Nothing amazing, but I thought I'd let everyone know that
that there are still some birds downtown.  Some notes:
   Ring-billed Gulls started appearing in a big way last week.
   A House Wren is singing at the front of the USDA North
Building on the Mall (the one that tourists often think is a
Smithsonian museum - if only!)
   A pair of Carolina Wrens were building a nest in front of
the USDA North Building last week.  Unfortunately, they were
building it inside the front grill of an SUV.  Neither the SUV nor
the nest was there later, though the pair still was.
   An American Robin was gathering nesting material in the 
Enid Haupt Garden.
   Starlings are massing for the evening in trees next to the Dept of 
Education building on D St SW (near the little red schoolhouse doors
that my wife keeps wondering how much they cost).  The flocks are
spattering the pavement with droppings, obviously.  The flocks are
composed of many 1st year birds, which are now molting their light
brown feathers to a sterner, more adult dark ('stern', get it?).  As
a result of this, there are PILES of brown feathers in the gutters.
                                     Jim

Jim Felley
Smithsonian Institution