...Slow Summer

If early spring of this year was pretty slow, late spring and early summer were, well, pretty much the same. I did try and make a point of getting out at least once a week for a proper birding session during migration season, which was mostly successful and even got me a few new DC and Virginia birds. 

The first weekend in May I met up with Vikas to do a morning walk through the National Arboretum, which in my books is one of the more underrated birding spots in DC proper. I got there a bit late after doing the morning dog walk, and as I walked to catch up I happened upon a gorgeous Wood Thrush perched near the path singing its heart out. Thrushes in general are some of my favorite birds, and Wood Thrush has to be one of the best thrushes anywhere in the Americas–certainly the best in the DC area. 

Wood Thrush

I met up with Vikas and a friend of his as they were in the process of searching out a singing Tennessee Warbler, which we eventually located in the midst of a thick holly tree. We spent an enjoyable morning wandering around the Azalea collection of the Arboretum, and had a good number of migrants including Bay-breasted Warbler, Canada Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, and a surprisingly late Purple Finch.

Tennessee Warbler, possibly the worst warbler in the US?

Brown-headed Cowbird looking for a nest to parasitize

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Painted Wood Fly (Blera pictipes)

Common Eastern Bumble Bee (Bombus impatiens)

Narcissus Bulb Fly (Merodon equestris)

The next weekend was eBird Big Day, the first spring Big Day I'd spent outside of the Philippines in 4 years. Annoyingly enough the actual day was rainy and the BirdCast looked mediocre. Instead I met up with Vikas and Menachem the next day for a half-big day (medium day?) starting at Hains Point. It wasn't nearly as adrenaline-filled as last year's experience, but it was still a fun morning with a good number of birds. Dawn at Hains Point was fairly quiet, although we did have a Black-crowned Night Heron and several Great Blue Herons winging their way across the river and a nice flock of Cedar Waxwings near the water along with the more common stuff. At the tip of the point was a male Baltimore Oriole and some Orchard Orioles, plus some other nice migrants like Blackpoll Warbler, American Redstart, Warbling Vireo, and Great Crested Flycatcher.

Great Blue Heron

Cedar Waxwings

Blue Jay

Red-winged Blackbird

Baltimore Oriole

Our next stop was Senate Park, which always manages to have weirdly good migratory birds despite being a fairly small park right in the middle of the city (one would think proximity to Ted Cruz alone would be enough to keep them away). It came through once again this time, with a bumper crop of warblers including Bay-breasted Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Cape May Warbler, Northern Parula, Ovenbird, Blackpoll Warbler, and about 600 Myrtle Warblers. We also added some good birds like Brown Thrasher and Veery to the day list. 

Myrtle Warbler

Bay-breasted Warbler

Northern Waterthrush

Cape May Warbler

Northern Cardinal

Ovenbird

We made a quick stop at Kingman Island where we managed to find a singing Marsh Wren that had been hanging out for a few days, although it never showed itself. We finished the big day across the river at Kenilworth Park, where there was little of note besides a Solitary Sandpiper hanging out in the tidal lagoon. I ended up with 77 species for the day, a respectable total for a DC big day. I was mostly just happy for the excuse to get out of the house and walk around a bit. 

Solitary Sandpiper

A couple of days later the DC area rare bird alert chats started buzzing with news of a group of Red-necked Phalaropes that had showed up. Normally I ignore rare bird alerts during the work week since I'm not usually able to go and twitch anything from the office. This particular day though I was working from home, and not only that they were at Four Mile Run Park, just a 5-minute drive from my apartment. In other words, I really had no excuse. With 30 minutes to spare before a meeting, I hoped in the car and hurried over to the park. Sure enough, when I got there there was a group of three Red-necked Pharalopes tootling around in the river making their little circles. This was my first time seeing phalaropes in breeding plumage and I was surprised at how flashy they looked, particularly the females with their deep red gorgets (female phalaropes are bigger and more brightly colored than the males, who do most of the work rearing the chicks). It was also a new Virginia bird for me, and one of my favorites of the year so far even if I had to watch them in the pouring rain and they were a bit far for good pictures.

Red-necked Phalaropes!

The next weekend Vikas and I hit up Hains Point and Kenilworth Park in hopes of the rarity-fest that had been hitting DC during the week continuing. It didn't annoyingly enough, and it was a fairly quiet day of birding, though still fun. It was cold and rainy when we got to Hains Point around sunrise, and the only marginally interesting thing there was a little flock of Least Sandpipers hanging out in the flooded golf course, although I did enjoy seeing a mother Mallard with her ducklings. 

