I went to Haines Point this morning to look for the White Winged Scoter reported by Paul Pisano and Ian Davies over the weekend, but it wasn't present. There was a male Common Goldeneye in the channel and three scaup by Ft. McNair. (There was also a befuddled tourist who wondered what happened to our famous man-climbing-out-of-the-earth statue, now moved to PG county.)
I then drove over to Anacostia Park to look for the Long Tailed Duck under the South Capital Street bridge. I didn't see the long-tailed duck at first, but immediately spotted the White-winged Scoter close in to the park shore on the east (or northeast) side of the bridge. It gave excellent views with scope for about 10 minutes. Then a tug coming up river scared it and it flew under the bridge to the west (or southwest) side, quite a bit further away.
As I was getting it in scope and focused, the Long-Tailed Duck popped up in the same view. Thank you tug! Both ducks were on the west side of the bridge when I left shortly after 11:00. There was also a pied-billed grebe on the east side of the bridge, plus several dc cormorants.
Tom Jones
Washington, D.C. |