Upcoming Workshops and Classes

Photo: American Oystercatchers, Rob Sabatini/Audubon Photography Awards

Join us for a workshop or class! Here are a few of our upcoming offerings. Check our calendar often for updates.

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Bird Outing at Van Dyck Park

White-breasted Nuthatch. Photo: Doug Dearinger/Audubon Photography Awards

NVBA is partnering with City of Fairfax for a walk at Van Dyck Park! The outing will be led by Larry Meade, and all experience levels are welcome!

When: Sunday, July 12, 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Where: Van Dyck Park, 3720 Blenheim Blvd, Fairfax, VA 22030
Fee: FREE; registration is requested

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Pollinator Palooza at Mason Neck State Park

Monarch butterfly. Photo: Judy Gallagher

Mason Neck State Park invites the community to celebrate the amazing creatures that keep our world blooming at Pollinator Palooza. Northern Virginia Bird Alliance will have a Wildlife Sanctuary Program-focused table and we hope you will stop by! 

When: Saturday, July 18, 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Where: Mason Neck State Park, 7301 High Point Rd, Lorton, VA 22079; near the picnic area
Fee: FREE with paid park admission

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Bird Outing at Mason Neck State Park

NVBA partners with Mason Neck State Park to host regular bird outings every fourth Saturday of the month from 8:00–10:00 AM. Your guide for these events will be John Colpoys, an avid birder and experienced bird guide for NVBA. 

When: Saturday, July 25, 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Where: Mason Neck State Park, 7301 High Point Rd, Lorton, VA 22079
Fee: FREE; registration is requested

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How Do Birds Get Their Names?

What’s in a name? From indigenous languages to famous naturalists to simple descriptors, the names of birds convey information about the history of our feathered friends. Discover the hidden meanings in the names of local birds and hear about recent plans to re-name some bird species with our guest speaker Leeanna Pletcher.

When: Tuesday, July 28, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Where: Online
Fee: $5 for members; $15 for nonmembers

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Mindful Birding: Finding Wonder, Well-being and Connection through Birds

Join us for an event all about how birding helps reduce stress, cultivate mindfulness and deepen our relationship with the natural world during this virtual presentation by Ana Ka’ahanui.

Birding offers more than the excitement of identifying new species—it can also be a powerful practice for reducing stress, cultivating mindfulness, and deepening our relationship with the natural world. Discover how slowing down and engaging your senses can transform the way you experience birds and their habitats.

When: Tuesday, August 4, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Where: Online
Fee: $12

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Author Event - The Return of the Oystercatcher: Saving Birds to Save the Planet with Scott Weidensaul

In his newest book, The Return of the Oystercatcher: Saving Birds to Save the Planet, best-selling author and researcher Scott Weidensaul shows why we should never underestimate the resiliency of birds, and why creating a world that works for birds will work for everything, including us.

When: Thursday, August 6, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Where: Online
Fee: $15 for members; $25 for nonmembers

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You can also join us for a Bird Outing, Natural Resource Survey or Butterfly and Dragonfly survey.

Online Programs

Many of our programs are offered online, and we will provide recordings of as many of these events as possible and make them available here. Check back often, as we will add videos and resources as we receive them. Please enjoy!

Birds as Co-workers

Photo: Canada Goose, Stephen Zarate/Audubon Photography Awards

Danielle Brigida

We've been watching the birds of northern Virginia very closely. Maybe too closely. Because at some point, we stopped seeing them as birds and started seeing them as…colleagues. Turns out, the birds sharing our region have been quietly modeling workplace archetypes. We're just now catching on.

Carolina Wren. Photo: Clyde Dexter/Audubon Photography Awards

Carolina Wren
Marks every email “urgent!”

Carolina wrens are small birds with outsized personalities. Their loud, persistent songs make them impossible to ignore, even when they're tucked away somewhere nearby.

Blue Jay. Photo: Simon d’Entremont/Audubon Photography Awards

Blue Jay
Knows what’s happening in every department.

Blue Jays are highly intelligent and extremely observant. Just like crows, they can remember faces and have been documented using tools to make work easier. Their excellent Red-shouldered Hawk impression gets everyone in the forest paying attention. 

Red-tailed Hawk. Photo: Jesse Gordon/Audubon Photography Awards

Red-tailed Hawk
Nobody knows what they do. Nobody wants to find out.

Red-tailed Hawks spend their days perched and soaring high above the landscape. Their eyesight is so incredible that it puts humans to shame, being eight times stronger than ours. They keep tabs on everything.

