Kind of a Big Teal Toughs It Out in the Rain for 65 Species

Kind of a Big Teal, a brand new team made up of Aljoscha Nern, Arthur Tsang, Heather Dionne and Alys Jarvela, set out for our first Birdathon on the only possible day our schedules allowed: May 4. It was a day that unfortunately began with less-than-perfect weather. As newish and not-very-serious birders who tend to get distracted by bugs and plants, we didn’t make the cut for our workplace’s A team. However, we were determined to do our best despite the rain and not embarrass ourselves when we saw Taking Terns at work the next day. Luckily the soggifying weather meant there were no bugs to be found so we were able to stay focused, mostly.

Right before it poured.
Photo by Heather Dionne

On the big day, we met up at the Algonkian Park boat ramp at 7:00 am, which was equally as dark and wet as 6:00 am, our original planned meeting time. As we walked toward the picnic shelters, we accomplished the impressive feat of not hearing or seeing a single warbler. However, several types of vireos didn’t seem to mind the weather and we saw both Baltimore and Orchard Orioles as well as some mergansers on the river. Next, we headed to the sanctuary trail, where at the farthest point from the cars the rain picked up. We would like to say that our spirits were not dampened, but in fact absolutely everything was completely dampened. Through the raindrops we spied two kinds of sandpipers, a Great Egret, several Bald Eagles and a fine box turtle.

In the afternoon we split up to dry off, and for one unreliable member to honor a previous commitment. Meanwhile our two most dedicated birders scoured our work campus for our resident birds: Barn Swallows, Purple Martins and mama Wood Duck with her 13 babies.

By late afternoon the weather improved, and three of us met up at Banshee Reeks for a final push. We also recruited two young assistants to test our theory that loud arguments about PokémonGO might flush some rare birds from the underbrush. We walked along the Dulles Greenway trail and saw and heard our first warbler finally (Prairie). We also picked up several more species including a Brown Thrasher and Yellow-breasted Chat. One teammate spotted a flying Barred Owl on the bank barn trail, which we couldn’t count, but luckily we all heard hooting shortly afterwards. One young assistant, taking a break from fighting with her brother to use the Merlin app, pointed out an Acadian Flycatcher sitting on a branch right next to us. So we appointed her an honorary team member. We then got slightly lost and re-explored the farthest corner of Banshee Reeks, spotted our second Box Turtle of the day, and finally made our way back to the parking lot with four minutes to spare before the gate was locked. As we picked off our tick collection, we congratulated ourselves on the 65 species we managed to find during our first Birdathon and vowed to do better and stay drier in 2026!

A wet Bald Eagle.
Photo by Aljoscha Nern

Species List:
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
Common Merganser
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Red-shouldered Hawk
Spotted Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Barred Owl
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Acadian Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
House Wren
Carolina Wren
Bue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Common Yellowthroat
Prairie Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow