Peter and Elaine Bono of Cape Cod, MA, Joy Bowen and I did some 
birding today in Howard County, MD, and the District of Columbia.

We initially intended to go immediately into DC, but early morning 
accidents in VA and MD persuaded us to go instead to Howard County, 
where we picked up the Harris's Sparrow behind the commercial office 
building in Columbia, and then the continuing Red-necked Grebe in Wilde Lake.

Moving on to DC at last just before midday,  we visited Kenilworth 
Aquatic Gardens, where we had a single Rusty Blackbird, and 
Kenilworth Park, where we flushed a dozen Wilson's Snipe from the 
soggy short-grass area to the right about 1/4 mile after the entrance 
to the park.  There were also 3-4 Savannah Sparrows in the same area 
and, best of all, 2 well seen VESPER SPARROWS, my first for DC.

The Tidal Basin and Hains Point areas were clogged with cherry 
blossom traffic, making stopping or parking virtually impossible, so 
we went over to the LBJ Grove beyond Memorial Bridge (still in DC) 
and found 2 male Pine Warblers in the pines there. We couldn't stop 
earlier, but we could see that there were up to ten Bonaparte's Gulls 
over the Tidal Basin.

Mike Bowen
Bethesda, MD

D.H. Michael Bowen
8609 Ewing Drive
Bethesda, MD  20817
Telephone: (301) 530-5764
e-mail:  dhmbowenATyahooDOTcom