3/21/06
Last Minute Attempts
Today is the one year anniversary of my first official bird identification, a Northern Shoveler in Fort Wayne, IN. Today, 365 days and 199 species later, I have one last chance to get to the 200 milestone...but I'm at work.
But there is still hope! During an hour-long evacuation exercise (I love Capitol Hill) I got the chance to walk around the pond in front of the Capitol Building and the Botanical Garden. I kept my eyes peeled. Likely species were: Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Peregrine Falcon, Fox Sparrow...uh...Rusty Blackbirds...um...and maybe a stray warbler? I was prepared for anything.
Checked the pond. Just ring-billed gulls and mallards. Those birds feeding in the grass? Starlings and robins. That flash in the sky, a Peregrine? Nope, mourning doves and rock pigeons. What's that streaky breasted sparrow? Songs. That flash of red in the trees in front of the Botanical Garden? House Finches. Granted 11 species (including the ubiquitous House Sparrows, Northern Mockingbirds and 2 Canada Geese) in a downtown block in 10 minutes is pretty good, but none of these were new.
Last last last ditch effort is an after-work hustle to the Tidal Basin to catch some LBB Gulls in the sunset. Wish me luck.
