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: 13Mallard
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