I've been getting back to my semi-regular walks in Ft. Bayard Park (corner of River Rd and Western Ave., NW DC) this spring, with hopes of managing about 4 days a week.  Perhaps due to its elevation and exposure, the park does not tend to get very many early-arriving migrants, and tends to be better for late departures, higher elevation species, and occasional oddities.

Today I had my first new addition to my park list since last spring: RUSTY BLACKBIRD.  Given the habitat, these are probably best filed under "oddity."  3 were foraging with robins, starlings, and a lone cowbird in a somewhat muddy and bare section of the ballfield; luckily I scanned with my binoculars before writing them off as more starlings. A few minutes later one of the males reappeared on the hill and let me look from a few yards away.  

It's five years since I last saw rusties, though this probably says more about my decline as a birder (since having kids) than about the decline of the species.  Also present today:
Sapsucker
Field Sparrow (3)
Chipping Sparrow (3)

Jason Waanders
jwaandersATstarpower.net
NW DC

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