East Potomac Park

This afternoon I decided to take advantage of the marvelous fall weather and do a little birding. After almost two weeks of clouds and rain, this weekend we finally got two mostly sunny days. And with a strong cold front moving last night, today we finally got some normal October weather - cool temperatures and blustery winds.

I chose East Potomac Park, which may not have been the best choice on a windy day, but I was going to be in the vicinity anyway. Starting out at the Maine Avenue docks, I saw a brown-headed cowbird among a group of house sparrows, as well as some mallards in the channel. Once in East Potomac Park, I quickly found a winter-plumaged laughing gull in the channel. Occasionally a falcon or eagle will turn up on the golf course, but none were apparent today. The large number of golfers may have discouraged birds of prey from hunting there. The walk back on the river side was a little difficult with the wind blowing in my face, but I was rewarded at the end with some golden-crowned kinglets near the west end of the park. The walk was finished with a sighting of a few late chimney swifts.

SPECIES SEEN: 15

Double-crested Cormorant
Mallard
Ring-billed Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Laughing Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Northern Mockingbird
American Crow
European Starling
House Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Brown-headed Cowbird