AN ALL-DAY BIRD TRIP IO3 



An All-Day Bird Trip at Washington, D. C. 



BY HARRY C . OBERHOLSER 



The Spring of 1907 was a remarkable season for birds in the 

 vicinity of Washington, D. C. Particularly was this the case with 

 migrants, and in most other parts of the eastern United States 

 these were also unusually numerous both in species and in individ- 

 uals. It was the writer's privilege to make an all-day trip on May 13 

 of that year and the results seem worth a permanent record. For 

 number of species observed in one day, it was, up to that time, the 

 best record made by a single individual about theCity of Washington 

 and, in fact, there is to this day only one better. 



The weather during much of the spring of 1907 vvas unusually 

 cool, and this apparently had considerably retarded the general 

 migration of the later species. May 13 was clear and decidedly cool, 

 an ideal day for bird observation. 



From the northern part of the City of Washington, the 

 route followed was through the valley of Rock Creek to the National 

 Zoological Park and Cleveland Park ; thence by electric car through 

 the city to the Anacostia River at the Anacostia Bridge; from there 

 the route was by rowboat up the Anacostia River to a short distance 

 above Bladensburg, Maryland, and back, with three short excurs- 

 ions on land at as many diiferent points by the way. The return 

 home from the Anacostia River was made by electric car through 

 the city. The time occupied by this trip extended from 4:00 a.m. 

 to 9:00 p.m. The distance covered was 32 miles, distributed as 

 follows: by electric car 9, by boat 16, and on foot 7 miles. 



The region traversed included almost all the dii7erent kinds of 

 country found about Washington, and our excursion thus resulted 

 in a representative list of birds. 



The number of species observed on this day amounted to 103, 

 with a total of 1846 individuals. The following species were unusu- 

 ally numerous for this locality: yellow-shafted flicker, Carolina 

 chickadee, tufted titmouse, white-eyed vireo, American redstart, 

 Maryland yellow-throat, and yellow warbler. From the actual 

 niimber of individuals noted, the ten most numerous species 

 were the song sparrow, English sparrow, catbird, American redstart, 

 purple grackle, American crow, fish crow, Maryland yellow-throat. 



