Evening star., 1945-01-08
This and That
BIZ Charles Z. Traceueu.

What birds are to be seen in winter
In and around Washington
This question was answered recently
by members Of the Audubon Society Of
the District of Columbia Thirty-seven
observers, led by National Capital
Parks naturalists, covered 81 miles. 40
by car, and II afoot, in four parties,
taking in both sides of the Potomac,
including Reaches Run wildlife sane
tuary, and Rock Creek Park.
More than 3,469 individual birds were
counted, in total of 81 species.
The birds ranged from 6 hermit
thrushes, 2 bald eagles and SO blue
birds to 140 English sparrows and 538
starlings.
Other species seen, and the number
Of each, include:
Horned grebe, q; great blue heron,
6; black crowned night heron, 3; les
ser Canada goose. /; snow goose, /:
mallard, 18; black duck, 1T; pintail,
1926; baldpate, /; green-winded teal, 2;
goldeneye, s.
American merganser, 20; turkey vul-
ture, s.; Cooper hawk, /; red-tailed
hawk, 8; red-shouldered hawk, 3; bald
eagle, q; marsh hawk, /; sparrow hawk,
Y, oOD-WAiioC, Az, WV, I, hAiuCClp I.
Wilson snipe, L. herring gull, ITO;
ring billed gull, 465; mourning dove,
6; barred owl, 8; short-eared owl, l;
belted kingfisher, 8; flicker, 80; red
bellied woodpecker, IA: hairy wood
pecker, 8; downy woodpecker, AZ.
Blue jay, 81; crow, So; Carolina
chickadee, SO; tufted titmouse, 80;
white breasted nuthatch, 80; brown
creeper. T. winter wren, 8; Carolina
wren, 80; long billed marsh wren, l.
Mockingbird, %; robin, 6; hermit
thrush, 6; bluebird, SO; golden-crowned
kinglet, S; ruby-crowned kinglet, 2;
pipit, 19; cedar waxwing, 2: migrant
shrike, 4; startling, 538; myrtle warbler,
10.
English sparrow, 140; meadow lark,
IS; red-winged blackbird, As; cardinal,
142: purple finch, II; goldfinch. 81;
towhee, 6; slate colored junco, 37o; tree
sparrow, rs.
Field sparrow, IL; white -throated
sparrow, 141; fox sparrow, l; swamp
sparrow, g.; song sparrow, 102.
X X
On the day these ardent friends Of
birds went out, December 81, last, the
ground was covered with snow and ice,
and rain was falling, with a tempera-
ture of 80 to 38 degrees.
The various searching parties went
on from in the morning to o'clock
in the evening.
It will be seen from the above list
that some of the species will not be
seen in average home gardens.
There will be no bald eagle at home,
certainly, and few robins.
And few pipits. This has been classed
as q rare and irregular migrant, and
has been said to winter here, but pre-
viously there had been no record of
its occurance in January. It 10 pipits
were identified on December 81, prob
ably most of them were around in New
Years day, 1945.
The discovery of As red-winged black
birds will come as news to thousands
Of persons who feed the birds daily
but who never have seen one In their
own yard.
The inclusion of the Reaches Run
sanctuary made it possible to count
many species which do not ordinarily
come to the home garden in suburban
Maryland and Virginia.
The counting of hermit thrushes
and SO bluebirds was not unusual, but
there are only certain places where
they occur.
Robins around here in winter are
what are known as northern robins,
which find this the southern point of
their range.
We need not be surprised to learn
that the starting tops them all In num-
bers. He is a large, hardy and intelli-
gent bird, and even avails himself OF
mans heated buildings to warm his
toes