Spring Sprang Slowly

One thing that struck me about my trip to Oregon in March was just how many birds were around everywhere- lots of good birds, but just lots of birds in general. I'm sure part of this was just because Oregon is a good place for seeing nature, but it's also because the bird density in Washington DC is... not high. This was never clearer than when I returned from Oregon, and it was back to the D.C. doldrums once more.

My first weekend back in the area, I made a trip to Hains Point to check for any early migrants. Predictably, there wasn't much in the way of migratory birds, except for the Ospreys that were beginning to trickle back north. On the other hand, I did have a very good look at a Horned Grebe that came unusually close to shore. Even better was a Red Fox Sparrow, a first for me and a very rare bird for Hains Point. It's very clearly different from the Sooty Fox Sparrows I saw in Oregon, so hopefully eBird will split it so I can officially claim one as a lifer.

Horned Grebe

Red Fox Sparrow

Near the Fox Sparrow were some Eastern Towhees showing unusually well, acting almost like their western cousins the Spotted Towhee. Out in the Potomac another Horned Grebe was swimming next to a Double-crested Cormorant, a nice juxtaposition for size comparison, while Ring-billed Gulls in various stages of moult were flying by. I also had my first ID-able insects of the year in the form of an Orange-legged Mud-dauber Wasp, a Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, and a Common House Spider.

Eastern Towhee

Horned Grebe and Double-crested Cormorant

Ring-billed Gull

Orange-legged Mud-dauber Wasp

Brown Marmorated Stink Bug

Common House Spider

I also made a trip back to Daingerfield Island in Alexandria, one of my favorite 5MR spots. The first thing I noticed there was the Ospreys, one of them carrying around a half-eaten fish. It turned out they were nesting as well- Osprey nests of course being a fixture around about 75% of the world's waterways. Even better was the small flock of Brown-headed Cowbirds, surprisingly enough a new 5MR bird for me. There were also some Common Grackles around and a very noisy Yellow-shafted Flicker.

The classic Osprey-with-fish shot

Nest-building Ospreys

Brown-headed Cowbird

Common Grackle

Northern (Yellow-shafted) Flicker

The next weekend I did a birding outing with my birding friend Corey to Loudoun County east of Arlington, my first time birding Virginia outside my 5MR this year. Our first stop was at Bles Park, which had some trails running along the upper part of the Potomac River (much narrower than the giant that runs through DC). The morning started out very slowly, with lots of wind, cold temperatures, and not very many birds, except for a big flock of White-throated Sparrows and a nesting Canada Goose.

White-throated Sparrow

Canada Goose trying very hard to be inconspicuous

Once we got into the woods, however, things picked up quite a bit, first with a few very cute Brown Creepers, then a couple of Eastern Phoebes and Myrtle Warblers. There were also a few Palm Warblers, surprisingly early in the season, while my favorite was a pair of Eastern Bluebirds, the first I'd seen that year (and only ones so far).

Brown Creeper

A+ Brown Creeper camouflage

Downy Woodpecker

Eastern Phoebe

Palm Warbler

Eastern Bluebird

Our next stop was the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Fairfax County, which ordinarily wouldn't be a birding destination except for the Long-tailed Duck that had recently shown up in one of their ponds. The duck was easy to find once we got to the proper pond, and much more approachable than most Long-tailed Ducks in the area, which tend to be seen in the middle of a river through a scope about a mile away. The theory among birders was that it was an immature male that was too exhausted to make the full migration journey north, and was just resting in the ponds and regaining its strength. Whatever the reason, it was great to see this extremely beautiful duck up close.

Long-tailed Duck

Less graceful were the pairs of resident Canada Geese, which were feeling extremely territorial and fighting very noisily between each other. At one point a scuffle broke out that was so intense that one pair chased another across the pond towards us, coming within a few feet of collision. I didn't get my camera ready on time as I was busy with the duck, but I do still have photographic proof....

Long-tailed Duck with a furious Canada Goose bearing down behind it

One of the resident brutes

Red-eared Slider in the duck pond

Cherry Blossoms at the botanic gardens

I tried some proper 5MR birding the next weekend, exploring new (for me) birding spot at the Gulf Branch Natural Area in hopes of some new 5MR warblers. I didn't get the Louisiana Waterthrush I had been hoping for, but I was rewarded with some more beautiful Palm Warblers, as well as a surprise Field Sparrow. I was able to add Hermit Thrush to my 5MR year list, while there was a pair of Eastern Phoebes busy building a nest. Another surprise were the late-staying Winter Wrens, one of which was gathering moss, for reasons I don't entirely understand since they should have been flying northwards to nest in Canada.

