BeyondDC

Know your DC birds

There are hundreds of thousands of birds in Washington, DC. It is virtually impossible to be outside and not see several of them. BeyondDC is hardly a nature blog, but birds are such a fact of life in cities that it’s worth being able to identify the most common ones.

So here’s a quick guide of the most frequently seen birds in DC.

Pigeons. Everybody knows pigeons. Photo by dragontoller.	Sparrow. The little brown birds you see everywhere. Photo by Mr T in DC.	Starling. “Washington Starlings” would have been a great name for a baseball team. Photo by Shawn McCready.
Robin. Very common in suburbs, a little less so in the city. Photo by Lucina M.	Mockingbird. Unfortunately, mockingjays are not real. Photo by Anne Davis.	Gray Catbird. Looks like a mockingbird with a shorter tail. Photo by goingslo.
Seagull. Obviously most common near water. Photo by Mr T in DC.	Duck. They love McPherson Square for some reason. Photo by thisisbossi.	Cardinals. The orange beak gives away females. Photo by Steve took it.
Grackle. Looks like a starling without spots. Photo by Carla Kishinami.	Hawk. More common than you think; one may live on your roof. Photo by Glyn Lowe.	Cockatiel. Common inside BeyondDC’s house, not so much elsewhere. Photo by BeyondDC.

October 25th, 2012 | Permalink | {num}Comments
Tags: environment, galleries

The Dude Abides

The english sparrow shown and the starling are not native US species and displace our more desirable native species.n
Patchen

So, they’re nature’s Tina Brown?