Turkey Vultures. Photo: Kevin Juberg/Audubon Photography Awards

Turkey Vulture
The only reason this place still functions. 

Turkey Vultures perform one of nature's most important jobs: cleanup. By removing carrion from the landscape, they help prevent the spread of disease and keep ecosystems healthy.

Canada Goose. Photo: Stephen Zarate/Audubon Photography Awards

Canada Goose
The reason we have a code of conduct.

Canada Geese are highly territorial and protective. If they think a space belongs to them, they're unlikely to be persuaded otherwise.

Mourning Dove. Photo: Eva Golebiowska/Audubon Photography Awards

Mourning Dove
Accidentally replies all. Apologies immediately (to all). 

Mourning doves are among the most common birds in North America and are frequent visitors to backyards. They're known for their gentle behavior and soft, mournful coos, and questionable (nesting) choices.

The truth is, one of the best things about birding is that the more closely you watch birds, the more individual personalities you start to see.

Some are bold. Some are cautious. Some seem to have their lives together. Others appear to be improvising at all times.

We may have had a little fun assigning workplace roles, but every bird on this list has a fascinating story of its own. The next time you're outside in northern Virginia, see which of your coworkers you can spot. And please let us know who we’re missing for the next edition.

Follow along with our “Birds as Coworkers” series on Instagram!

Bad Feather Days: Molt in Backyard Birds

Photo: Northern Cardinal, Kent Blumberg

Kent Blumberg

Why is that Northern Cardinal bald? We all have bad hair days. Birds have bad feather weeks every late summer as they go through molt. Some, like Northern Cardinals, take the process to the extreme. 

In a month or two we’ll start noticing changes in the birds around us as many of them molt. Let’s take a look at why birds replace their feathers, how the process works, and when it happens.

Female Northern Cardinal molting. Photo: Kent Blumberg

Feathers are made of keratin, like our hair and fingernails. Feathers serve many purposes for birds: flight, insulation, waterproofing, courtship, and camouflage. Feathers need to stay in top condition to do those jobs well. Wear or damage can hurt flight efficiency.

Unlike hair and nails, feathers grow quickly and then stop. Keratin is not live tissue and cannot be repaired, so when feathers get damaged, they must be completely replaced. That’s the main reason birds replace their feathers each year.

Another reason birds molt is to switch from their everyday plumage to brighter breeding colors. Even birds that put on fancy coats for breeding season spend most of the year in basic, less colorful plumage. Those that dress up for breeding do so only for the breeding season. Examples in northern Virginia include American Goldfinches, Wood Ducks, Indigo Buntings, and others.

In molting, new feathers growing in follicles push the old feathers out. Because growing those new feathers takes a huge amount of energy, birds carefully time their molts so as not to overlap with breeding or migration. For many birds in northern Virginia, late summer is peak molt season. There’s still a lot of food available and no need yet for migration. 

Red-bellied Woodpeckers, one molting. Photo: Kent Blumberg

Molt patterns also vary by age. Young birds often go through several molts in their first season. Others take several annual molts to reach full adult plumage. Bald Eagles, for example, take four to five years, while Ring-billed Gulls can take three years.

While most birds that have a breeding plumage go through a partial molt to don their bright colors, others, like the Northern Cardinal or the European Starling rely on feather wear to reveal their brighter colors. 

In late summer, male Cardinals often look duller, their red feathers hidden beneath a tan or gray wash. Over the winter, as the edges of feathers wear, the underlying red color is exposed. Similarly, a late summer European Starling will sport buff-colored tips on belly and breast feathers. By breeding season those tips will have worn away, leaving a glossy black breast.

Most local birds adopt their breeding plumage in early spring, but male Wood Ducks get a jump on the game.  They swap to dull plumage in early summer and then back to their brilliant breeding colors in early fall. They fast-track the change because their courtship begins in late fall. They need the dull colors to help them hide while they temporarily lose the ability to fly during wing molt, but then jump right back into glorious technicolor.  

Back to our bald Northern Cardinal. For unknown reasons, Northern Cardinals and Blue Jays often replace all their head feathers at once. When the old feathers get pushed out, they can look bald (like the female Northern Cardinal in the accompanying photo). Fortunately, new feathers emerge quickly. 

Watch for signs of molt later this summer. Birds may look ragged, patchy, or downright disheveled. Remember that this is a stressful time for birds, so do your best to give them space. If you have regular visitors to your backyard, consider taking weekly portraits of them, starting now through August, to see how they change as they go through molt. 

