I went to Rock Creek Park this (Sat, 6/23) morning in hopes of finding
Louisiana Waterthrush in June.  A site that Rob Hilton mentioned to me was
productive, with a male heard singing and then seen well.  The site is past
the Maintenance Yard, so on my way back to my car I stopped in the Yard to
see what was about.  At the far end of the yard I heard a bird sing twice
that if heard in May would have been passed off as a Black-throated Blue
Warbler without question.  But given the time of year, and the fact that
other warblers can sound like BTBWs, I decided to work a little harder at
seeing this bird.  Patience paid off, and I got great looks at an adult male
as it sunned itself on an open branch and sang a few more times.  I looked
for black streaking in the back on the off chance that it was the
Appalachian subspecies, cairnsi, but the bird was solid blue from the crown
through the back.

Since this was in DC and not MD, I guess I don't have to pass the scrutiny
of Mr. Ringler ;-), but perhaps it provides some credence to Wendy Olsson's
report from Prettyboy Reservoir a week or so ago.

That said, I have no idea if there are other DC records for this species in
June, so if you have such information, Bob, I'd love to know.

Good birding,
Paul Pisano
Arlington, VA