All:

The freeze had its impact; no phoebes!  As would be expected, puddle duck 
numbers were down and generally birding was considered slow.  In amongst 
all that was a Sedge Wren at Fishing Creek, Purple Sandpipers along the 
Jetty at said Creek (likely a first for the count), a Merlin (possibly 
two), the usual Cackling Geese, Meadowlarks (on top of the old 
landfill...nearly extinct elsewhere), a King Rail, and the Black-capped 
Chickadee coming to Jeff Shenot's feeder.  I may have forgotten something, 
but I can be corrected by others on the count.

Come next year and we will try for 125 species....!

Thanks

sam

Sam Droege   
w 301-497-5840 h 301-390-7759 fax 301-497-5624
USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
BARC-EAST, BLDG 308, RM 124 10300 Balt. Ave., Beltsville, MD  20705
Http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov

Winter
  

When icicles hang by the wall 
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail 
And Tom bears logs into the hall, 
And milk comes frozen home in pail, 
When Blood is nipped and ways be foul, 
Then nightly sings the staring owl, 
Tu-who; 
Tu-whit, tu-who: a merry note, 
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot. 

When all aloud the wind doth blow, 
And coughing drowns the parson's saw, 
And birds sit brooding in the snow, 
And Marian's nose looks red and raw 
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl, 
Then nightly sings the staring owl, 
Tu-who; 
Tu-whit, tu-who: a merry note, 
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot. 

William Shakespeare