My friend Jennifer Kawar and I were at Hains Point DC, today 10-11:30  
am. The Brant was on the grass beyond the sculpture, together with  
several gulls.

A number of ducks and gulls came to the edge of the water, on the  
Washington channel, to be fed by a woman and her young daughter. The  
ducks were Mallards, males and females, except (?) for one very dark  
duck, with a white patch on the breast, which we could not identify.  
A melanistic Mallard? I have posted a photo of the Brant and photos  
of this duck at http://www.pbase.com/erforthebirds
(click on the brant thumbnail to open the gallery). I look forward to  
help with its identification.

In the high grasses and small trees between the restrooms and the  
golf course there were numerous birds including house finches, a  
junco, a fox sparrow, a mockingbird, a red-bellied woodpecker. A bald  
eagle stopped briefly on one of the large trees.


Evelyn Ralston
Bethesda, Md