Gravelly Point I -- Bobolinks

There have been reports on the Virginia Birding email list about Bobolinks at Gravelly Point, a little parking lot and park just north of Washington National Airport. People like to go there and watch the planes take off and land. It was a beautiful day. So, Fred and I packed up the scope, the binoculars and the cameras, threw the top down on the Miata, and headed up the George Washington Parkway to see what we could see. Within about 30 seconds of arriving, we saw our first bobolinks. They are flocking birds, so we saw little groups of them. This one has three males and one female (the topmost bobolink).

I just liked this picture.

A good one showing the distinctive back view of the Bobolink. Black breast, distinctive back. Interesting!

The reports on the VA Bird list said that everytime a plane took off, the bobolinks would fly up, and they were right. Because of the wind, the planes were taking off right over our heads, and every time, a flock of bobolinks would fly. It was great fun. We would wait until a plane started coming down the runway, then watch for the bobolinks.

Gravelly Point II -- Other Birds

This redwinged blackbird flew up to within about 10 feet from me in the little copse of pine trees we were sitting in, red epaulets ablazing. He picked at some trash he found, then posed obligingly for me, though his red was withdrawn by this time.

We also got a picture of a duck. Hey, we take what comes. Apparently Gravelly Point is a landing spot for the amphibian tour boat. Just a few minutes later, it went by on the George Washington Parkway behind us.

The first bird I saw at Gravelly Point (ok, some pigeons were first--I should say the first interesting bird) was this Eastern Kingbird. It was perched on the top of some pine trees when I first saw it. We later perched below the same pine trees to watch the bobolinks.

Bikers, walkers, joggers all were busily travelling on the Mt Vernon Bike trail behind us. It was a beautiful day!