Kent Blumberg is an MBA professor, passionate bird photographer and voracious reader. 

Results of the 2026 Winter Waterfowl Count

Photo: American Wigeon, Walker Golder/Audubon Photography Awards

Larry Cartwright, Compiler

The 2026 Winter Waterfowl Survey, sponsored by NVBA, was conducted on February 14 and 15. Nearly 70 participants monitored areas along the Potomac River from western Loudoun County to Quantico Marine Base in Prince William County. They also surveyed many inland water bodies for the presence of waterfowl. Here’s a link to the raw data.

Icy conditions likely impacted the number of some waterfowl species recorded during the 2026 count. With some notable exceptions, duck totals, especially dabblers, were incredibly low. Of the seven most common dabbling ducks seen in our area (Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Mallard, American Black Duck, Northern Pintail, and Green-winged Teal), five were tallied with fewer than 50 individuals apiece. Granted, the dabbling duck wintering population has been low for some time, but the numbers for these five species were at basement level. 

• Northern Shoveler: 28 in 2025 and 30 in 2026

• Gadwall: 616 in 2025 and 46 in 2026

• American Wigeon: 33 in 2025 and 1 in 2026

• Northern Pintail: 134 in 2025 and 13 in 2026

• Green-winged Teal: 16 in 2025 and 5 in 2026 

Green-winged Teal prefer shallow water and love to forage along the shoreline, so the low numbers for 2026 might be explained by ice-covered shorelines, but conditions for the 2026 count do not explain low figures for previous years. 

American Black Duck. Photo: Glenn Upton/Audubon Photography Awards

The Mallard and American Black Duck numbers were the exceptions to the low dabbling duck figures for 2026. The wintering Mallard population remained practically unchanged, and the American Black Duck count showed a dramatic increase. The count of Mallards was 1,240 in 2025 and 1,233 in 2026, while the count of American Black Ducks increased from 716 in 2025 to 1,044 in 2026.

Mallards are the most common of the dabbling ducks and can be found almost everywhere, including small inland lakes and ponds. American Black Ducks have been most abundant at Pohick Bay, Ft. Belvoir, and the Great Marsh at Mason Neck, but I am noticing a slight change in distribution that may be independent of the ice cover in 2026. One-third of the American Black Ducks in 2025 were tallied at Chopawamsic Creek at Quantico Marine Base. In 2026, over one-fourth of American Black Ducks were at Chopawamsic Creek. 

There were dramatic declines in some diving ducks in the genus Aythya (Canvasback, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, and Greater and Lesser Scaup) while the Common Merganser numbers doubled between 2025 and 2026. Canvasbacks declined from 6,176 in 2025 to 180 in 2026, and Redheads from 776 in 2025 to 468 in 2026. Common Mergansers increased from 755 in 2025 to 1,461 in 2026.

Redheads. Photo: William Dix/Audubon Photography Awards

It’s hard to know how much the ice cover impacted these numbers, but it seems not to have deterred Common Mergansers. Canvasbacks and Redheads generally congregate around Pohick Bay, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, and Mason Neck Refuge and State Park. This was partially true in 2026. Half the Redheads were tallied in the northern half of Belmont Bay, but over half of the small number of Canvasbacks were found at Leesylvania State Park. Common Mergansers were well represented in the Potomac River as seen from Ft. Belvoir and in Belmont Bay (over 800 birds). 

There was little fluctuation in Ring-necked Duck and Lesser Scaup numbers between 2025 and 2026. The count for Ring-necked Ducks was 601 in 2025 and 562 in 2026, and for Lesser Scaup was 6,565 in 2025 and 7,275 in 2026. Distribution was unchanged as well. Well over half the Ring-necked Ducks were found in the Potomac River west of Great Falls or in lakes and ponds in western Fairfax and Loudoun Counties. Lesser Scaup were present in large rafts in the Potomac River at Mason Neck and in Occoquan and Belmont Bays. 

As for the small diving ducks, Buffleheads and Ruddy Ducks witnessed the most significant declines while Hooded Mergansers had no fluctuation. 

• Bufflehead: 583 in 2025 and 282 in 2026

• Hooded Merganser: 357 in 2025 and 351 in 2026

• Ruddy Duck: 424 in 2025 in 184 in 2026

These smaller divers are often more at home in inland bodies of water than the Potomac River so perhaps iced-over lakes and ponds did not provide suitable conditions for them.

