The highlight from my morning walking around Schoolhouse Pond today was a beautiful breeding plumage Horned Grebe.  The bird approached very closely to the shore as it preened and gave great views.  Also of note this morning was a singing Wilson's Warbler near where the trail enters the woods on the righthand side of the pond (when looking from the road).  Also of note were two Yellow Warblers and a Northern Waterthrush.  A large number of flyover gulls passed over as well, including 542 Laughing Gulls, 15 Herring Gulls, and 6 Ring-billed Gulls.  The Laughing Gulls made a lot of noise, making it hard to hear the songbirds at times.  I particularly like it when I hear a racket above and look up, expecting to see a whole flock of birds, but only find one or two raucous Laughing Gulls overhead.  

Yesterday (5/3) I went kayaking at work.  I began at Jackson's Landing at Jug Bay and went north to the marsh off Mt. Calvert.  It was pretty uneventful overall, but there were a large number of Least Bitterns vocalizing; the most that I've heard since I've been kayaking at Jug Bay.  I had two birds in the marsh immediately off Jackson Landing and one further up near the old railroad crossing (Anne Arundel County), plus four vocalizing simaltaneously in the marsh off Mt. Calvert (Prince George's County).  I was on one of the small creeks that snakes through the marsh and I had birds calling very closely on all sides.  Shorebirds included Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Solitary Sandpipers, Spotted Sandpipers, and Least Sandpipers.

Fred Shaffer

Crofton, Anne Arundel

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