One of the reasons I love birdwatching is because of the surprises. Today was
one of those magical moments. I went on eBird and looked for where Scarlet
Tanager had been seen today and found a report of a place in Arlington. I
looked at the checklist submitted for this place and found it was a small park
I had never heard of. It is only a small, square block in size, surrounded by
apartments, and only a couple of blocks from a large highway. When I looked at
the checklist, not only was there Scarlet Tanager, there was Black-and-white
Warbler, and Swanson's Thrush.
My first thought was maybe the location on the checklist was incorrect. So with
my curiosity peaked, I headed over to the park around 6pm, and didn't think I
would see much because of the late time of the day. It took me a while to find
the Scarlet Tanager and Black-and White because they were silent. To my
pleasant surprise, I found the following birds (all were silent) before finding
the previous two:
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Blackpoll Warbler
Ovenbird
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Catbirds
During migration, I find myself going to the local Hotspots, but I've learned
today, that even a postage stamp size park can have very interesting things
during migration!
David Ledwith
Falls Church, VA