Tundra Swans maintained a nice presence between 2025 and 2026 with birds primarily distributed around Occoquan and Belmont Bays and the Great Marsh at Mason Neck. Volunteers also reported small flocks at Leesylvania State Park and Chopawamsic Creek. The count was 396 in 2025 and 357 in 2026.

Red-necked Grebe. Photo: Matt Felperin

The top bird of the 2026 Winter Waterfowl Count was not even a waterfowl (ducks, geese, swans), but an occasional winter waterbird not seen every year. This was a Red-necked Grebe, the star of the show seen at Pohick Bay Regional Park. 

Trends? It’s hard to identify them with the amazing fluctuations seen in some species. We can say that certain species prefer to winter in certain locations, so we have an idea of the distribution of some waterfowl, whether it’s Lesser Scaup at Occoquan and Mason Neck or Ring-necked Ducks hanging out west of Great Falls.

Thanks to everyone that participated in the 2026 count. Come back and join us in February 2027 and see what surprises that wintering waterfowl in northern Virginia present for us. 

Plant the Slant: Tips for Gardening on Slopes

Photo: Creeping Phlox, Margaret Fisher

Eileen Ellsworth

Depending on its position and angle, planting a slope isn’t always easy. But the rewards can be considerable. When your work is done and your slope face is filled with new, colorful, water-absorbing, soil-retaining natives, it’s a tremendous feeling of pride and accomplishment. Your garden will display like a picture on a wall.

Erosion is, of course, the main issue. There’s no such thing as a “one-size-fits-all” plan for slope gardening. Slope contours, angles, sun exposure, water flow, and soil health all differ. And for sharply angled slopes, landscape engineering strategies like check dams and terracing may be necessary for erosion control. But for most slopes, native plants are all that are needed. Their deep and extensive root systems interrupt the chain of events that causes erosion, and, once established, they attract local wildlife to boot.

Creeping Phlox (Phlox subulata) planted on a slope. Photo: Margaret Fisher

Remember there is no need to tackle the entire slope at once. Get started on just one section and see how it goes with these steps:

1. Identify the existing native trees, shrubs, and plants on your slope, and leave them be. Use iNaturalist, Picture This, or some other tool to help you. You will plant around and between them, which is helpful. Their existing structure offers a frame to fill, and their shade will help the new plants establish themselves and better survive the summer heat.  

2. Identify the non-natives and remove them, then amend the soil with some compost and perhaps new topsoil depending on the extent of erosion.

3. Purchase new native plants. For best results, choose plants that spread quickly, have broad leaves to catch the rain, and a strong winter presence. Also, slopes are drier than flat plots because of their drainage, and moisture down a slope occurs at a gradient. They tend to be drier at the top and moister towards the bottom, so consider some drought-tolerant plants in your purchase.

4. Plant everything and then mulch. While mulching is never ideal in that it tamps down native plant spread as well as weeds, natives take their time getting established. First year they “sleep,” next year they “creep,” and the third year they “leap.” Mulch will help protect your plants until they “leap” sufficiently to cover the ground and grip the soil.

5. Water your plants frequently, especially in July and August. They won’t make it through the first year without enough water. A soaker hose is one way to keep the water from just running off.

6. As the season progresses, revisit your plan. Perhaps add duplicates of plants in early autumn that did especially well.

Here are some additional resources for your consideration:

• The Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District provides an excellent list of erosion control plants.

• Plant NOVA Natives has a webpage dedicated to erosion control and suggested plants here.  

• Request a free site visit from NVBA’s Wildlife Sanctuary Program and ask for suggestions.

The Gray Catbird

Photo: Gray Catbird, Kathy Sidles/Audubon Photography Awards

Connie Ericson

One of my favorite sights (and sounds) of spring is my first Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) of the season. I’ve always found them elegant-looking, with a sleek, slaty body, jaunty black cap and rusty patch under the tail. 

They would be endearing even if their only call was their distinctive “mew,” but they are excellent singers and mimics. They are in the same family as mockingbirds and thrashers, all in the family Mimidae. To advertise territory a male will sing phrases that Cornell's All About Birds says include “whistles, squeaks, gurgles, whines, and nasal tones,” which sometimes imitate other birds or even “frogs and mechanical sounds.” Catbirds do not repeat the phrases, unlike mockingbirds, which will repeat them three or more times, and thrashers, which will repeat a phrase once before changing. Thrashers appear to distinguish songs of catbirds from those of other thrashers by the number of repeated syllables in a sequence rather than a specific pattern. (David Sibley, The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior, p. 69) Female catbirds also sing, but less frequently and more quietly.

