Saturday morning, LilyPons Rd, Oland Rd, them LilyPons itself - only 25
species, best was 2 singing Grasshopper Sparrows along Oland Rd. Couldn't
find the Upland Sandpipers that were reported a couple of days before.
Sunday morning, Little Bennett, parking lot to campground and back - 29
species, almost all were heard-only. Numbers low except for YB Cuckoo (6)
which was the most numerous species except for cardinals. This seems to be
a really great year for cuckoos, everywhere I go!
I saw an Empid that puzzled me. It seemed young (uncertain, etc.), but was
not accompanied by anything other than an immature cowbird. The breast and
belly were buffy (little or no gray), and the wings were gray - never saw
the back. The puzzling feature was that the (mostly gray) notched tail was
completely outlined with white (seen from below). Sibley shows several
Empids with white (or light gray) outer tail feathers, but none with white
terminal bands. The other books I have don't show this either. It didn't
look like feather wear, because there was a clear demarcation between the
gray and the white. Any ideas about this?
Bob Hartman
Colesville, MD
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