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Over the past month, ring-billed gulls have been returning to their usual winter haunts around downtown Washington. This morning I got to look at at mix of adult and sub-adult gulls around the reflecting pool in front of the Capitol. They are not quite up to their peak winter numbers yet, but they will be soon.
I stopped by the National Museum of the American Indian to see what was in the garden. Sumacs (pictured below) are blazing red right now. In addition to the usual white-throated sparrows around the pond, there was at least one lingering red-winged blackbird. Over in the squash garden on Independence Avenue, a common yellowthroat caught my eye. As I stopped to look at that bird, a winter wren popped out of the foliage! Not bad for downtown D.C.
SPECIES SEEN: 13
Mallard
Cooper's Hawk
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Winter Wren
Northern Mockingbird
Blue Jay
European Starling
House Sparrow
Common Yellowthroat
White-throated Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