As the name of its genus (Dumetella or thicket) suggests, you can attract catbirds to your yard with dense plantings of shrubs and fruit-bearing native plants. As the native shrubs and flowers I have planted on the terracing in my back yard have grown up, I have seen catbirds more often. I see them flitting from the Red Oak and Eastern Dogwood trees to the chokeberry and winterberry. Like the Northern Flickers that visit my yard, the catbirds also will forage along the face of the stacked-stone walls for ants and other burrowing insects. They are somewhat shy about approaching the birdbath, but then bathe enthusiastically. 

Gray Catbird bathing. Photo: Darla J. Oathout/Audubon Photography Awards

Although both male and female catbirds may carry nesting material at first to starter nests, the female alone reportedly builds the final nest over a period of five to eight days. The nest often will be in low dense growth at the edges of woods. (Donald Stokes, Bird Behavior, vol. I, p. 207) Although I live very close to Arlington’s Glencarlyn Park, I have never seen a catbird nest in my yard. I have mixed feelings about whether having a nest there would be a good thing, because I have seen several neighborhood cats pass through regularly.

Catbirds, unlike other species in the family Mimidae, migrate from their breeding grounds and winter mostly in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, although some winter in the southeastern United States, which allowed me to enjoy them during winter when I lived in Houston. (Sibley, page 474)

Black Catbird. Photo: Lawrence Hollar/Audubon Photography Awards

On a birdwatching trip to the Yucatán Peninsula, I also was charmed by the Black Catbird (Melanoptila glabrirostris). It is a member of the family Mimidae, but it does not mimic other birds’ songs. It’s slightly smaller than the Gray Catbird but similar in shape with a long tail and thin bill. It’s “black,” but in light it shows glossy purple and blue-green plumage. It shares a fondness for thickets, scrub, dense forest understory and edge habitat. It was one of my favorite birds of the trip. You can read more about Black Catbirds on Wikipedia,  DataZone by BirdLife, or, if you’re a subscriber, Cornell’s Birds of the World.

A Closer Look: Nature All Around Us, June 2026

Photo: Curculio species, Judy Gallagher

Judy Gallagher

June 2026

Weevils have a bad reputation. As a child, I heard about the Boll Weevil, which decimated cotton crops in the 1800s. And every other reference to weevils contained the term "pest." But I've become fascinated with weevils as I see more of them through my macro lens. They are most unusual-looking creatures, and they aren't all pests. 

Cocklebur Weevil. Photo: Judy Gallagher

Weevils are Beetles, mostly in the family Curculionidae, which, with over 80,000 species, may be the most species-rich animal family. Members of this family are known as True Weevils. They have a long snout (rostrum) and elbowed antennae that are bent sharply. Weevil mouthparts are at the end of the rostrum, and consist of a pair of mandibles that they use to chew on plants. Adult weevils have specialized claws that help them to hold onto plants, and some also have sticky substances on their feet that help them adhere to plant surfaces. Many are cryptically colored to blend in with their environment. Some weevils roll up and play dead when threatened, while others ingest plant toxins that make them unpalatable to potential predators. 

Curculio species, with a rostrum that is longer than its body. Photo: Judy Gallagher

Some weevils, such as weevils that live on nuts, have a rostrum that is longer than the body. 

Marbled Fungus Weevil. Note the straight antennae. Photo: Judy Gallagher

In addition to True Weevils, there are several other weevil families, collectively known as Primitive Weevils: Fungus Weevils (Anthribidae); Leaf-rolling Weevils (Attelabidae); Primitive Weevils (Belidae); Straight-snouted Weevils (Brentidae); Caridae; and Pine Flower Weevils (Nemonychidae). The total number of species in these other families is about 6,400. One visual difference from True Weevils is that their antennae are straight, rather than elbowed. 

There is also a subfamily of the Leaf Beetle family named Bean Weevils, but they lack the elongated snout of True or Primitive Weevils. 

Little Leaf Notcher - two males approach a female. Photo: Judy Gallagher

Like all beetles, weevils undergo complete metamorphosis, having egg, larva, pupa and adult stages. Most weevil species reproduce sexually, but a number of weevil species are asexual, where all individuals are female. Despite not having the genetic variation that occurs with sexual reproduction, they can adapt to digest toxins in different plants and pass that down epigenetically to their offspring. Epigenetic changes don't alter the underlying DNA, but act like chemical switches that turn genes on or off. 