Least Sandpiper

Mallard and mallardlets

Red-winged Blackbird

A grumpy-looking American Toad

The main part of Hains was closed because of flooding so we moved on to Kenilworth. We looked around the soccer fields hoping to find shorebirds in the vernal pools, but there were none to be seen so I distracted myself taking pictures of the Tree Swallows and Barn Swallows as they flew low over the ground snapping up bugs. 

Tree Swallow

Barn Swallow

A pair of Yellow-crowned Night Herons was building a nest in a nearby neighborhood so we stopped by to see them, and then headed to the boardwalk where we ran into basically every other DC area birder, everyone having congregated there because the other main spots were closed. Despite the surfeit of birders there was little of interest, although we were entertained by the sight of a a Red-shouldered Hawk sunning itself on a log in the tidal lagoon while a Wood Duck swam serenely by with her gaggle of ducklings. I thought we might see a bit of natural selection in action but the hawk just watch them go past, maybe as shocked by the stupidity as we were. 

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Predator, meet prey

Red-winged Blackbird

Orchard Oriole

Five-lined Skink looking out at passing birders

We met up with George at the boardwalk and walked around the trails. There wasn't much bird activity in the heat of the late morning but there was some cool insect life. A little spotted insect caught my attention as I thought it might be a cool weevil, but we eventually realized it was the nymph of an invasive Spotted Lanternfly, which is much less cool, especially since we realized there were little nymphs crawling around all over. We did our best to squish all the ones we could find but there were too many of them- bad news for native trees, as well as for American agriculture. 

Appalachian Brown (Lethe appalachia)

Zabulon Skipper (Lon zabulon)

booooooooooo Spotted Lanternfly

Bold Jumping Spider (Phidippus audax)

Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus)

The last weekend in May Nikki and I went to Huntley Meadows, our favorite Alexandria-area birding spot. Late May is pretty much early summer in these parts, and we mostly had breeding birds although this time of year the birds were still vocal and conspicuous. Common Yellowthroats, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Indigo Buntings were singing in the marsh area, and Acadian Flycatchers and Wood Thrushes were heard in the woods. An Osprey flew by with a freshly caught fish and a Bald Eagle in hot pursuit. A few minutes later the eagle fly by again, this time with the osprey's fish–yet another episode in the time-honored tradition of Bald Eagles being dicks. 

Common Yellowthroat

Red-winged Blackbird

Osprey with what it probably thought would be its lunch

Bald Eagle with what was now its lunch

Benjamin Franklin thought that Bald Eagles' habit of stealing food from smaller birds made them a poor choice of mascot for the United States. I'd say that the past 8 months or so would suggest that they are in fact a very appropriate national mascot.

Barn Swallow

Great Blue Heron

Acadian Flycatcher

Red-eared Slider

American Ermine Moth (Yponomeuta multipunctella)

The first weekend of June Nikki and I headed up to West Virginia for the wedding of our good birding friends Mollee and Jimmy. This was our first time seeing them since Arizona last year, and my first time back in West Virginia since my, uh, adventure almost exactly a year before. I have to admit that I started the trip with a bit of trepidation considering the almost farcically bad luck I'd had the previous time, but it ended up being a lovely three days of time with good friends, cool nature, and general fun and relaxation. 

We left DC on Friday evening after Nikki got out of work, and made our way west just as a series of severe thunderstorms was making its way east. After 4 hours of white-knuckle driving we arrived at Mollee and Jimmy's place outside of Morgantown safe and sound. They had just installed a cabin on their property, which was great luck for us since our dogsitting option for Rio fell through and the other AirBnb options didn't allow dogs. We awoke to a cool, cloudy morning looking out over the hills of West Virginia as Rio romped through the fields enjoying his newfound freedom. 

