Seventeen enthusiastic birders led by Bryan Henson, Allison Gallo, John Denice and Patrick Lewis spent a couple hours exploring Algonkian Regional Park on Sunday, July 21. Participants ranged from beginning birders to longtime veterans. The weather was much cooler than the recent heat wave.
Common Raven.
Photo by John Denice
The highlight of the trip was a White Ibis flying over Maryland across the river. Unfortunately, our views of this exciting rarity were less than ideal due to the distance. A shout out to Montgomery County birders for alerting us to the bird.
Other highlights included a raft of 20 Common Mergansers, four Hooded Mergansers, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, three Osprey and plenty of beautiful Great Egrets. Two Common Ravens provided an excellent opportunity to observe this uncommon species up close and point out the key differences between ravens and crows. It was also a nice day for dragonflies with many male and female Eastern Pond Hawks. Two White-tailed Deer provided great looks along with a photo opportunity for those with cameras.
A total of 50 species of birds were spotted during the walk, which is a great number for a mid-summer morning. You can view photos and the entire checklist on eBird at: https://ebird.org/checklist/S188105469.