There is even one Australian weevil species that is eusocial, with non-reproductive females helping to excavate and defend the colony. Unlike other eusocial helping insects like ants and termites, who are short-lived, helper weevils can live for up to 10 years, almost as long as the queen weevil. 

Weevil adults and larvae eat plants. Some species eat foliage, while others eat flower buds, seeds, and roots. Typically, more damage is done by the larvae than the adults, and weevils that feed on roots can cause the entire plant to be unhealthy. I mentioned the Boll Weevil earlier, but there are other weevils that are a problem for agriculture. Grain Weevils damage stored grain. Rice Weevils damage stored rice, wheat and corn. White Pine Weevils damage young pine trees. And there are many others. In addition to the problems caused by weevils chewing on plants, the damage also can allow pathogens like fungi and bacteria to enter the plant, which causes other challenges to the plant. 

Canada Thistle Bud Weevil. Photo: Judy Gallagher

But some weevils are useful. Mile-a-minute Weed, a fast-growing invasive plant, is now somewhat under control because of the deliberate introduction of a tiny Chinese weevil, just 1/10th of an inch long, that eats Mile-a-minute Weed. The Canada Thistle Bud Weevil helps control invasive thistle populations, although it also sometimes also eats native thistles. 

Flower Weevil with pollen. Photo: Judy Gallagher

Some weevils eat rotting vegetation, helping to decompose it. And Flower Weevils can be good pollinators. Scientists have identified at least 250 plant species where weevils are important pollinators. Flower Weevils eat pollen and inadvertently carry pollen from flower to flower. Most of the weevils are plant-specific, and are pollinating the plant in which they are living and reproducing. This is called brood-site pollination.  

Jewel Weevil, found in south Florida. Photo: Judy Gallagher

Exophthalmus species, found in Colombia. Photo: Judy Gallagher

I'm going to finish with two particularly attractive weevils. One is found in south Florida, and the other in South America, so you won't see them here. But I encourage you to get out and see our local weevils, less brightly colored, but still fascinating.

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View more of Judy’s articles on A Closer Look: Nature All Around Us (formerly Observations from Meadowood).

Wildlife Sanctuary Almanac: Native Dogwoods are Better for Birds

Photo: Native Dogwood, http://www.ForestWander.com, CC BY-SA 3.0 US, via Wikimedia Commons

Julie Udani

The state flower of Virginia, the dogwood bloom, is one of the most welcome signs of spring in our area. Our native tree (long known as Cornus florida and recently reclassified as Benthamidia florida to make my life more difficult) is a small understory tree with charming white or pink blooms in the spring and beautiful red fall color to the leaves. There are both native and non-native dogwoods available in the nursery trade, as well as hybrid crosses. It is important to know that all dogwoods are not created equal when it comes to their value to wildlife.

Native Dogwood. Photo: http://www.ForestWander.com, CC BY-SA 3.0 US, via Wikimedia Commons

Importantly for the birds, the native dogwood flowers several weeks earlier in the spring than the Chinese or kousa dogwood, and its berries ripen earlier in the autumn, just in time for the fall migration. In fact, the native dogwood may use its flashy fall color as a signal to tell birds passing overhead that here is a source of berries high in the lipids they need for energy on their long flights. The fruit of the kousa dogwood can be eaten by birds, but often goes to feed the chipmunks instead. In addition, according to Doug Tallamy, Benthamidia florida supports 117 different insect herbivore species - vital food for the birds in the spring and summer. Benthamidia kousa supports none.

Of course, there are good reasons why people started planting the non-native species in the first place. Our native dogwoods can be very susceptible to diseases, most famously anthracnose, a fungal disease which causes unattractive brown spotting on the leaves and bracts. The kousa dogwoods are not so susceptible and their pointed petal-like bracts and attractive fruit are very ornamental, even if the berries do not ripen at the right time for migrating flocks. Another very commonly planted dogwood in our area is the Rutgers hybrid (Benthamidia x rutgersensis) which is a cross between the native B. florida and the Chinese B. kousa. It displays many of the ornamental characteristics of both parents and is not highly susceptible to disease. However, most of the Rutgers hybrids are sterile and do not produce fruit. 

Although the leaves are often similar, you can tell a native dogwood from a non-native or a hybrid by the roundness of its other features - fat round flower buds, smooth round berries growing in clusters, and rounder ends to the larger petals (actually bracts, but they sure look like petals.) The bracts start to appear before the tree has finished leafing out in the spring. Also, the native tree’s bark is scaly, like alligator hide, not smooth or splotchy. 

