I was surprised on my ride home to find a GREAT EGRET in the 
ponds near the entrance to the golf course on the Paint 
Branch Stream Valley Park trail this afternoon (I've seen 
egrets there before, but herons are far more common -- the 
egret was my first of the year on the trail).

But then, after observing a kettle of 8 BLACK VULTURES over
the agricultural fields, I was *really* surprised to see an
adult male BLUE-WINGED TEAL resting beside an MALLARD drake,
not 50 feet away from a group of golfers!  That's my first 
ever teal (green or blue) for the trail.

Another first for the year today on the trail: a BROWN
THRASHER this morning digging in the leaves south of the
swamp.  Also had a couple EASTERN PHOEBES (saw my first for 
the year on the trail earlier this week), and a FOX SPARROW 
(pretty late!).

Glad I decided to leave work early! :)

D

On Fri, 1 Apr 2005, Arlene Ripley wrote:

> Greetings,
> 
> Not sure if this bird has been reported yet (I've been away for the past week) but on a very quick stroll down to the Patuxent River and back at Hall Creek NRMA in Dunkirk early this afternoon, I heard a YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER singing brightly from the pines. The only other bird of note was a single EASTERN PHOEBE. I was also looking for butterflies and found the following:
> Eastern Comma - 2
> Spring Azure - 1
> Mourning Cloak - 1
> 
> In my yard (Dunkirk), the PURPLE FINCH flock is still present (from November 5, 2004 on) with as many as five birds. The two male PINE WARBLERS were joined by a female sometime in the last week and a CHIPPING SPARROW arrived on 3/21.
> 
> A single AMERICAN WOODCOCK was displaying on the field north of the parking lot at the American Chestnut Land Trust in Port Republic on 3/17.
> 
> Sorry for the lateness of some of my reports.
> 
> Happy Spring!
> 
> Arlene Ripley
> Calvert County, MD
> piwa AT comcast DOT net
> <http://nestbox.com>
> 

-- 
Derek C. Richardson, Ph.D. (CANTAB) ________
Astronomy, U Maryland, College Park MD 20742
Tel: Office 301-405-8786 Fax 301-314-9067 __
Home page: http://www.astro.umd.edu/~dcr/ __