Dan Haas met me at SERC in Edgewater this morning for a quickie attempt at a Yellow-throated Warbler in March. We heard one singing almost immediately and before we got beyond the top of the steps leading to the base of the meteorological tower, we found two birds, both of the white-lored variety. Having nailed that, we tried for the Green Heron I found on Tuesday but we got skunked. Had nice looks at several Wood Ducks, a pair of Pied-billed Grebes and a singing Swamp Sparrow.

At lunch I went out to hunt for a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. I was successful. I first heard its wheezy call along the boardwalk to Hog Island. I finally tracked it down and was able to get some distant but identifiable pix (kind of like the treetop photos of one of the YTWAs). As I was maneuvering to get photos of the BGGN, I heard a rattly call from the phragmites. It was a Marsh Wren! I caught the occasional glimpse of the bird that came to within about 6 feet of me but stayed deep in the phrags. It sang for the whole 2-3 minutes that I was there.

Nothing else really spectacular though Chipping Sparrows are all over the place and there are now 3 pairs of House Finches in various stages of nesting. The pair on the tower still has eggs, the pair in the parking lot in an arbor vitae, I still can't locate their nest but I haven't tried hard since they flush and get quite pissy, and a third pair is staking out a niche above one of the columns near the entrance to the admin building.

Here's a link to my eBird checklists:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S10293370
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S10294631


Still a couple of days in March to find some ridiculously early arrivals!

 
Tyler Bell

California, Maryland

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