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On Saturday the DC Audubon "City Flickers" toured DC birding sites to see as many birds as possible within a single day. I am still a little worn out from the full day of birding. We were lucky to have cooperative weather. Though the sky threatened ominously at several points, we never did get rain. Our goal was to see 100 species, an achievable but challenging number.
The City Flickers - Mike, Denise, and I - gathered at the nature center in Rock Creek Park at 5:30 am. Though it was still dark, many birds were already singing. From the parking lot, we heard american robin, wood thrush, eastern towhee, northern cardinal, and others. We heard an eastern phoebe calling near the horse center. In the maintenance yard, bats were still winging after insects as we began looking for birds. A lingering blue-headed vireo (my first for the year) perched out in the open. Red-eyed vireo, ovenbird, black-throated blue warbler, northern parula, and indigo bunting sang in the yard. Common yellowthroats and swamp sparrows darted in and out of the knotweed.
Back at the nature center, we found our other thrushes for the day. Veery and Swainson's patrolled the underbrush of the median strip. Eastern bluebirds flew to and from a nestbox. The loop trail produced blackpoll, blackburnian, and yellow-rumped warblers. An unusual buzzy song from deeper in the woods caused some disagreement - was it black-throated blue or black-throated green? After consulting some recordings, we decided it was neither; in reality it was a cerulean warbler song, sounding somewhat like a speeded-up black-throated blue song.
The "dog run" at Military Road was good for more warblers: magnolia, black-and-white, and redstart, as well as a baltimore oriole. Our mascot bird, a northern flicker, flew across the field with its golden underwings gleaming in the sunlight. A quick stop at Picnic Areas 17/18 revealed a chestnut-sided warbler and a fine-looking scarlet tanager. A mourning warbler reported last week failed to appear in its usual spot. Other warblers that were reported late last week failed to show themselves as well. It seems that many species in the early May wave of migrants have now moved on.
When we left Rock Creek Park around 9:30 am, we had already recorded 54 species. On the drive to our next stop, Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, we picked up three more: great blue heron, canada goose, and rock pigeon. Kenilworth was mostly devoid of human visitors when we arrived, leaving us alone with the birds. Taking the river trail first, we quickly heard prothonotary warbler, white-eyed, and yellow-throated vireos. In fact, we would hear several prothonotary warblers singing along our route. As we rounded a bend in the trail, a small heron flushed from the ground and landed on a branch - yellow-crowned night-heron! Legions of cedar waxwings buzzed from a mulberry tree.
Several shorebirds walked the dikes between the impoundments. Most were spotted sandpipers but at least one solitary was among them. A greater yellowlegs flushed from a pond, but unfortunately it left to quickly for all of us to identify it, so it could not count for the list. The same went for a killdeer. A green heron flushed from one of them. We finally saw our first hawk for the day around noon, a red-shouldered hawk under constant harassment from crows and other birds.
Refreshed by a quick lunch, we looked for grassland species at Kenilworth Park. The back area yielded field sparrow, killdeer, and blue grosbeak. It also yielded a powerful stench in an area close to the Pepco plant. One osprey flew overhead, bringing our diurnal raptor total to 2. When we stopped at the other parking lot to check out the no-mow area, a large flock of dark birds flew in and settled in the tall grass. As we approached, the flock rose from the field and flew towards the aquatic gardens, but not before giving identifiable looks. They were males with creamy heads and white rumps, and warm orange brown females - bobolinks! The no-mow area also yielded a savannah sparrow and an eastern meadowlark.
After Kenilworth Park, our species count stood at 86. From there on, our big day was a mop-up operation to find specific species that we missed earlier. Kingman Island produced a double-crested cormorant and ring-billed gull - common birds, but to that point unseen. Poplar Point at the south end of Anacostia Park yielded laughing gull and a very late american black duck, as well as an orchard oriole and house wren. From Anacostia Park we headed west across town. A drive by MacMillan Reservoir produced nothing. Stops along the C&O Canal were more productive. The sycamores at Fletcher's Boathouse yielded warbling vireo, ruby-throated hummingbird, and (finally) a house finch. A couple black-crowned night-herons worked a nearby stream. At the Chain Bridge, we failed to find any new species, but we had the pleasure of seeing a flyover yellow-crowned night-heron.
We ended the day in the place where we began it, Rock Creek Park. A stop along Broad Branch Road produced a louisiana waterthrush, which we watched as it worked its way from one rock to the next. Elsewhere in the park, we caught sight of a barred owl. It sat and looked around as the songbirds in the area went crazy. When it departed into the deepening gloom, the chattering quieted down considerably. An evening stop at the maintenance yard brought us common nighthawks. At that point we were at 99 species. To break 100 would require some night birding. A stop in one open field produced displaying american woodcocks, who displayed in response to a great-horned owl recording. At another location, three or four eastern screech owls responded to a taped call, with all calling back and forth at the same time. Clearly the screech owl population appears to be thriving.
