Slow day at Rock Creek NOT!
GAIL@UMDD.UMD.EDU
Mon, 14 Sep 98 11:52:38 EDT
Well, we thought it would be a slow day at Rock Creek Park, DC -- wrong
winds, wrong weather patterns, hot...you know. Our predictions were right
in one regard, we saw maybe 20 warblers tops, and most just in one flock
at about 7 am -- but what the birds lacked in quantity they made up in
quality and diversity:
Connecticut Warbler (1, YOY), Golden-winged Warbler (1, adult male), Canada
(1), Worm-eating (2), Magnolia (6), Black-and-White (1), Redstart (2),
Black-throated Blue (1), Black-throated Green (1), Chestnut-sided (2),
Common Yellowthroat (4).
It got very quiet very quickly -- we went chasing an Olive-sided Flycatcher
in Rock Creek Park, in Montgomery Co., didn't find it but saw a lovely
Philadelphia Vireo with about 5 Red-eyes and three White-eyes.
Yesterday at Rock Creek, it was also slow but a few fortunate birders (which
did not include us) were treated to *two* Mourning Warblers, one an adult
male at the "dog field" which they watched for 30 minutes as it fed in the,
you guessed it, Giant Ragweed.
We had gone to Layhill Park, also in Montgomery Co., and saw an early Lincoln's
Sparrow, and a male Wilson's among about a dozen more common species. No
sign of the two Mourning Warblers seen there 9/12.
Gail Mackiernan and Barry Cooper
gail@umdd.umd.edu