I spent the afternoon at the National Arboretum in NE DC this afternoon. 
I could not believe how many trees were already in full bloom; it was 
like the equivalent of early/mid March!

I heard several Phoebes singing in the area of the gate from the Asian 
Gardens to the River Trail. One was singing an odd song. It had the 
sputtery quality of a phoebe song, but with the pitch and rhythm of a 
wood-pewee song. So the result was something like "fee-a-bee, fee-be." 
There were quite a lot of phoebes for early January. I think I saw at 
least four.

The two great horned owls were roosting together and were slightly 
different sizes, so I assume that they are a pair.

Here are the rest of the birds I saw, with common species left out.

Sharp-shinned Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Great Horned Owl
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
House Finch
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco

Best,

John Beetham

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John D. Beetham
Washington, DC

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