Sightings on the NW Branch

What	Where	When	Reported by	Comments
Copperhead snake	Burnt Mills East Special Park at 10701 Columbia Pike, Silver Spring	Sat, Nov 26, 2011	Troy Martinez-Medley	I was bouldering across the river near the Pipeline boulder (there is a pipe running horizontally in front of the boulder). NOTE - the copperhead is a poisonous snake. Photo by Troy Martinez-Medley
Eastern Garter Snake	West bank, just north of Beltway overpass	mid-August 2011	Dario Bard	Photo by Dario Bard
Northern Watersnake	The snake was spotted on the trail south of the 495 bridge.	12:30pm, Wed, Aug 24, 2011	Troy Martinez	Photo by Troy Martinez
Beaver(s)	Colesville Road (north-bound)parking lot next to the the Citgo gas station. The beaver(s) were roaming on the grass next to a building, which is next to the gas station.	12noon, Sun, Sept 11, 2011	Troy Martinez	My son also filmed the one beaver. Frame from video by Ruben Martinez-Lopez
Six Large Buck Deer(Two Groups Of Three)	1st Group-Trail Next To The Dam/2nd Group 100 yards From the 1st Pipe(The Lockridge Trail End)Next To The river	8:50pm, Sun, July 17, 2011	Paul Flecknoe	6 Large Bucks -Each Velvet-Antlered With Anywhere From 8 to 12 Points
Bald Eagle	At the intersection of 495 and New Hampshire Ave. heading towards Rt. 1. The eagle was rising just over the off-ramp.	7am, Mon, Nov 22, 2010	Kate Flint
Red-tailed Hawk	NWB watershed immediately south of Randolph Road	Wed, Nov 17, 2010	Anne Ambler & John Fay	The hawk perched in our backyard and surveyed our pond and bird feeders for quite a long while. The birds, however, made themselves scarce for the duration. Photo by Anne Ambler
Possible Tangerine Darter	In a straight run of the NW Branch about .5 miles upstream of the Beltway	4:30pm, Wed, Nov 10, 2010	Christopher Moore	Relatively new to the area and thought I'd try some fishing on the NW Branch. Parked in lot next to 29 and hiked about a mile downstream to Beltway overpass. Started fishing between 3:30 and 4:00. Catch and release. Waded upstream back to parking lot catching, along the way, 1 Red-Breasted Sunfish, 2 largemouth bass, and 4 or 5 smallmouths. All fish between 4-6 inches. In one long, straight, calm run about .5 mile upstream of the beltway overpass I sighted a small fish, elongated like a bass, but colored a vivid blaze ORANGE on its belly and gills, w/ a black lateral line. Casted to it out of reflex, but it was already spooked and headed upstream. Never seen such a brightly colored fish in such a stream. Most likely a darter, a member of a vast family of stream-dwelling, smallish fish. Checked all of my books as well as Google and the Tangerine Darter seems a colorful match. Could be a breeding male, if they breed year-round. Native though to the TN drainage? I know darters and daces have been released in the Anacostia watershed as part of DNR restocking efforts, but am unaware if the Tangerine Darter is part of this endeavor. Would love to know more. Web Photo
Beaver	200 yards past the bridge at the Lockridge Dr. trailhead. This spot has a sewer head sticking up from the trail and there is a large pile of tree debris in the branch below.	9:30am, Sun, Oct 24, 2010	Jennifer Chambers	I was leading a hike for a temple family outing that included 7 preschoolers and 6 parents. Photo by Jennifer Chambers