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Covering Forest Hills, Van Ness, North Cleveland Park and Wakefield

Get to know your (wilder) Forest Hills neighbors

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Text and photos by David Jonathan Cohen

Two parks – one compact and the other sprawling – offer havens to wildlife in Forest Hills.

Astonishing diversity is dense in Linnean Park. Pieces of four streets mark its perimeter: Broad Branch Terrace, 33rd Street, Linnean Avenue, and Fessenden Street. The park owes its resurgence to daylighting its water, a project that the District of Columbia completed in 2014. It offers a tribute to thoughtful urban ecology, and the vision of neighbor activists who included Forest Hills Connection founder Marlene Berlin.

The three-way intersection of 32nd Street, Fessenden Street, and Broad Branch Terrace adjoins one entrance to Linnean Park. Harrison Street and Linnean Avenue provides the other. Between the two are two trails, one on each side of the pools that become a creek in downpours.

On the pools, mallards paddle and dabble. A brilliant yellow prothonotary warbler, also known as a “swamp canary,” stops over in a muddy puddle or American holly. It’s one of many migrants that pass through. A pileated woodpecker works at rotting trunks. A red-shouldered hawk nests high in a birch.

Mallard male, Linnean Park, April 22, 2020 (Text and photos © David Jonathan Cohen 2020 | Instagram: DavidCohenPhotoDC)

Prothonotary warbler, Linnean Park, April 28, 2020

Pileated woodpecker, Linnean Park, April 22, 2020

Red-shouldered hawk on nest, Linnean Park, April 29, 2020

One day I posted a photo I took of the prothonotary warbler on the Facebook page of the American Birding Association. The next day, I returned to Linnean Park with my camera. Soon a bearded man about 30 I’d never seen approached me. Around his neck were telltale binoculars and a camera. He asked, “Are you the man who photographed the prothonotary warbler?”

He wanted to know where to find it. He made his first trip to Linnean Park to look for it. He recognized me from my Facebook photo. I’m guessing my camera, long lens, and monopod made it easier for him to identify me.

The sprawling and enthralling alternative to the compact Linnean Park is the storied and historic Rock Creek Park. Its trails invite miles of walking. They open the way to rare sightings like a blue-headed vireo. A wood duck pair moves from the woods to the creek and back. A red-bellied woodpecker pair holes up near the top of a dead trunk. A blue jay eyes you. A northern cardinal strikes a pose in the wind. Or an exhausted single mother, a barred owl, watches its nest and three owlets from a nearby tree, monitored daily by another wildlife photographer who told me their story.

Blue-headed vireo, Rock Creek Park, April 6, 2020

Wood duck pair, Rock Creek Park, April 24, 2020

Red-bellied woodpeckers in and by nest, Rock Creek Park, April 5, 2020

Blue jay, Rock Creek Park, April 29, 2020

Northern cardinal, Rock Creek Park, April 2, 2020

Barred owl, Rock Creek Park, April 29, 2020

On one walk, I watch an eastern chipmunk scurry across the forest floor into a hollow tree. Moments later, it pops out of a portal about four feet from the ground. Each time I approach, it disappears. Twice it reappears. Which of us is more curious about the other?

Eastern chipmunk, Rock Creek Park, April 29, 2020

Park your worries for a bit. Nature awaits, ready to play hide-and-seek.

Comments

  3. Charming narrative, and the photos are AMAZING!!! What’s the terrain like on that walk? I’d love to follow in your footsteps but am no longer reliably sure-footed.

    • Alice Stewart, thanks for your kind words! The terrain depends on the recent weather. If it’s been raining, things are often muddy and slippery. Since the trails include ups and downs, that could be treacherous if your sure-footedness is a question. Maybe, once social distancing becomes an artifact of history (soon, please!), you could try on the arm of a strong companion?

  4. These are terrific photos and the writing is a lot of fun–thanks David! I had no idea there was that much wildlife in there.

    FYI, Kim Stanley Robinson’s wonderful novel GREEN EARTH has a number of scenes set in Rock Creek Park.

    • Michael Chorost, thanks for your kind comment AND for the recommendation of the novel! I’ll look for it.

  5. Terrific article and photos. Seeing a prothonatory warbler in Linnean Park is truly a first.

    • Marge, thank you! From you, birder and writer extraordinaire, that means a lot!

  6. David–the photos would make Audobon proud! or even perhaps just a bit envious!
    Thank you for sharing your discoveries.

  7. Wonderful photos! We loved looking at them, and we enjoyed your commentary. too!

  8. David, I am in awe of your ability to photograph these stunning birds, the ducks, the owl and the chipmunk! You have a keen eye and you must have a lot of patience. The text is great too. What a wonderful way to enjoy nature now that I am mostly stuck inside my apartment in the city. Kudos!

    • Audrey, thanks! I send you hugs and a wish for joy through your sheltering in place. I think often of apartment dwellers…sigh. I’m glad to be a messenger of the stunning outdoors!

  9. Wonderful photos—-so sharp and beautiful colors. Had no idea Rock Creek was full of so many fabulous birds.

    • MaryAnn Miller, thanks for your kind comment! I’m glad to share my sense of Rock Creek Park as a lasting treasure!

  10. David, Thank you for sharing your beautiful pictures with me! I love watching birds from my kitchen window and have seen several that you have photographed. Keep them coming!

  11. Hello, David, Wonderful article and FANTASTIC photos! Thanks so much!

    Yesterday I was out birding near Little Falls Creek, hoping to find warblers. (Delighted to find a yellow-rumpled warbler there last week.) I was startled to see 3 lesser yellowlegs, scooping up fresh water and Creek food, oblivious to my attempt to get photos with my cell phone and app called Seek by iNaturalist!! My questions for you are: 1) Could they really be lesser yellowlegs? 2) Why are they here in a fresh- water stream? and 3) Where are they going? ( up the coast to New England or out Northwest to the tundra of western Canada?)

    Thanks for your helping knowledge!

    Nancy Rosan

  12. Nancy Rosan, thanks for your kind comment!
    As for your questions: Without a photo, I can’t know what your birds were with certainty. My guess is that you saw solitary sandpipers (green legs, not yellow; otherwise easy to confuse). I photographed one yesterday in Rock Creek Park, also in a freshwater stream. I was so surprised I posted a photo to verify my identification. Two other birders in this area confirmed my ID and reported their own sightings in the last week. So it seems to be migration time, with stops along the way from Latin America to breeding in the northern reaches of Canada. From what I’ve seen on birding websites, lesser yellowlegs are more partial to bogs and marshes while solitary sandpipers, as I saw, can frequent creeks and forests. I hope this helps!

  13. Thanks for the great photos David (i had pointed out the hawk nest to you a couple weeks ago). Unfortunately, I came across the female hawk today, dead of an apparent broken neck, near the trail by the nest. She must have gotten in fight protecting her brood and fallen from high (had enjoyed hearing them calling the past few days). Very sad for us all.

    • Eileen, thanks for your post AND for having pointed out the nest! I’m sorry to hear about the death of the female hawk. I love seeing gorgeous birds. It brings with it witnessing the endless struggles they, like other species, face each day.

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