Palm Warbler

Eastern Phoebe nest building

Winter Wren gathering moss for some strange reason

Black-capped Chickadee

Lesser Celandine

Virginia Bluebells

That Sunday I explored another new spot- Teddy Roosevelt Island (TRI), a well-known natural area in my 5MR I hadn't bothered to explore before for some reason. The bulk of the spring migrants hadn't arrived yet, but the flowers certainly knew it was springtime, and the forest floor was an explosion of color. There were lots of birds singing, although they were mainly Eastern Phoebes and Myrtle Warblers. There was a small flock of Wood Ducks next to the Potomac, and a very industrious Hairy Woodpecker hammering away at a stump.

Wood Duck

Hairy Woodpecker in action

Apple blossoms

Virginia Spring Beauty

Cut-leaved Toothwart

Common Blue Violet

Another Virginia Spring Beauty

TRI has a wonderful boardwalk through a bit of marshland, and things got more interesting bird-wise there, with both a Downy Woodpecker and a Carolina Chickadee going to town on the fluffy cat-tails- not sure for what purpose. There were lots of Red-winged Blackbirds (all female or non-breeding male), and my first-of-year Blue-grey Gnatchatcher. By far the best bird of the day, however, was a female Blue-winged Teal, a very uncommon DC bird (especially for that area), and a 5MR first.

Carolina Chickadee enthusiastically attacking a cattail

Red-winged Blackbird

Blue-grey Gnatcatcher

Blue-winged Teal!

At the boardwalk I met Todd, a fellow Arlington-based birder, who accompanied me birding the rest of the morning and was nice enough to show me some of his usual spots for non-bird animals, giving me a chance to finally build up my non-bird 5MR list. Along the boardwalk were some Metric Paper Wasps busy with pollination, while we found a group of Green Frogs and Leopard Frogs lounging by a small puddle in the woods- my first 5MR amphibians! We soon also saw my first 5MR reptile, a young Eastern Rat Snake, while I later saw a Red Fox running into the bushes, as well as a group of White-tailed Deer.

Metric Paper Wasp

Portrait of a male Mallard

Green Frogs

Leopard Frog

Eastern Rat Snake

White-tailed Deer

We also happened upon a pair of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, with the male in impressive breeding plumage. At the site of the Teddy Roosevelt Memorial I had a couple of new 5MR butterflies, including my grammatically-named lifers Eastern Comma and Question Mark. I also had a spider lifer in the form of a White-jawed Jumping Spider, while just as we were about to exit I found a very cool Orange Assassin Bug. On the bridge off the island were some Northern Rough-winged Swallows and a single Osprey.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Eastern Comma

Question Mark (you're just gonna have to trust me that this is a different species)

White-jawed Jumping Spider

Orange Assassin Bug

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Osprey

I was intending to head home from TRI, until a text message on the DC Rare Bird Alert group chat alerted me to a (rare for DC) Vesper Sparrow seen in Georgetown, just across the bridge. It was midday and brutally hot and humid (typical DC), but the bird was a 5MR tick, so I decided to make the sweaty slog across the river to see the sparrow. It took me just a little while to find a little Vesper Sparrow happily foraging in the lawn of a fancy private school, seemingly with no idea of how unusual it was.

Vesper Sparrow

The next day I made a trip to Fort C.F. Smith in Arlington to see how the Great Horned Owls were doing. It took all of about 5 seconds to find the nest, mainly because a couple of photographers with bazooka-style lenses were parked on the hillside opposite it, waiting for the chicks to poke their heads up. Owl nest photography (and owl photography in general) is a bit of a contentious subject in the birding and bird photography world, as owls are both charismatic and difficult to photograph in the usual way, a combination that leads to some unsavory practices like disturbing nests, baiting owls, or even tying them up. Thankfully this nest was situated in such a way that it was simultaneously far enough away that most photography wasn't a disturbance, but close enough the decent pictures could be done in an ethical manner. I'm sure that didn't prevent all unethical behavior, but it at least reduced it. I got good looks at the very fuzzy Great Horned Owl chicks, and found an adult after I snuck away from the photographers and looked in the usual roosting perch.

Great Horned Owlets in their nest

Adult GHOW

The rest of the park was decent for birds- there were a few Chipping Sparrows and a Carolina Wren by the bird feeders, plus a jewel-red Northern Cardinal singing in the woods. A Field Sparrow (appropriately) in a brambly field was probably the least-common bird of the day. The woods were also carpeted in wildflowers, and I added some butterflies and other 5MR list.