Hi Folks,

Let me begin with the RFI.  I am on the verge of having geothermal
heating/cooling installed in our house, and since this listserve
represents a largely conservation-minded entity, thought that there
might be some folks who have experience with this.  If anyone doesn't
mind sharing your experience with me, offline, I'd really appreciate
hearing from you.  Thanks for the indulgance, Norm.

Now the birds.  I went kayaking at Elkton Marsh (Cecil Co.) yesterday
afternoon and evening with Ed Carlson and Kevin Graff.  I'm really
glad the weather was exceptional, because the birding was not.  We
were afloat for more than three hours, and the marsh itself was very
stingy with its offerings.  Besides redwings and Barn Swallows, and
the occasional Common Yellowthroat, there just wasn't much to look at.
 Not a single singing Marsh Wren (I had three or four when I paddled
this place same season two years ago), no Willow Flycatchers and no
bitterns or rails.  We paddled up the Big Elk Creek beyond the US 40
overpass almost as far as the Bridge Street bridge.  Along the creek
the avifauna was a bit more interesting with ORCHARD ORIOLEs, a
singing WARBLING VIREO and a BARRED OWL that came into my calls, and
then got marauded by a mighty little gnatcatcher--an entertaining
sight.  On the way back we had another singing Warbling Vireo at the
boat launch area in the little park and Kevin identified a female
GADWALL flying by, but I didn't get a good look at it as it flew away
.  By the way, for anyone who hasn't been here recently, the little
park is really nice with a brand new and attractive boat ramp.  The
park is accessed by turning onto River Bend Parkway off of Oldfield
Point Rd.

After kayaking, Kevin and I went to Elk Neck State Forest to look for
whips.  It was still daylight and very quiet when we arrived.  After a
fashion a BARRED OWL answered my calls.  Finally, around 9:05 p.m. we
heard one or possibly two WHIP-POOR-WILLs and Kevin spotted another
one along the roadside as we were leaving.  Many thanks to Sean
McCandless for telling us where to position ourselves.

During the early morning yesterday I made a visit to Sandy Point State
Park (AA Co.) finding a pair of  early CASPIAN TERNs making forays
along the shoreline.  From there I visited Greenbury Point in
Annapolis and had a singing WILLOW FLYCATCHER.  The CHAT population is
quite high there and I tallied eght of them yesterday, but I had a
dozen of them during my previous visit last week.

This morning (7/1) at Swan Creek the numbers of waders was quite high,
and I tallied 19 Great Blue Herons, 1 Great Egret, 4 SNOWY EGRETs, 10
LITTLE BLUE HERONs, 4 CATTLE EGRETs and a GLOSSY IBIS.  Four LEAST
TERNs worked the impoundments as usual, and the at least that many
MARSH WRENs sang from the mitigated wetland.  Almost no swallows
around this morning, probably because of the very cool, breezy,
bugless weather.

The cool weather was a nice way to usher in the usually hot month of July.

Stan Arnold
Ferndale (AA Co.)
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