730DC’s Not a Swamp: Summer Guide
This newsletter is to help DC residents connect with their surrounding natural environment. Every season there are fascinating changes occurring in our urban forests, parks, and gardens. Paying attention is the first step toward changing our relationships with the shared natural world.
Before we talk about summer birds and plants, let’s connect dots. The goal of this series has been simple: pay attention to what’s going on around you in nature.
The natural world and the social world are not separate spheres. The Black Lives Matter movement deserves the active attention of nature-lovers. James Baldwin wrote that white supremacy rests on the false idea that “white men are the creators of civilization” and therefore must be the ones to guard and protect it. Modern environmental and conservation movements have been unconsciously (and sometimes consciously) guilty of the same idea. This showed itself when a white woman called the police on black birder Christian Cooper (and NYC Audubon board member) in Central Park in April.
Toni Morrison said the main function of racism is distraction — it forces a person of color to explain their reason for being. Black naturalists don’t need to explain their reason for being in the field, in the lab, or in STEM jobs. The essential wisdom of system ecologists and activists is that we’re all connected in a complex network of relationships; therefore we should act accordingly. “We can starve together or feast together. All flourishing is mutual,” writes indigenous scientist Robin Wall Kimmerer in Braiding Sweetgrass. Never forget that environmental and social justice are intertwined. Environmentalism without black naturalists, and especially without indigenous voices, is bankrupt of authenticity and real healing. Here are some brilliant black naturalists and birders speaking up:
- Why Every Environmentalist Should Be Antiracist (by Leah Thomas — Vogue)
- 9 Rules for the Black Birdwatcher (by Dr. J. Drew Lanham — Vanity Fair)
- The very first Black Birders Week (presented by Corina Newsome)
- The Joys and Challenges of Exploring Nature While Black (Grist)
- Birding While Black (interview with Jason Ward)
And now birds. In a time when we should continue social distancing, birds offer a vicarious window into a very social wildlife. One doesn’t need to trek deep into the woods to watch them chatter, groom, mate, play, fight, sing, drink, eat, nest, and chill. This is all visible from a window, porch, or a quiet seat in the park. In this guide, I’ll offer some reasons why and where you should bird, and how to support birds. We’re also featuring rockstar birder Tykee James in our interview, published here.
As summer opens, and D.C. moves to Phase II, explore safely. There are very few cases of infections occurring outdoors, but there’s also not enough research to justify abandon. Stay informed. Wear a mask in crowded parks. Embrace rainy-day walks. Give others at least six feet when passing on a hiking trail. Play nicely.
D.C. is blessed with great birds because its location affords so many habitat types — tidal marshes, wetlands, rivers, woodlands, and meadows. Meadows are vital. In D.C., we’ve paved over a huge amount of meadow land, which is too bad because insects love meadows, which means birds love meadows. They’re like Golden Corral invertebrate buffets to a bird. There are some meadow restoration projects going down in the district, but we need more. The best place for a lil’ meadow, you ask (please ask)? Your front lawn (especially if it’s sizable). Seriously. It’s an investment up front, but then it only has to be mowed once or twice a year, and it’s a very cool way to reintegrate private residential property back into the local ecosystem. Only have a wee bit of space? Plant native wildflowers to attract pollinators. Turn even a section of that monocrop of fescue or bluegrass into a natural lawn of milkweed, mountain mint, wildflowers, cone flowers, and/or switch grass. Watch non-human life thrive on your turf. Here are some guides for meadow-making, natural lawns, and pollinator gardens:
· Native plants for a small yard (Ecolandscaping)
· How to make a meadow (University of Maryland)
· Why you should care about bugs & Learning to Love Bugs (Danae Wolfe)
· Native Plants for Wildlife Habitats and Conservation (US Fish & Wildlife)
· The American Meadow Garden Book (Timber Press)
Meadows are also great places for bird-watching. Birding near meadows is cool because you have to slow down for it, which the pandemic has encouraged anyway. Chill in one spot. Watch life flit around you as proof of a functioning ecosystem. Meadows, marshes, wetlands, rivers; we have all of this in D.C. Here are some great bird-friendly shared spaces to check out:
1) Anacostia Park — There’s a stretch of protected meadow along the east bank of the Anacostia River Trail between 11th street bridge and Poplar Point where birds like to party. This long meadow is busy with migratory birds. It’s also a great place to spot red-winged blackbirds, too, with their unmistakable flag of fiery red-orange across their shoulder patches.
2) Kingman Island and Heritage Island — Further up Anacostia River are two man-made islands that are favorites of piscivorous (fish-eating) birds and water-loving fowl. They both have the added benefit of being uncrowded spaces, even on the weekend.
3) Teddy Roosevelt Island — Because of its location along the river and the marshy boardwalk, this is a good location for both waterfowl and woodland birds. If you’re (real) lucky, you might even see the Belted Kingfisher, featured in Melanie Choukas-Bradley’s new book: Finding Solace at Roosevelt Island (out September 1st). (Also, the island’s parking lot has reopened)
4) Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve — This is an expansive reserve along the Potomac River. Kayaks are great for this, but there’s also a boardwalk along the Mt. Vernon Trail. Although it’s noisy with traffic from bikes and cars on GW Parkway, it remains a wonderful place to stand still and play “Where’s Waldo” with flying wildlife. Likely Waldos include a variety of warblers, swallows, red-winged blackbirds, hungry ospreys, and a lot more.
