Migration at the Fort

In late September, I finally started exploring Fort C.F. Smith Park, which has a reputation as the best spot for birds in Arlington County. As I'd been struggling with birding (or lack of birding) in DC, I had high hopes for some new discoveries.

My first visit was on September 20, still considered summertime in that area, and things started out fairly quietly. The only warbler I had at first was a few Common Yellowthroats staring at me from the thick vegetation near the entrance, which of course was fine since Yellowthroats are adorable. In the woods I saw a Swainson's Thrush, a Red-eyed Vireo, and a late-season Philadelphia Vireo, as well as some better warblers in the form of Chestnut-sided Warbler, Northern Parula, and Canada Warbler (none of which I managed to photograph). The local butterflies and spiders were enough to keep me occupied as well.

Common Yellowthroat

Swainson's Thrush

Carolina Chickadee

Red-eyed Vireo

Red Admiral

Summer Azure

Spotted Orbweaver

I had a little more time, so I decided to do another look around the thickly vegetated area where I'd seen the Yellowthroats. This proved to be a good idea, as I ended up adding two more warblers to my list in the form of Magnolia Warbler and American Redstart, as well as seeing a Red-banded Hairstreak, one of my new favorite lycaenid butterflies.

Magnolia Warbler

American Redstart

Red-banded Hairstreak- wow!

Ailanthus Webworm Moth

Sleepy Orange

That same week, I decided to take an evening walk nearby campus at Georgetown to see if anything interesting could be seen. As is still apparently typical for that time of year in DC, I saw... almost nothing. I did get some nice looks at roosting Double-crested Cormorants, several thousand Fish Crows flying to roost, and some very friendly White-tailed Deer, clearly very aware they lived in a place where hunting isn't allowed.

Double-crested Cormorant

White-tailed Deer doe 

White-tailed Deer buck

I visited again in late September, when my best find was my lifer Worm-eating Warbler, unfortunately moving around too much for me to get a picture. I also had a brief look at a Black-and-white Warbler, easily in my top 3 favorite warblers, a Brown Thrasher, and my first chance to get decent pictures of a Carolina Wren. 

Carolina Wren with no tail

Brown Thrasher

Black-capped Chickadee

Eastern Chipmunk

Another visit to Fort C.F. Smith later in October got me some more in the way of good migrants, one of my favorites of which were the Palm Warblers hanging out in the meadow section. Also present were some newly arrived Ruby-crowned Kinglets, late-staying Blackpoll Warblers and Tennessee Warblers, a Hermit Thrush, a Brown Creeper, and more Common Yellowthroats. There were Northern Cardinals and Blue Jays aplenty, including an unfortunate male Cardinal with what appeared to be an eye injury or infection of some sort that made it half-blind. It seemed to be doing alright, though who knows how/if it survived the winter. 

Pine Warbler

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Tennessee Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler

Hermit Thrush

Common Yellowthroat

Blue Jay

Normal side...

...not normal side

Carolina Wren

There were also more flies and wasps than I could shake a stick at, probably getting the last of their pollination in before the cold weather really started. This ended up being my last "real" birding session before fall started in earnest and things started getting more interesting bird-wise, but that's for a future blog entry...

Black-shouldered Drone Fly

Greenbottle Fly of some sort

Pure Green Sweat Bee