Good morning all,
 I did a slow walk around the yard this morning, late, without the dog (lazilly snoozing on the sofa, where he's not supposed to be). Pretty quiet all around, except in one particular tree. We have 6 Bradford type pear trees lining the driveway, one of which has failed to fully leaf out this year. It looks to be on the way out, though recently with all the rain it has managed to put out a few leaves, but it is still mostly bare compared with the others. Anyway, I started watching it as there was seemingly a lot of activity there. It about 30-45 minutes of watching (I lost track of time with all the comings and goings) I counted 16 different species of birds either perching in it or flying in/eating/and or resting there. These included 3 Orchard Orioles, Red-eyed Vireo, E. Wood Pewee, E. Kingbirds, Blue Jays, House Wrens, House Finches, House Sparrows, E. Bluebird, N. Mockingbirds, Brown Thrasher, N. Cardinal, N. Flicker, A. Robin, Mourning Doves, and Chipping Sparrows. And I was recently contemplating cutting this tree down!

Rick Sussman
Woodbine,MD