Hi Steve and MDOsprey:
I didn't say it but this is indeed a "dog park!" Quite legal, I
think. I used to live in DC until 1969, and this has always been a
park where people take their pooches for social/athletic outings.
It's also a great place for family sledding expeditions on those
infrequent occasions when measurable snow falls. One of the steepest
hills in DC is right there. I still have visible wound marks from
inefficient downhill sledding runs around the time our kids were little.
On the whole, I don't really think that it ranks "up there" with Rock
Creek Park, but it is a good birding place, particularly in migration
periods. I have birded there rather infrequently in recent years, but
I am sure that it is still a good place to bird, especially if you live nearby.
Glad Steve had a good experience in the park.
Mike Bowen
Bethesda
At 05:10 PM 10/26/2009 -0400, you wrote:
>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
D.H. Michael Bowen
8609 Ewing Drive
Bethesda, MD 20817
Telephone: (301) 530-5764
e-mail: dhmbowenATyahooDOTcom
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