Rio living his best life

On Saturday morning morning the more birding-inclined wedding guests came over for a little nature walk through Mollee and Jimmy's property.  That included old friends like Josh, Billi, and Giovanni who we'd also last seen in Arizona and new friends like Josh's partner Rachel, Giovanni's daughter Julieta, George who I'd previously known only through his podcast with Mollee, and some of Mollee's West Virginia birding friends. Molle and Jimmy have spent the last few years working to rehabilitate the native habitat on their land, and it was incredibly cool to see what had been a strip mine now turn into a little biodiversity hotspot. Wood Thrushes, Field Sparrows, Ovenbirds, Hooded Warblers, and Common Yellowthroats were singing throughout the day, and American Cliff Swallows, Barn Swallows, and Tree Swallows were wheeling over the fields. The latter also seemed to enjoy harassing a pair of Eastern Bluebirds that had been using a nest box. The coolest nature find of the walk was actually a fungus- specifically a Moth Urchin Fungus that had infected some unfortunate moth and sprouted spores all over its carcass (part of why I don't watch The Last of Us is that its premise is unsettlingly plausible). 

Tree Swallow

Eastern Bluebirds

Eastern Bluebird doing what it does best (getting kicked out of a nest box)

Field Sparrow

Little Wood Satyr (Megisto cymela)

Minettia lupulina

Dark Brown Scoparia Moth (Scoparia penumbralis)

Moth Urchin Fungus (Akanthomyces aculeatus)

The woods in Mollee and Jimmy's property

The wedding was that evening, and we spent the afternoon getting lunch and helping Mollee and Jimmy prepare for the ceremony. The storms that had come through the previous night had flooded the area around their house to the extent that I initially mistook a footpath as a water feature, and the workshop where the dinner was to be held got inundated in several inches of mud. Thankfully there was lots of help and by the time the ceremony starting everything was set up as it was meant to be. Rio meanwhile had the time of his life playing with Mollee and Jimmy's dogs, romping around and generally being a total goombah. The ceremony itself was lovely and heartfelt, and the wedding overall was the mix of impromptu, personalized, and impeccably organized that we already knew to expect from them. We had been worried it would rain and everything would have to move indoors, but in the end the weather cooperated. The dogs... mostly cooperated. 

Pic by Lauren Webster

We had a delicious wedding dinner and then watched the sun set as American Woodcocks called over the fields. The next day we had a leisurely morning hanging out with Mollee, Jimmy and Billi on the newlyweds' porch watching the dogs romp around and listening to American Goldfinches, Eastern Towhees, and Field Sparrows calling. After coffee we met up with Josh and Rachel for a hike through some nearby rhododendron forest, watching Black-throated Blue Warblers and Acadian Flycatchers. Cerulean Warblers were singing high in the canopy but we never saw one–I've come to accept that it's my destiny to forever have that bird on my "heard only" list. We tried another trail where there had been reports of Kentucky Warbler, which would have been a lifer for me, but there were none to be found. I mostly only got pictures of plants and insects, but it was mostly just nice to be out enjoying the mountain air. 

American Goldfinch

Pileated Woodpecker feeding near our cabin

Wrinkled Soldier Beetle (Podabrus rugosulus)

Margined Calligrapher (Toxomerus marginatus)

Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia)

The temperate rainforest of the Appalachians has to be one of the most beautiful habitats in the eastern US. 

We had a post-wedding brunch in downtown Morgantown, then went to a nearby raptor rehabilitation center where we got to see the rescued birds and watch the owls be fed their afternoon mice. After a necessary post-mimosa nap, I went out for some later afternoon birding with Mollee, Jimmy, and Billi along the rural roads nearby. In the woodlands we heard Hooded Warblers, Yellow-throated Warblers, Blue-headed Vireos, and Wood Thrushes, and in the pasturelands Bobolinks and Eastern Meadowlarks were singing and doing display flights. There were also Vesper Sparrows and Grasshopper Sparrows in the fields and a huge Northern Raven flew by with a pair of Red-winged Blackbirds in hot pursuit, probably because it had just raided their nest. Once again most of my pictures were of various non-birds, but that was just fine with me, as I have far more possible iNaturalist lifers than I do eBird lifers. 

Bobolink

Raven being chased by an angry Red-winged Blackbird

Polished Lady Beetle (Cycloneda munda)

Short-collared Soldier Beetle (Podabrus brevicollis)

Pale green Assassin Bug (Zelus luridus)

Spinach Fela Beetle (Disonycha xanthomelas)

Philadelphia Fleabane (Erigeron philadelphicus)

Forked Scorpionfly

Palmerworm Moth (Dichomeris ligulella)

Dogwood-Milkweed Aphid (Aphis asclepiadis) being tended to by ant farmers

Four-lined Plant Bug (Poecilocapsus lineatus)

Dimorphic Jumping Spider (Maevia inclemens)

Perennial Flax (Linum perenne)

