Mid-Atlantic Presidents' Day Birding Trip 2018

I don't mean to brag but we were running out of places to see new birds within driving distance. So we turned to ebird to see if any interesting birds were around. Ebird is an online database of bird observations reported by birders worldwide. The site is maintained by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and is a true gift from heaven for birders in this digital age. Two bird species quickly drew our attention: a Green-tailed Towhee near Syracuse and a Harris's Sparrow near Washington D.C. After careful consideration, we decided to hunt for a Harris's Sparrow only because we felt it was more likely to stick around, call it a birder's hunch.

FEBRUARY 17, 2018 hello, Mr. Harris!

We left Brooklyn before 7am to head to Maryland to look for our target bird, Harris's Sparrow. We arrived at Bladensburg Waterfront Park in Maryland just before 11am. It was a rather cold gloomy day with afternoon snow in the forecast but we had big sunny smiles on our faces with anticipation of seeing the rare sparrow. A 20-minute walk on Anacostia River Trail took us to the spot where the Harris's Sparrow had been seen on and off for the past few days. The site had a lot of WHITE-THROATED SPARROWs and SONG SPARROWs which made it harder to find the one special sparrow. After all, all sparrows sort of look like, small and brown. While waiting for the sparrow, a rambunctious BELTED KINGFISHER by the river bank kept us entertained. An hour had passed and doubts started to creep in. Maybe the bird had left...? Then there it was, perched on a low branch right in front of me. I yelled out "I FOUND IT! I FOUND IT!". The HARRIS'S SPARROW was with a large flock of sparrows and we had enjoyed its company for good 30 minutes. Then the sky suddenly darkened and all sparrows flew under the bushes and it was dead silent. Right then snow started fall. We still had good amount of driving to do to get to our final destination so we reluctantly said good-bye to sparrows and started our drive.

Bladensburg Waterfront Park Anacostia River Trail Song Sparrow Harris's Sparrow Snake Fish Crow

Once we got to Virginia, most roads had not been salted yet and they were quite slippery. We saw several cars stopped roadside after losing control and going off the road. Finally, we arrived safely at our hotel in Winchester, Virginia, our base for the next two days.

FEBRUARY 18, 2018 Virginia is for bird lovers!

We were pleasantly surprised to find out that all the snow had already melted and the sun was shining brightly on us. It was a beautiful day and we had good feeling about seeing our next target, Eurasian Collared-Dove. We had seen them once in Florida back in 2008 but would be really nice to see them again. We drove to Lumber Mill Road in Rockingham, VA where they were supposed to be roosting. Well, we quickly ran into two problems: one, it was a country road lined with people's homes. Two, those damn dogs wouldn't stop barking. As soon as we got out of the car, three huge dogs from one of the houses started to bark non-stop. It was just too loud and made us look too suspicious so we decided to bird from the car and basically wait for the doves. Houses in the area seemed to be mostly occupied by Mennonite folks and they must have been quite weary of two strangers armed with binoculars and high powered camera snooping around. Right about then, doves started to call. We were certain the sound was coming from the back of the house with three barking dogs. There was no way to see the doves without transpassing the property. Sadly the best option for us was to abort our search mission.
On our way to see our next target, a female White-winged Scoter, at Silver Lake, we spotted a gorgeous EASTERN MEADOWLARK on the field. Silver Lake was more like a pond than a lake and it was incomprehensible to see a WHITE-WINGED SCOTER in a small pond like this one. Scoters are most always seen at open ocean. There were other very accidental characters in the lake such as a LONG-TAILED DUCK and LESSER SCAUPs hanging out with commonly seen water birds: MALLARDs, CANADA GEESE, NORTHERN SHOVELERs, and BUFFLEHEADs. At the Lake, we met a very nice local birder who told us a few good birding spots in the area. We then drove to another lake, Lake Shenandoah for more birding. Unfortunately, we didn't see any unusual birds there but nice walk around the lake yielded sightings of our regulars: NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRDs, AMERICAN ROBINs, NORTHERN CARDINALs, DARK-EYED JUNCOs, MALLARDs, and CANADA GEESE. Although we missed our target, we had a great time birding Virginia for the first time. Their state slogan sure was spot-on: "Virginia is for bird lovers".☺

Silver Lake White-winged Scoter Long-tailed Duck Lesser Scaups Lake Shenandoah Northern Mockingbird

FEBRUARY 19, 2018

Temperature was supposed to hit above 70° today, unseasonably warm in February. We were going to visit a few hot spots nearby before heading back to Washington DC later today. Our first stop was lovely Abrams Creek Wetland Preserve in Winchester. Highlights of the visit included a sighting of a raucous CAROLINA WREN couple, and a handsome RED-SHOULDERED HAWK. We saw many familiar but exciting birds such as AMERICAN GOLDFINCHes, HOUSE FINCHes, BLUE JAYs, NORTHERN CARDINALs, SONG SPARROWs, DARK-EYED JUNCOs, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDs, and CANADA GEESE.

