It showed up on eBird that a red-flanked bluetail was (and currently is) at Great Falls National Park in Virginia. The only other sighting of this bird in eastern North America was in New Jersey in winter of 2003. Being as this bird was only 16 miles from our house, it was an easy decision to chase this bird.

The red-flanked bluetail was once considered  a member of the thrush family (Turdidae), but is now considered to be an Old World flycatcher, (Muscicapidae). Regardless of the higher level taxonomic hi-jinx this is a very unusual bird for the area. However, it is a common bird and actually expanding its range into Europe – the likely source of this bird.

Anacostia Riverpup and I loaded up in the car and drove on out to Great Falls National Park. The nice person at the pay station was knowledgeable and told me where to park and look (almost kind of worth the $20 entrance fee). The park opens at 7 am and we were in the parking lot at 7:10 am. There was a large cohort of birders getting out of their cars and wrestling with winter clothes, binoculars, cameras, and spotting scopes. When throng of birders took off down the trail, Anacostia and I started to follow them, but she had some dog business to attend to. After I picked up her business transaction and walked back to the parking lot to dispose of it properly, we headed down the trail to where the pay station ranger suggested. Once at the ranger-disclosed spot, there was another birder (Nate) who gestured towards a tangle of vegetation. There was a bird there, but in the pre-sunrise light it was difficult to see much except for the subtly distinct bill shape – this was it. Nate let the throng of birders further down the trail know we were on the red-flanked bluetail. Instantly, all I could see was a blue coat. This guy was clearly tall enough to see over me, but some people on the east coast are just very me first. The blue coat guy jumped in front of me two more times. This bird was constantly in motion, had a preference for thick brush, seemed to always hide behind twigs & branches, and in general was difficult to get a good look at – but that doesn’t excuse boorish behavior. Anacostia was being a super good dog and I didn’t want to get in a fight with the blue coat guy, so we went for a hike and found some parasitic plants, cool lichens, and some liverworts.

As we were walking back to the car, I stopped to enjoy a mixed flock of the usual chickadees and such. As I was enjoying watching the mixed flock the red-flanked bluetail flew into the space. It didn’t join the flock, it just did its thing in the same space. It was pretty cool and I got good views. The throng of birders showed up pretty quickly, but it was mellow and I didn’t have people putting themselves in front of me.

Another human bit of interest was the bird was on the state line between Virginia and Maryland. For some birders it was important to see the bird from both states. This involved getting onto an island and seeing the bird on the island and from the island. I saw the bird in both states, but remained in Virginia.

After leaving that part of the park Anacostia and I walked around the Great Falls and Mathers Gorge. I am grateful that instead of a dump, industrial park, or sewage treatment plant this bird choose a really pretty spot. This was also a very cute little bird. This is a heavily used park, so the impact of 100’s of birders may or may not be noticeable to the environment. The bird seemed to not care about the mob of birders following it about. This was the first time I have chased a ‘rare’ bird (this bird is common, just out of place) and felt that the birding community has the potential to negatively effect the resource as many people were off trail which may impact the vegetation. I was also able to fill my pockets and backpack with wrappers, tissues, etc in the space the birders were occupying.

Everytime I have the opportunity to see a new bird species I learn something and this was an especially groovy bird to spend time with. There was just something about the way this cute little bird moved – it kind of reminded me of kinglets (another bird(s) I truly enjoy). An additional note, was how Nate, in contrast to the blue coat guy, spent quite a bit of time helping others to see the bird = this is the behavior that makes birding fun. I will try to be more like Nate!

When I moved to DC, I didn’t think snowy owls would be a bird I would see in town. Saturday I went out to chase my second DC snowy owl in six years of DC living, so I guess snowy owls are an occasional part of the DC birdscape.

The previous DC snowy owl hung out at Union Station, this one was reported on the banks of the Potomac River at the Reagan National Airport (DCA). This felt more like a snowy owl chase. Our weather has been cold and windy lately, and the bird would not have been visible without a spotting scope. Because DCA doesn’t let random folks wander about on the runways, the best view was from Hains Point looking across the Potomac River. This meant looking across a km over open water.

When I showed up at the crack of noon there was nobody at the prime viewing spot, so I set up my scope and started viewing all the white plastic trash washed up on the banks of the Potomac River. I saw no owl, so I did what any good birder does and repeated my scan. Two birders showed up on their bicycles (the best way to get around in DC). We shared my scope and found the snowy owl hunkered down in a driftwood pile on the DCA boat ramp. It looked very similar to a lot of the plastic trash until a bit of preening showed it to be a snowy owl. The bicycle birders were new birders and after basking in the success of finding the target bird we put the scope on a flock of buffleheads in the middle of the river and they got a second lifer. As I was about to leave a couple more birders showed up and we helped them get their scope on the bird.

I have kayaked near DCA and it is amazingly loud. It would appear that the snowy owl was not bothered by the jets taking off and landing, but that would be best determined by examining corticosterone levels in the blood.

I have heard of snowy owls using airports to winter and have seen snowy owls using beaches/shorelines before, so this isn’t unheard of. I am continually surprised at the birds that show up in DC.