City Wild Life Duck Watch

It is true. You see ducks all over Capitol Hill. They are in the reflecting ponds by the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial, the WWII Memorial and the American Indian Museum. They are everywhere else too. And they must have nests all over the city. There are even ramps built on the ponds so the ducklings are able to navigate the steep inclines. And at this time of the year the ducklings may have a hard go of it. So it was with interest that we watched the city wild life duck watch people sitting at the Capitol reflecting pool. They had dispersed food and all of the ducks were paying a lot of attention. One of the staff had a very large net in her hands and inside was a little duckling. I think they try to find any injured birds as there was also a small cage there. Or perhaps they were banding their legs to study growth and other interesting things. The program also “educates residents and building managers as to how they can help Mallard families and make unsuitable nesting sites less appealing to mother mallards.” I guess the goal is to help any trapped duckling find a source of open water for food and protection and in general watch for the well being of the duck families. 

Constitution Gardens, Birds and Carp

My husband really likes taking a morning walk around Constitution Gardens. It’s a great place because the tourists don’t know where it is. We always park at the Tidal Basin, then walk past the WWII Memorial and then turn in to the park. There was a beautiful Chinese fringe tree in full bloom. The we stumbled upon a “common grackle” with the luminescent head feathers. Of course there were geese sailing by as well as a pair of ducks. There were also a lot of ducklings. The view of the Washington monument is always nice from the signers of the declaration section that you reach after crossing a foot bridge. Then we made our way toward the Lincoln memorial that is under renovation - like everything else is in the city. When we got back to the car we walked up a bit around the Tidal Basin and saw for the first time some very large fish - it almost looked like a dolphin! When we got a close look they were slapping about against the wall in a frenzied state. When we sent the photos to an expert fisherman we know he said they were carp. They almost looked like cat fish. When we drove home we passed through our old neighborhood on Capitol Hill and saw the house/basement apartment where our grandson will be living for six weeks this summer while he does his internship. It’s almost across the street from our old condo and the house where he grew up for ten years. We always like to visit and oftentimes wish we never moved. But then reality strikes and we realize it was good while it lasted, but glad we made the change. 

Identifying Bird Sounds Using the Merlin App

With the season changing from winter to spring the bird songs in the neighborhood park come alive. This time of year we start to get visitors to the balcony - trying to pull out the coco liners from the flower baskets. The crows always tear off a lot. The doves can’t seem to figure it out. After being stuck in the house for two weeks because of testing positive for Covid, we finally decided to start our morning walk schedule again in the neighborhood park. In the colder months there are some chirps, but now there are too many to keep track of - unless you have the Merlin App. The first bird we saw was a very large red headed woodpecker. As soon as I saw him I turned the app on to find out specifically what he was. It was a downy woodpecker. He had to be about a foot long. Then there as the cardinal, tufted titmouse, and northern flicker. I wish we could have seen them too! Then came the Carolina wren, robin, mockingbird, and red-bellied woodpecker. The last of the bunch were sparrows, blue jays and goldfinches! What a grand selection of feathered friends. We were able to walk a mile and a half without getting too worn out. Each day seems to be getting a little better. It’s amazing how much energy you lose when you are ill. We take a lot for granted. Being able to walk in the park feels so good. Hearing the bird songs makes it so much better. 

Cornell Lab of Ornithology Merlin Bird App

While sitting on my cousin’s patio in Massachusetts last week after dinner, we heard a lot of birds. Her balcony faces a wetlands or conservation area so there are a lot of sounds to be heard and a lot of birds to be seen. Then she pulled out the Cornell ornithology bird app and was able to show us exactly what birds we were hearing. It was simply a matter of pressing the microphone button and recording the song -and the results were immediate. I’ve always liked birds so I found this fascinating. So I downloaded the app and thought we would give it a try when we got home. You can identify the birds by describing what you see, uploading a photo, or by listening to the sound. And obviously there are a whole host of other options available including an encyclopedia of sorts. As we were taking a morning walk in the neighborhood park two days ago and this morning, I pulled out the app and just started recording. Immediately the pictures and names of the birds started to kick in. There was the house finch, gray catbird, blue jay, red shouldered hawk, northern cardinal, robin, and Carolina wren on the first day. This morning there was the cardinal, eastern wood-pewee, Carolina wren, indigo bunting, house wren, tufted titmouse, red winged blackbird, blue jay and northern flicker! I never realized there were so many different birds fluttering around. I never heard of several of them. What will be interesting is to see if they change over time, or if the same ones are located in the same places each day. So I’m glad we were introduced to this app. Now we will have a better idea of what is around us at the tip of our fingers - and learn something new at the same time. 

The Feathered Friend Visitors

We have a very small balcony. On the balcony we have two seats - one is single and the other is a two seater. Because we can’t hang planters on the guard rails, we thought we would hang the coco lined window baskets on the backs of the seats using zip ties. It actually works out well. During three seasons the seats face each other and the flowers are displayed toward the outside. And in the winter, we arrange the seats together to face out so that the baskets face towards us - filled with Christmas greens and sticks. When the weather starts getting warmer we fill the baskets with annuals. This year the pansies, violas, and ivy all survived the rather harsh winter. So we got six new annuals to spruce up the boxes. We have had the boxes at least three years now. This year I was waiting to see how long it would take for the crows to start pulling at the coco liner. And wouldn’t you know it didn’t take very long. I could see them swooping in out of the corner of my eye. My husband thinks it’s funny. I don’t. They also make a mess throwing around dirt. And wouldn’t you know this year a mockingbird decided to do the same thing. Then I caught a pigeon - or two - hanging around. I have had a few staring contests with the crows. It’s sort of uncomfortable. For the most part they seem to leave the flowers alone, but they have squashed a few sitting in the baskets while they tug on the coco liners. I have always enjoyed watching birds in the back yard bird baths and feeders. Last year we had gold finches. I just don’t like the birds tearing things up, but I suppose it’s for a good cause. 

Birds on the Balcony

I like watching birds - always did for as long as I can remember. We had so many different birds in our Midwest backyard, but we had birdbaths, flowers and baskets, and feeders to attract them. Even in our Capitol Hill home we had a small garden patio with a birdbath and garden that attracted a lot of critters. The bird bath was a big hit! Having cardinals stop by was always a treat. When we moved to northern Virginia three years ago we now just have a small balcony in our condo. On the back of the chairs we hung three hanging baskets that have liriope, ivy and some left over winter pansies. I haven’t felt like setting annuals just yet to refresh the dull contents. But the baskets are enough to attract the crows who love to hide things in them and have face offs with us. Whenever they show up it feels weird. A mockingbird stopped by yesterday and sat on the rail for a long time having taken nest materials from the coco liners. A group of sparrows also popped by last week. And of course there were the morning doves that I don’t particularly like. We are on the fourth floor so it’s odd to get the occasional visitor, but I’m glad they stop by. We saw a bluebird in the park the other day and of course I love watching the ducks on the national mall. They are everywhere there. Sometimes we have rice to throw at the birds when we think of it. Feathered friends are nice to know. It’s the small things that count.