We had good south winds last night, so I thought there was some good migrant potential this morning in DC. I chose to bird Kenilworth as I had a pretty clear schedule and hoped to spend a full morning in one general area—and with daylight savings time beginning last week, DC birders now have the benefits (and curse) of a later sunrise. On the one hand, later sunrise generally means waking up a bit later; on the other hand, it means more of DC is awake around sunrise, so more car traffic on the roads and people traffic at the birding spots. When my favorite part of the day are the hours when most of the city is still asleep, the arrival of daylight savings is definitely a mixed blessing. Sunrise will be before seven again soon enough, though, and then I’ll surely be complaining about the early wake up times—oh well!
I got to Kenilworth Park a bit after sunrise and found my first American pipit flock of the year. First, a group of 11 flew over heading north, calling along the way. A short time later, a group of four set down in the grass near the first parking lot on Deane Ave, and was feeding in proximity to a large group of American robins. I love these birds and feel more connection to their full life cycle since Janet and I saw a few of them on their breeding grounds in Alaska last summer. I’m very thankful that pipits call frequently—they can be tough to see, even in the short grass of the Kenilworth Park prairie—but the call gives them away. They tend to flush easily, so it can still be a challenge to get a good look at them on the ground. Pipits flocks have been around for the last few weeks or so, and it’s always good to check the flocks in case a horned lark or two are present as well—they are much more scarce in DC, though a few individuals seem to pop up during both spring and fall migration. No such luck today, but the pipits themselves are always a treat and great for the ear-birder!
A target of mine this morning was Wilson’s snipe, a bird that typically starts showing up in the second half of February. I’d struck out on earlier attempts at KP this year, so was very happy to spot two snipe in flight that were flushed from somewhere in the far side of the park. There are some prairie potholes in that bit of the park but there was a big group gathering in that field for soccer this morning so I had skipped checking those potholes directly. The two snipe were calling as they flew, with their erratic flight taking them high and up above the river. I followed them in my binoculars as long as I could, thinking it likely they’d eventually circle back, but I lost them over the trees.
With the big crowd gathering, I cut my KP visit short (and having not seen any Eastern meadowlarks—another target) and headed over to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. They’re doing some path maintenance so getting into the ponds area currently requires a relatively circuitous walk around the service road. Osprey are back and one adult was sitting on its stadium light nest as I walked by, and a red-shouldered hawk was also on its nest near the visitor center and calling frequently. I was fortunate to run into an excellent local birder and friend who put me onto a rusty blackbird, a bird that’s declining rapidly across its range and that can be a tricky find in DC. KAG is a pretty reliable spot for them in winter, but this was my first of the year. Another sign of migration picking up steam were the two brown thrashers foraging in the path towards the boardwalk—another FOY for me.
Near the thrashers I ran into Evan and we birded together to the end of the boardwalk. Along the way to the boardwalk we spotted three great blue herons roosting on a distant dead tree (we’d been tipped off to the presence of this trio a bit earlier). Swallows are returning in earnest now, and I found what I believe to be DC’s first barn swallow of the year out over the lagoon. Northern rough-winged have also been reported, but I missed that one this time.
Gull and geese numbers are down at Kenilworth from winter proper, as well as the numbers of white-throated sparrows which are all over the place in the winter months. Both species of kinglets are starting to pass through, and a big flock of yellow-rumped warblers has been hanging out along the river trail. I also heard my first singing winter wren of the spring at KP near the path down to the lagoon lookout. All of this signals migration is truly underway, and here’s hoping for some great shorebirds and other migrants (and maybe a late tundra swan or snow goose flyover?) in the coming days and weeks!
The day’s checklist is here.