5) Constitution Gardens — This is is not a wild place for birds, but that’s the charm of it. You can feed the mallards and ruddy ducks, catch (and release) fish, or sometimes watch a Great Blue Heron catch (and not release) fish. Take a gander on your next stroll through the Mall’s elms (I visit for the elms, don’t you?).
5) Nature Center at Rock Creek Park — The nature center remains closed but the area around it is as open as ever. There’s a sizable meadow full of milkweed and tall grasses by Glover Street south of Military Road. The nature center area is where a lot of big-league local birders go, since there’s woodland interiors, meadows, and good vantage points to see migratory birds arriving in spring and fall.
Bird-Watching Trail
For those missing long mountain hikes, take pleasure in D.C.’s incredible trail linkage. Here’s my latest favorite, full of cardinals, thrushes, jays, and pileated woodpeckers, among migratory species here to breed for summer. There are open fields, marshes, creeks, meadows, and forests, all inviting a diverse collection of birds. Listen closely and you might hear the sweet-flutey song of the wood thrush, D.C.’s official bird since 1968:
Start at Living Classrooms old school house (if you have a car, park on MacArthur Boulevard) → North on right leg of Battery Kemble Trail along creek → East on Wesley Heights Trail → South on Glover-Archibold Trail → East on Whitehaven Trail, cross Wisconsin Avenue and take Whitehaven Road to Dumbarton Oaks → Take either Normanstone Trail or Dumbarton Oaks Park to Rock Creek Park (but I recommend Dumbarton Oaks for amateur birders — the meadows there are busy with birds) → Continue to Rock Creek Park, where the rest of NW D.C. is your oyster.
Wildlife Spotlight: Barred Owl, Strix varia. Owls are cool, mysterious, cryptic. They are symbols of wisdom. And the occult. And they live among us here in Washington, D.C. Scan the trees of Rock Creek Park carefully, and you might find one (I’ve spotted multiple barred owls this year). Go jogging at night in owl territory with a fuzzy hat or a bobbing ponytail, and one might find you. While falcons use speed to hunt, owls use stealth, flying slowly and very quietly, thanks to comb-like serrations at the edges of their wing feathers. Be glad you’re not a mouse. Take a human hike near the horse center (among other places in RCP), listen carefully, and look for the barred owl’s stock-barrel shape perched on a lateral branch or a snag (a standing dead tree). For more barred owl action, follow Seth Horstmeyer @horstmeyerseth on Instagram (photos below).
Native Tree Spotlight: Scarlet Oak, Quercus coccinea. Just as we have a state bird, we also have a state tree. Both Illinois and Maryland chose the common white oak. Iowa couldn’t even choose an oak species, but just shrugged its way into the oak genus, as did the United States for its national tree. But D.C. took the oak road less traveled by and selected the gorgeous Scarlet Oak. Similar in look and leafwork to Pin Oak, the Scarlet Oak is “one of the prettiest native species in the red oak group,” write Michel Dirr & Keith Warren in The Tree Book. Its foliage is scarlet, hence the name, to even light purple in fall. Birds love it. My favorite, and probably the biggest, oldest Scarlet in the city, adorns the main quad of American University’s campus. It is thought to predate the university itself.
Street Tree Spotlight: ‘Shademaster’ Honey Locust, Gleditsia triacanthos. There was a time when D.C. and other big American cities had a bit of fetish for the American elm as a street tree. And why not? It’s majestic, noble, shapely, grand. When Dutch Elm disease wiped out most American elms, urban arborists needed a replacement. Enter the ‘Shademaster’ Honey Locust, a thornless cultivar. Dirr and Warren write “it’s no elm but it does tend toward the classic vase shape and is an excellent street tree form.” One advantage it has over the favorite-son-Elm is the geometric beauty of its compound leaves. Stand under it, gaze up, and enjoy nature’s pseudo-tessellated leafwork. But most of all, enjoy the shade they provide along sidewalks, plazas, and pocket parks across the city.
This is usually where we conclude with an interview with a local expert. We are posting that as a separate story this time. Head here for our interview with Tykee James, birding rockstar and board member of DC Audubon Society, about birding in DC, #blackbirdersweek, and advocating for environmental and social justice issues together.
Events: There aren’t many registered events currently. Social distancing is still encouraged for public safety and health. Consider a webinar, solo volunteering, or joining a protest safely.
- Visit DPR’s archive of free downloadable webinar courses for growing food
- Sign up for the DUG newsletter (DC Urban Gardeners Network) for a comprehensive rundown of programming, events, workshops, resources, and social/environmental justice causes in the area.
- Visit National Arboretum. It’s now open Monday, Wednesday, Friday, from 1–5 pm, Check here for details on entrances and restrictions.
- Volunteer solo with Rock Creek Conservancy
- Join some of the D.C. protests safely and support BLM-DC. Social justice is racial justice is food justice is environmental justice is justice. They’re connected. Be safe, be clean, wear a mask.
Follow Sam Nelson for more tree stuff @treegazing. This is his last D.C. piece for awhile since he’s moving to Utah for this. He encourages you to pay attention to what’s going on around you, whether it’s the well-being of people, trees, or birds. Stay connected.
