Hi all,
 My daughter Alli, Mark Wimer, and I covered a portion of Area 6 for Jay Sheppard for the Triadelphia CBC, covering the old Oaks landfill and Blue Mash in Laytonsville.
 Before sunup we met Jay at the Sunshine store where he gave us the gate key for the landfill. We were able to drive to the top of the landfill (in the dark, pre-dawn), where we watched 4 SHORT-EARED OWLS hunting over the property. There may actually have been a couple more, but as they glided over the hill and out of sight, to reappear later, we were only able to see 4 at a time. This is the highest number of SEOW's I have seen in Montgomery County in one place. At one point they were flying right over our heads!

Just after dawn we began our hike around Blue Mash, where we had good numbers of lots of sparrows, including at least 6 AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS, immature White-crowned ,Swamp, Song, Savannah, White-throated, and Dark-eyed Junco, as well as a number of Towhees. We also had 2 BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES, a single Hermit Thrush, several Bluebirds (rather low), huge flocks of Robins and Waxwings feeding on the numerous crab apples still clinging to the trees, but only a single Yellow-rumped Warbler. We had a few surprising misses, including not a single Canada Goose (and I thought this was impossible in MoCo), and no White-breasted Nuthatch. 

It was an outstanding day from start to finish, with good company and great birds, and the weather was very cooperative too (unlike last year).


P.S. If you try for the owls, I would suggest parking in the small gravel lot along the entrance to the old landfill on Rt. 108, pre-dawn or after dusk. Good luck.


Best to all,

Rick Sussman
Woodbine,MD