A coworker and I went up on the meteorological tower this morning here in 
Edgewater, before the forecast rain, to scope out our Bald Eagle nest. Due to 
the wind and an adult on the nest, we weren't able to tell if both babies are 
still there. One gray downy chick was visible but the second one could have been 
hidden and the wind made it uncomfortable enough that we didn't want to stay up 
too long.

Anyway, as we were climbing the tower, we flushed an American Robin from a nest 
underneath a niche about 20 feet up. There were two eggs visible in the nest. 
The Yellow Book shows 3/26 as the early egg date. I assume that dates may have 
shifted forward a bit since the publication in 1996 but this still seems a bit 
early especially considering that winter has crept back upon us. Interestingly, 
there was another apparent AMRO nest in a similar situation 40 feet up which is 
directly above the other one. It didn't have any eggs in it yet. The blue atlas 
handbook shows 5/1 as the safe date for AMRO but I would assume that eggs in a 
nest trump the safe date! Even though the atlas project is over, it's hard to 
get out of that mode ;)
 
Tyler Bell

California, Maryland 

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