With that, we packed it in for the night. In sixteen hours of almost non-stop birding, we found 101 species of birds. With better luck at Rock Creek in the morning and more convenient tide times we could have seen even more than that. If you notice from the list below, we somehow missed red-tailed hawk and all other diurnal raptors, as well as black vulture, both yellowlegs, all terns, rose-breasted grosbeak, and several warbler species that are usually easy to find. Despite the misses, this was an event to celebrate Washington's avian diversity and varied habitats. As you can see from the list below, our team met that goal handily.
| Species | Location First Seen |
| Ducks, Geese, and Cormorants | |
| Canada Goose | Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens |
| Wood Duck | Rock Creek Park |
| Mallard | Rock Creek Park |
| American Black Duck | Anacostia Park |
| Double-crested Cormorant | Kingman Island |
| Herons | |
| Great Blue Heron | Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens |
| Green Heron | Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens |
| Black-crowned Night-heron | Fletcher's Boathouse |
| Yellow-crowned Night-heron | Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens |
| Vultures and Hawks | |
| Turkey Vulture | Kenilworth Park |
| Osprey | Kenilworth Park |
| Red-shouldered Hawk | Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens |
| Shorebirds | |
| Killdeer | Kenilworth Park |
| Solitary Sandpiper | Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens |
| Spotted Sandpiper | Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens |
| American Woodcock | Rock Creek Park |
| Gulls | |
| Ring-billed Gull | Kingman Island |
| Laughing Gull | Anacostia Park |
| Doves and Cuckoos | |
| Rock Pigeon | Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens |
| Mourning Dove | Rock Creek Park |
| Yellow-billed Cuckoo | Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens |
| Owls | |
| Eastern Screech-owl | Rock Creek Park |
| Barred Owl | Rock Creek Park |
| Nightjars and Swifts | |
| Common Nighthawk | Rock Creek Park |
| Chimney Swift | Rock Creek Park |
| Hummingbirds and Kingfishers | |
| Ruby-throated Hummingbird | Fletcher's Boathouse |
| Belted Kingfisher | Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens |
| Woodpeckers | |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | Rock Creek Park |
| Downy Woodpecker | Rock Creek Park |
| Hairy Woodpecker | Kenilworth Park |
| Northern Flicker | Rock Creek Park |
| Pileated Woodpecker | Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens |
| Tyrant Flycatchers | |
| Eastern Wood-pewee | Rock Creek Park |
| Acadian Flycatcher | Rock Creek Park |
| Eastern Phoebe | Rock Creek Park |
| Great Crested Flycatcher | Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens |
| Eastern Kingbird | Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens |
| Vireos | |
| White-eyed Vireo | Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens |
| Yellow-throated Vireo | Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens |
| Blue-headed Vireo | Rock Creek Park |
| Warbling Vireo | Fletcher's Boathouse |
| Red-eyed Vireo | Rock Creek Park |
| Crows and Jays | |
| Blue Jay | Rock Creek Park |
| American Crow | Rock Creek Park |
| Fish Crow | Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens |
| Swallows | |
| Tree Swallow | Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens |
| Northern Rough-winged Swallow | Kenilworth Park |
| Barn Swallow | Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens |
| Chickadees and Nuthatches | |
| Carolina Chickadee | Rock Creek Park |
| Tufted Titmouse | Rock Creek Park |
| White-breasted Nuthatch | Rock Creek Park |
| Wrens and Gnatcatchers | |
| Carolina Wren | Rock Creek Park |
| House Wren | Anacostia Park |
| Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | Rock Creek Park |
| Thrushes | |
| Eastern Bluebird | Rock Creek Park |
| Veery | Rock Creek Park |
| Swainson's Thrush | Rock Creek Park |
| Wood Thrush | Rock Creek Park |
| American Robin | Rock Creek Park |
| Mimids | |
| Gray Catbird | Rock Creek Park |
| Northern Mockingbird | Rock Creek Park |
| Brown Thrasher | Rock Creek Park |
| Starlings and Waxwings | |
| European Starling | Rock Creek Park |
| Cedar Waxwing | Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens |
| Wood Warblers | |
| Northern Parula | Rock Creek Park |
| Yellow Warbler | Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens |
| Chestnut-sided Warbler | Rock Creek Park |
| Magnolia Warbler | Rock Creek Park |
| Black-throated Blue Warbler | Rock Creek Park |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler | Rock Creek Park |
| Blackburnian Warbler | Rock Creek Park |
| Blackpoll Warbler | Rock Creek Park |
| Cerulean Warbler | Rock Creek Park |
| Black-and-white Warbler | Rock Creek Park |
| American Redstart | Rock Creek Park |
| Prothonotary Warbler | Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens |
| Ovenbird | Rock Creek Park |
| Louisiana Waterthrush | Rock Creek Park |
| Common Yellowthroat | Rock Creek Park |
| Hooded Warbler | Rock Creek Park |
| Tanagers | |
| Scarlet Tanager | Rock Creek Park |
| Sparrows | |
| Eastern Towhee | Rock Creek Park |
| Chipping Sparrow | Rock Creek Park |
| Field Sparrow | Kenilworth Park |
| Savannah Sparrow | Kenilworth Park |
| Song Sparrow | Rock Creek Park |
| Swamp Sparrow | Rock Creek Park |
| White-throated Sparrow | Rock Creek Park |
| Cardinals and Buntings | |
| Northern Cardinal | Rock Creek Park |
| Blue Grosbeak | Kenilworth Park |
| Indigo Bunting | Rock Creek Park |
| Bobolink | Kenilworth Park |
| Blackbirds and Orioles | |
| Red-winged Blackbird | Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens |
| Eastern Meadowlark | Kenilworth Park |
| Common Grackle | Rock Creek Park |
| Brown-headed Cowbird | Rock Creek Park |
| Baltimore Oriole | Rock Creek Park |
| Orchard Oriole | Anacostia Park |
| Finches | |
| House Finch | Fletcher's Boathouse |
| American Goldfinch | Rock Creek Park |
| Old World Sparrows | |
| House Sparrow | Rock Creek Park |
| Results | |
| Total Species Identified | 101 |
| Seen | 81 |
| Heard Only | 20 |
