GBBC Day 1: Birds of Downtown D.C.

Bird Habitat?

In the late afternoon I counted birds around the east end of the Mall and then around my apartment. The reflecting pool was mostly frozen with a few open patches, one of which had a small group of gulls, while the other had a few mallards. Over at the Indian Museum, there was a very large flock of mallards (over 30), plus several song sparrows and white-throated sparrows. Oddly enough, I did not see any house sparrows while I was out walking. Usually there are at least a few at the Indian Museum.

Here is the sum of the two checklists I submitted for the Great Backyard Bird Count.

Mallard	33
Ring-billed Gull	51
Rock Pigeon	25
Downy Woodpecker	2
American Robin	25
Northern Mockingbird	1
European Starling	68
Song Sparrow	3
White-throated Sparrow	10
House Finch	1
House Sparrow	6

As of the time of this post, 24 species have been reported in DC on 6 checklists. That is not too bad for the first day, though it is not anywhere near the leaders.