Today, for the second year in a row, we spotted a Diamond-backed
Terrapin laying her eggs in one of our flower beds.  She was a
somewhat raggedy-looking individual with barnacles on her shell, but
she was still enthusiastic in her digging and egg-laying!

Our yard this spring has been fecund, indeed!  We have at least three
breeding pairs of Song Sparrows, one of which is currently feeding a
cowbird, a pair of Tree Swallows in a bluebird box in our front yard,
a robin just now building her nest in a tree in our neighbors' front
yard, House Wren nesting in a bluebird box in our backyard, and
thrasher, catbird, Red-wing Blackbirds, Carolina Wren, Northern
Flicker, Common Yellowthroat, cardinals, and Eastern kingbird all
nesting in or along the marsh that borders our back yard.  Chucks hunt
all night long over the marsh behind the house and numbers of both
Clapper and King Rails are active in the marsh this year.

This all seems amazing to us as we watch the coming and going of all
these birds.  In past years we were down here in West Ocean City every
weekend, but this spring we have basically been camped out here for
the past 6 weeks (during which we have tallied 97 species of birds in
or over our yard) and the breeding activity we have witnessed has been
marvelous.

Retirement is indeed wonderful!

Norm & Fran

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Norm Saunders
Cambridge & West Ocean City, MD