If you want to plant a dogwood, your best bet is to find one of the native Benthamidia florida cultivars that has been bred for disease resistance, such as the “Appalachian” or “Cherokee” series (like ‘Appalachian Spring’ or ‘Cherokee Brave’). Give it dappled sun, and water it during any droughts. A properly sited native dogwood tree will support insects and provide berries for the birds, helping them in a way the non-native and hybrid dogwoods just can’t. However pretty they may be.

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Catch up on past Wildlife Sanctuary Almanac articles here.

Flyways and Freedom: A Black Birder's Reflection

Photo: Caspian Terns and Herring Gulls, Kenneth Haas/Audubon Photography Awards

Ajani Simmons

“Black Birders Week is more than birding...it’s a movement for liberation, healing, and the transformative power of nature as a force for resistance and reclamation.”

— Black AF in STEM

Black Birders Week changed my life. It changed the way I see myself in environmental spaces. It was the reason I joined the Northern Virginia Bird Alliance board and gave me the opportunity to meet Black birders, photographers, artists, conservation leaders, and other Black nature enthusiasts. 

Ajani Simmons, self-portrait.

Even as a black Master Naturalist, I hadn’t spent much time thinking about how Black people fit into birding spaces until I attended Black Birders Week events.

It was a reminder that Black people have always belonged in environmental spaces.

Gull. Photo: Ajani Simmons

This year’s Black Birders Week theme is “Flyways and Freedom: Advocacy, Action, and the Future,” and the spotlight is on the Laridae family: gulls, terns, skimmers, and noddies, birds shaped by wind, water, and migration.

The theme feels especially meaningful right now.

Birds have long been symbols of freedom because they belong to the sky. But they have to land. And what happens on the ground determines whether they survive.

That truth has stayed with me while thinking about both conservation and community here in northern Virginia.

Queen City was a thriving Black neighborhood in Arlington for decades before residents were displaced to build road infrastructure connected to the Pentagon. Communities were uprooted, and landscapes changed with them.

The same kinds of development pressures that fragment habitats and disrupt migration corridors can also erase the places where people once felt rooted and connected. 

In many ways, flyways are about more than birds. 

They’re also about connection, safety, and the ability to move through the world and still find places where you belong.

I remember standing near the water one evening in Occoquan Bay watching gulls ride the wind with almost no effort. There was a sense of peace in its stillness. It struck me how much migration depends on trust that there will be safety and space to return to.

That’s part of why Black Birders Week matters to me.

Yes, it’s a celebration of Black birders and Black joy outdoors. It’s also a reminder that environmental spaces become stronger when more people feel welcomed into them.

Building that kind of community doesn’t happen automatically. It takes intention. It takes listening. It takes creating spaces where people feel safe showing up as themselves, whether they’re lifelong birders or simply curious about the natural world.

For myself and many others, Black Birders Week opened a door into community, conservation, and a deeper sense of belonging.

I hope you also find meaning and impact in the upcoming events.

Black Birders Week is May 24 through May 30. The following events are brought to you by the Northern Virginia Birding Alliance:

On Tuesday, May 26, join us for a free virtual presentation with Jason Hall, founder of the In Color Birding Club and co-host of the Bird Joy Podcast, as he explores how birding can be a joyful and inclusive space right now.

Then on Sunday, May 31, we will head outside together for a free bird and nature walk at Upton Hill Regional Park in Arlington. 

Both events are free and open to everyone.

The flyway is something we build together. Come be part of it.

Citizen Scientists Are Down to Earth

Photo: CBC participants in the morning fog, Deapesh Misra

Glenda C. Booth

This article originally appeared in the Beacon newspaper, www.thebeaconnewspapers.com. Reprinted with permission.

During her childhood in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Jill MacNeice was always in the water, dreaming of scuba diving with octopuses and legendary undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau.

Now living in Washington, D.C., she is still in the water, taking water samples from the Potomac River with a volunteer team of the Potomac Riverkeeper Network, a watchdog advocacy group that combats pollution and advocates for clean water. She’s one of thousands of Americans who spend their free time as “citizen scientists,” gathering data for research and other projects.

National Geographic defines citizen science as “the practice of public participation and collaboration in scientific research to increase scientific knowledge.” Projects usually do not require specialized knowledge, and volunteers often train new ones.

One of the oldest citizen-science projects is the National Audubon Society’s annual Christmas Bird Count, started in 1900. Thousands of Americans join volunteers in 20 other countries to compile the annual census.

