl observed: RL = Riley's Lock; VL = Violette's Lock, NG =  
> Nat. Geo
> Pond
>
> Double-crested Cormorant - 6 RL
> Pied-bill Grebe - 8 VL
> Canada Goose -- ~100 NG
> Cackling Goose (maybe?) - 1 NG
> Hooded Merganser - 3 RL
> Common Merganser - 4 RL
> Bufflehead - 8 RL & VL
> Ringnecked Duck - 35 NG
> Lesser Scaup - 30 VL
> REDHEAD - 45+ VL and 5 NG
> Canvasback - 1-2 VL
> Mallard - 4 RL
> AMERICAN WIGEON - 40 RL & VL
> Ruddy Duck - 3 VL
>
> Gail Mackiernan and Barry Cooper
> Colesville, MD