Thanks go to Rob Hilton for posting the message about the possible
re-sighting of the frigatebird reported this morning.  As I was riding
the yellow line over the Potomac, I looked around on the very unlikely
chance that I might see it.  Nothing down river, and just as we were
starting to go underground I looked up river and saw a bird that looked
an awful lot like a frigate.  Big and dark with long, pointed & bent
wings, slowly circling.  However, the view was so brief, that I can't
completely rule out an Osprey.  I was seeing the bird at an oblique
angle, not a pure silhouette, which could make the relatively rounded
wings of an Osprey look pointed.  I would say that I'm 90% sure it was a
frigate - not enough to call it certain (aside, having just spent a week
on the Galapagos studying Magnificents & Greats, I have a fresh image of
soaring frigates in my mind).



In any case, I immediately drove to the Columbia Island marina (I called
it the Pentagon marina when I spoke with Rob), getting there at about
5:00pm.  I looked around the marina and the river, but didn't see
anything out of the ordinary (except a Laughing Gull on the barge in the
middle of the lagoon).  So then I drove to Roaches Run.  No frigate
there either, but a very nice, big patch of hydrilla with c.15 Wood
Ducks (could be good for shorebirds).  From there I went to Gravelly
Point, which provided a nice view up and down the Potomac.  Alas, no
frigates there either (just a Great Egret flying south over the Hains
Pt. Golf Course).  A little before 6pm I got back in the car and drove
up the GW Parkway as far as Spout Run.  This gave me a shot of the lower
end of Theodore Roosevelt Island, which attracts waterbirds at low tide.
 Nothing there either.


I'm reminded of the frigatebird that spent a few days hanging around the
Chincoteague marina many years ago.  Perhaps it could happen here (DC
birding requires a huge dose of optimism).


I hope to try again tomorrow morning.


Good birding,
Paul Pisano
Arlington, VA