Backyard Nature: When pollen attacks

by Marlene Berlin

To all the spring allergy sufferers out there: pick your poison.

It is tree pollen season in DC, and pollen levels have been in the high or very high range, according to various news sources and weather sites.

And the two most visible causes of your irritated sinuses, your runny nose, and your watery eyes are oak and beech tree pollen.

Oak pollen catkins piled high along Chesapeake Street west of Connecticut Avenue.

Each type has its hotspots.

Examples in our neighborhood include oak pollen is that is layered so thickly on parts of Chesapeake Street that it looks like someone left piles of dirt on the asphalt.

And walk along Audubon Terrace or on the lower Soapstone Trail, and you will find puffy American beech pollen catkins in masses.

It’s difficult to tell in this photo, but the ground cover is a carpet of beech pollen.

A beech catkin pileup up close. (2023 photo)

For those more bothered by oak pollen than beech, Soapstone may provide a respite. Beech pollen catkins are accumulating in the park and in Soapstone Creek itself.

Beech pollen catkins in Soapstone Creek

But there are few sightings of the stringy oak catkins.

A few oak pollen catkins in the creek.

And if your eyes and sinuses clear and allow you to direct your attention to your surroundings, you might notice a barred owl high in a tree…

… or a mallard pair floating by.