Congrats to Mike Bowen on #238 for DC!  As soon as I saw his post I  
jumped over to Battery Kemble park for a lunchtime stroll but had no  
Raven fortune.  However, there were tons of birds in the park.  This  
was my first visit to Battery Kemble park.  It seems like it should be  
fantastic bird habitat - why do very few people seem to bird there?  I  
did a search through the MDOsprey archives and there are only 24 posts  
that mention the park since 2004!  On eBird there were only 3 reports  
from the whole month of September, but those 3 reports had 11  
different types of warblers - this is on par with the much more  
popular Rock Creek Nature Center/Equitation Field/Ridge/Yard locale.

There were a lot of dogs running around - is this why?  They sure  
didn't seem to affect the 22 species of birds I saw in 40 minutes at  
lunchtime...though I did have to wash my soles when I got home.  And  
at one point when I was gazing up at a limb with three Sapsuckers on  
it I got that tickling feeling on the back of my neck...I turned  
around and there was the pudgiest little black chihuahua staring up at  
me - he cocked his head, blinked once and then was off.  Not quite a  
spiritual experience but kind of funny.

I'd love to hear opinons,
Cheers,
Steve Hersey
Washington, DC