I was down at Dyke Marsh this morning to look for the Willow Flycatcher,
from around 10AM-noon. I ended up having to wade through ankle-deep water
(there was a pair of mallards swimming along the path it was so flooded),
but I did hear the bird, without seeing it. It was somewhere north of the
path, just before it where it bends right.
Plenty of other activity as well, with males of both orioles bathing in the
path/stream, warbling vireos and yellow warblers still singing, one fly-by
green heron, and a friendly brown thrasher giving good looks.
As an aside, yesterday I was walking the W&OD Trail, and at the pond near
Long Branch there was a black-crowned night heron, struggling to swallow a
bullfrog (and eventually succeeding). There was an ecstatic photographer
capturing the action, I just wish I'd asked if he had a website where the
photos would be uploaded.
Alan Handley
Arlington County
