A lovely week here...

Hi-this is my first post to the RR nature blog. I have had a wonderful week up here. Thought I would share a few of my highlights for within our community and nearby. Nancy and I have been here about 4 years now. Newly heard night bird this week was a Whippoorwill singing from various locations within RR. This is a species in decline according the National Audubon Society, and this is their breeding season. I also heard a Barred Owl and an Eastern Screech Owl this week. Along the river-3 Green Herons roosting in a tree while I was kayaking at dusk, Eastern Kingbirds hawking insects, Yellow-billed Cuckoos, Black-throated Blue Warblers, Scarlet Tanagers, Indigo Buntings, Baltimore Orioles, Acadian and Great Crested Flycatchers, Phoebes and PeWees, Goldfinches and Barn Swallows. At nearby farms, Field Sparrows, another species in decline due to loss of habitat. While riding my bike on the Western Maryland Rail Trail, I was fortunate to see a momma Warbling Vireo with a very shaky young one and I later found an abundance of these birds at the PawPaw Campground. And here is a deer fact-who knew deer could scream?, It's called a "bark". Nearly scared me to death while I was out in my yard after dark!