Date: Sun, 27 May 2001 19:03:19 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Paul Subject: Cattle Egret in DC Comments: To: Janni Ottavio , "Iliff, Marshall" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Did a little DC birding this (Sunday, 5/27) morning. Only bird of interesting was a fly-by CATTLE EGRET at Hains Point. Perhaps more interesting was the huge (and I do mean huge - 3-4 ft diameter) oak tree that split in half in Rock Creek Park. I was hanging around parking area 17 (the ridge), and heard the distinctive sound of a cracking tree. Walked towards the sound, and over the course of about 10 minutes I watched this huge tree split down the middle. It was a live tree, but apparently a split in the middle allowed water to get into the heart and it eventually rotted. It was right next to the road, and came crashing down just parallel to it, taking a few other trees with it and completely blocking the road. Fortunately no one was hurt. A Red-bellied Woodpecker arrived shortly, and starting dining on the bugs that were exposed. But then a fire truck arrived shortly after that, and starting sawing it up into pieces. Good birding, Paul P. Arlington, VA cheep@erols.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================