Abrams Creek Wetland Preserve Carolina Wren Red-shouldered Hawk

We made a quick stop at Lake Frederick but didn't see anyone besides a few people fishing. So we left the lake in a hurry and headed to the renowned Blandy Experimental Park / The State Arboretum of Virginia. Birding there was very good but what captured our hearts the most was sheer beauty of this park. Birders or non-birders alike, if you were to visit northern Virginia, this park is a must-stop. We spent a long time looking at beautiful and abundant EASTERN BLUEBIRDs. A Red-headed Woodpecker was sighted a day before but it seemed that we had missed it by one day. Other birds in the park were RED-SHOULDERED HAWKs, CAROLINA CHICKADEEs, RED-BELLIED WOODPECKERs, DOWNY WOODPECKERs, SONG SPARROWs, WHITE-THROATED SPARROWs, AMERICAN GOLDFINCHes, HOUSE FINCHes, DARK-EYED JUNCOs, and AMERICAN ROBINs.

Blandy Experimental Farm Blandy Experimental Farm Blandy Experimental Farm Eastern Bluebird American Goldfinch Carolina Chickadee House Finch Northern Cardinal Red-bellied Woodpecker

FEBRUARY 20, 2018 the man who made it all possible

Sadly it is our last day of birding away from home. We started our day at breathtaking Kenilworth Aquatic Park in Washington DC where an American Pipit and a Grasshopper Sparrow had recently been spotted, little did we know we'd meet the man who made our trip at all possible. Unfortunately, we were unable to find our targets but were happy to be out strolling along ducks and sparrows (and even some turtles!) on this spectacular day. It was even hotter than yesterday with temperature soaring up to near 80°. As we were enjoying a view of beautiful CEDAR WAXWINGs, we met a park ranger and an elderly woman watching birds. The ranger told us that he was taking the woman to see the Harris's Sparrow and asked us if we would like to come along. Although we had seen it on the first day, we would love to see it again so we gladly took on their offer. We didn't realize that this park was actually connected via Anacostia River Trail to Bladensburg Park where we saw Harris's Sparrow on our first day. This time, we would be coming from the opposite direction. Those two could not have been nicer and we all enjoyed our walk together on the trail. We were greeted by a pair of gregarious PILEATED WOODPECKERs and a majestic fly-by BALD EAGLE. During my conversation with the ranger, I came to learn that he was the first one to report the sighting of the now infamous sparrow. You've got to be kidding me! I remember myself saying on the first day who in the heck would find this obscure sparrow. The Harris's Sparrow spot is pretty desolate off the main trail, probably get single digit visits in a year. On top of it, remember it took us over an hour of intense search to find it so it is certainly not an easy bird to spot. I thanked him for his outstanding discovery and told him that he was the reason we traveled to this part of the country. Ironically, we did not find the sparrow that day but we had a great time admiring always adorable Rub-crowned Kinglet.

Kenilworth Aquatic Park Kenilworth Aquatic Park Sunbathing Turtles More Sunbathing Turtle Mallard Northern Shoeler Anacostia River Trail Great Blue Heron Pileated Woodpecker Ruby-crowned Kinglet

While deciding our final stop of the trip, we were again faced with tough choices: Northern Shrike or Yellow-headed Blackbird. We only had time left for one visit before heading back to New York. Finally, we reached a consensus to go see a Yellow-headed Blackbird near Baltimore as we only saw it once in 2005 in Utah. We arrived at North Point State Park where, according to ebird, a Yellow-headed Blackbird had been seen regularly. It was probably the most crowded park amongst all the parks we had visited on this trip. There we began our usual waiting game. An hour had passed and still no sign of the bird. We kinda knew it wasn't around because it was supposed to hang out with very common Red-winged Blackbirds and we didn't see any of them either. So we said good-bye to birds of southern mid-Atlantic. We sure will be back soon. Last note, remember the Green-tailed Towhee we were considering going to see instead of Harris's Sparrow? The bird was said to have left the area and was never spotted again, ha!