I learned, via eBird, that a number of shorebirds were being seen around the National Mall. More specifically they were in and around the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial and Constitution Gardens, another man-made lake a few hundred yards to the north. (Behind the Vietnam Veterans Memorial).
I was curious and wanted to check it out. The idea of watching part of the shorebird migration taking place in and around national monuments just seemed like fun. Warblers, hawks, and other migrants are to be expected in the city; sandpipers and plovers are not.
Since Carly had to work Saturday we drove over to Georgetown; I dropped her off and then headed to the Mall. The lake at Constitution Gardens was nearly empty. There were at least 40 mallards and thirty Canada geese lounging about, some shepherding their young.
There was a nasty though diffuse odor all around. Because of all of the waterfowl the silt and mud that collects in the pools has a high composition of bird droppings; much of which had been drying and baking in the sun. It smelled like a hen house.
I spotted one spotted sandpiper and saw a few smaller peeps which refused to stay still long enough for an ID. Wandering over to the reflecting pool I found that it, too, was nearly empty. (I’m hoping that this is a deliberate decision on the part of the Park Service to facilitate shorebird migration, but I doubt it). Since there is no place for ducks and geese to nest, however, there was not much of an odor. I found semipalmated sandpipers and plovers, killdeer and yellowlegs flying up and down the pool. They would poke and probe the mud a bit and move along if I got too close.
With the water in the reflecting pool so low I was also able to see something else; pennies. Lots of pennies; in the few minutes I spent looking for them after I noticed the first one, I counted about three dozen. All but three of them were “tails”, showing the very scene which lay before me.
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