Ornate Snipe Fly (Chrysopilus ornatus)

Late afternoon over the meadows

The next day we had another leisurely morning hanging out with Molly, Jimmy, Billi, and the dogs then headed to the Pleasant Creek Wildlife Management Area the next county over for one final birding outing. This was one of Mollee's go-to spots for Kentucky Warbler, but it was midday by the time we arrived and bright and sunny–not exactly prime conditions for seeing a skulking, shade-loving warbler. Even in the midday heat it was still full of life, and we had a great time wandering around and seeking out various birds, bugs, and plants. We flushed a Wild Turkey from the path, and almost stepped on a pair of babies that were hiding motionless in the same spot. There were White-eyed Vireos calling from the riparian woodlands, and a Yellow-breasted Chat doing its demented song from deep in a thicket. We had a small yellowish warbler do a circle around us that might have been a Kentucky Warbler, but none of us got a good look at it, meaning that I can add "dipping on Kentucky Warbler" to my list of cherished US birding traditions.

Baby Wild Turkey demonstrating the survival instincts we've all come to associate with its species

Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa)

Compsobata univitta, an extremely weird little fly

Ligated Furrow Bee (Halictus ligatus), I think

Springtime Darner (Basiaeschna janata)

Emerald Euphoria (Euphoria fulgida), a gorgeous jewel scarab

Elegant Spreadwing (Lestes inaequalis)

Rugged Flower Weevil (Odontocorynus salebrosus)

Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus)

Large Lace-border Moth (Scopula limboundata)

Least Skipper (Ancyloxypha numitor)

Chrysopilus andersoni

Eropterus trilineatus (this one got the beetle nerds on iNat excited as there are fewer than 100 records, including only 5 from West Virginia)

White-spotted Sable (Anania funebris), one of the best-looking moths in the eastern US

That was all we had time for since we had work the next day and Billi needed to figure out what to do with her car, which had promptly broken down as soon as she reached West Virginia (a deeply relatable experience). We headed back to the property to pick up Rio (who was extremely sad to say goodbye to his new friends and life as a country dog) then made the long drive back to DC. It was a fun, relaxing weekend and we were happy to be able to spend time with new and old friends and get out of the swamp. Personally speaking, I can say that West Virginia is much more fun with a functional car!

We did a little more birding in June, including heading back to Huntley Meadows for another fun morning walk. However, summer began to set in which meant the temperature and humidity both headed for the 90s and the birds wisely left the area to breed in places with less miserable weather. For me, that means that June and July are mostly an excuse to stay inside in the air conditioning and concentrate on other hobbies.

Great Blue Heron, one of the few birds with the gumption to make it through a DC area summer

Needham's Skimmer

Red-eared Slider

Eastern Painted Turtle

Southern Leopard Frog

Not everyday that I get excited about a cockroach, but this Virginia Wood Cockroach (Parcoblatta virginica) was at least a native one unlike the usual invasives in the city.

The week of the Fourth of July Nikki managed to get a whole 3 days off of work, which is sadly an unusual achievement. We had been planning to spend it around DC, but with that much time we decided to do a last-minute trip to Vermont, since Nikki still hadn't been up there. Our friends Clayton and Katie were sadly not around, having made their own family trip to Michigan, but they generously let us stay at their place. That was great news for Rio, since he was once again able to romp around freely and be the Dog of the Woods. Unfortunately for him it also meant getting a bath in the yard after a few days of rolling around in the mud, which I expect is up there in his top 5 most traumatic experiences over.

We spent most of our time seeing various friends, but we did get some hiking in in the woods around Clayton and Katie's house. This time in mid-summer the breeding warblers were all around, and there were countless Chestnut-sided Warblers, Magnolia Warblers, Blackburnian Warblers, Black-throated Blue Warblers, Black-throated Green Warblers, and American Redstarts singing in the mountain forests, along with other nice breeding birds like Broad-winged Hawks, Hermit Thrushes, Veeries, and Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. High summer also means that warblers remain resolutely at the top of the forest canopy so photo opps were limited, but honestly it was just nice to be outside.

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Dog of the Woods

Eastern Newt in its juvenile "red eft" form

Mountain Woodsorrel (Oxalis montana)

Nephrotoma alterna

Stopping by my old college campus

Scenes from the woods up on Mount Mansfield

Soon after that I departed for Indonesia, my first international trip in over a year. That was a great deal of fun (and a great deal of work), but that will have to wait for the next blog post.