Out on a Limb, Paula's Birding Blog: Gravelly Point

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Gravelly Point

Gravelly Point is a popular spot along the George Washington Parkway for watching planes take off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Birders appreciate it as a spot that can be good for gulls, waterfowl, hawks, sparrows, and surprises. Last May, 20-30 Bobolinks stopped there for a few days.

Yesterday, a top local birder reported that he saw a Vesper Sparrow there. Birders are used to "one day wonders," but when another report came in this morning, I headed over there with high hopes that I might get lucky. I have no good photo of this species and have seen very few of them in my life.

The birding gods didn't smile on me, however. The Vesper Sparrow was said to be in the company of a Savannah Sparrow yesterday. I did see a Savannah today (photo above), just one, and it had no Vesper buddy. The only other interesting bird I saw was a Cooper's Hawk sitting atop some runway lights. You don't suppose.....

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Am I the last person on the planet to have a blog? I have to wonder how anyone finds time to read these things when everyone is busy writing their own. Anyway, I'm about to give it a go myself, offering my own personal perspective on all things related to bird watching and photography.

I live in Alexandria, VA and spend a lot of time at local parks, such as Monticello Park, Alexandria's little migration gem, as well as Dyke Marsh, Occoquan Bay NWR, and Huntley Meadows. I also take trips to nearby Maryland and Delaware locales. Birding is good year-round in this area so finding birds to photograph isn't too difficult. I digiscope distant perched birds with a Sony point-and-shoot camera attached to a Kowa spotting scope and use my Canon 40D with a 100-400 mm lens for closer, small, active birds, also for birds in flight.
I have a bird photo web site at Paula Sullivan's Photo Galleries

Bird watching became a big part of my life in the early '90s when I became an empty nester and my dog died. Like many, I became increasingly fascinated with birds that came to my backyard feeder. I moved on to participating in local guided bird walks, then to keeping lists. Soon I was counting birds with survey teams, joining clubs, finally leading walks myself. In recent years, however, I have pulled back from the American Birding Association model of birding, finding listing tedious and meaningless, the competitive aspect of birding unsatisfying and shallow.

Photography has since become an important part of my birding experience. My ID skills and knowledge of bird habits and habitats enabled me to find my subjects. Observing my own photos on my computer screen enabled me to study birds in the kind of detail not possible before.

I derive enormous excitement and joy observing wild birds. I am thrilled by the romance and mystery of their migration, the amazing variety of their plumages and vocalizations. I am awed by their unceasing toil to find food every day of the year and good nesting sites in the spring. I am humbled by the challenges they face raising their young while fending off threats from predators, coping with habitat loss, pesticides, storms, and human intrusions. I am amazed by the ability of tiny kinglets, chickadees and wrens to survive harsh winters. I am thrilled when neotropical migrants pass through Northern Virginia every spring although I have been watching this spectacle for many years. The rhythm of life is a powerful beat, the melody exquisitely expressed by the song of birds. For me, the wonder never ceases.

Paula Sullivan

Out on a Limb, Paula's Birding Blog

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Gravelly Point

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