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Having gotten a late start this morning, I headed over to Anacostia River Park for a little waterbirding. Unfortunately the waterbirds were trying not to be seen, at least by me, and so I mostly saw just a few of the common species. There was at least one lesser black-backed gull among the myriad of common gulls, and one killdeer preening itself on a mudflat. A juvenile bald eagle did a few turns high overhead. I searched through a small flock of song sparrows for anything different, and I may have had a savannah, but I cannot be sure of that.
This swarm of insects was on a signboard near the AREC. Does anyone know what these are?
The red eyes make them look a bit demonic.
Since I finished up pretty quickly at Anacostia Park, I made a second stop to walk around the Tidal Basin. With today's warm temperatures, plenty of people came out and were walking and sunbathing all around the inlet. The flock of lesser scaup that was there last week has largely been replaced by a flock of paddle boats. There was a lone pied-billed grebe on the Washington Channel, and two male red-breasted mergansers on the Potomac. Double-crested cormorants are back in force.
The cherry trees are getting ready to bloom.
SPECIES SEEN: 26
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Canada Goose
Mallard
Lesser Scaup
Red-breasted Merganser
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle
Killdeer
Ring-billed Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
American Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Carolina Wren
Northern Mockingbird
American Robin
Fish Crow
European Starling
House Sparrow
American Goldfinch
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