CBC participants in the morning fog. Photo: Deapesh Misra

“We truly value the work of citizen scientists,” Libby Lyons, president of a local Audubon chapter called the Northern Virginia Bird Alliance, said in an email. “For decades, they have organized local volunteers to collect data, which give … valuable insights into changes in bird populations and the environment and help mitigate threats to birds and other wildlife.”

Local impact

The importance of MacNeice’s work was accentuated last winter, when a Maryland sewer line collapse sent more than 200 million gallons of raw sewage into the Potomac River, the drinking water source for five million people in the Washington region.

From April to October, MacNeice takes weekly water samples at sites along the Potomac River from Maryland’s Seneca Creek to Belle View Marina in Fairfax County, Virginia, part of a network that extends to Colonial Beach, Virginia.

She samples for e. coli bacteria and turbidity, records air and water temperatures, and notes weather conditions. Within five hours, her samples arrive at the organization’s floating laboratory at National Harbor, where analysts determine if the water is safe.

MacNeice kayaks on the Potomac yearround, but her volunteer work has introduced her to “many interesting spots I never knew about,” she said.

“This [project] is a great opportunity to participate in citizen science and work on something dear to my heart that makes a difference. When you spread it out over many people, it becomes important — and that’s kind of special.”

As a former digital information designer for Marriott and the Library of Congress, MacNeice is also calling on her professional skills and digitizing the riverkeepers’ information collection processes.

“In this work, I can combine my professional skills with childhood fantasies,” she said.

Birdman of Annandale

Identifying birds and analyzing their behavior is not hush-hush top secret like Larry Cartwright’s former career in military intelligence for the Defense Intelligence Agency, but it is just as intriguing for the Annandale resident, a longtime birdwatcher, teacher and student.

Cartwright, who studied the clandestine military machinations of the Soviet Union, Iraq and Afghanistan, retired in 2014. Now he often leaves home before sunrise, binoculars and spotting scope in hand, to scour the skies, waterways, ground and trees for birds.

Since 1993, he has led an annual breeding bird survey for the Friends of Dyke Marsh, a survey that does not just identify the birds in the Fairfax County marsh but confirms they are, in fact, breeding. Volunteers observe and record those telltale behaviors, like taking nesting materials to a nest or feeding nestlings.

Cartwright is so enthralled by birds that he organizes three additional annual surveys: the Northern Virginia Bird Alliance’s winter waterfowl survey, since 2008; the bluebird nestbox survey at Huntley Meadows Park, since 2000; and the Audubon Christmas Bird Count in Northern Virginia and Maryland, since 2004. For each of them, he recruits volunteers and prepares detailed reports.

“I’m fascinated by birds,” he explained. “In today’s world, everything online seems contrived. When I go into the woods and see nature, that is the one thing you can bet on. It’s a true aspect of life. They breed, are born, live and die. It’s a reality that we share.”

Not surprisingly, Cartwright teaches bird-related classes at Northern Virginia Community College. Birds have long intrigued people, from early sculptors to the writers of the Bible to 18th-century Japanese artists, he pointed out.

Cartwright’s curiosity about birds started in childhood when he accompanied his uncle in Pennsylvania on hunting trips.

“Sitting in a deer stand freezing my butt off, I became fascinated when a Pileated Woodpecker would fly by,” he said. He was mesmerized by the grouses’ drumming and elaborate courtship displays.

“The depressing part is that some birds are disappearing,” he lamented. “If it all disappears, the world will be a very sad place to live in. What affects them affects us.”

Cartwright cites the adverse impacts of climate change as “one of our biggest challenges,” but adds, “There’s something we can do about it. The more you do, the more you learn.”

Gung-ho for native plants

When Clifton resident Margaret Fisher read entomologist Doug Tallamy’s first book, Bringing Nature Home, “It completely changed my life,” she said. “The book was revolutionary.”

The book maintains that everyone can address the biodiversity crisis by planting native plants, which, Fisher pointed out, are “the basis of the ecosystem that feed the insects that birds eat. Without native plants, we won’t have insects, birds or anything else.”

Fisher, a rheumatologist and internal medicine physician for Kaiser Permanente, got hooked on native plants after she retired from her medical career in 2017.

While helping a local high school with their fundraiser, she decided that instead of compiling their traditional recipe book, she would write a booklet of gardening tips and explore how to garden in an environmentally beneficial way. Then she went door-to-door in her town of Clifton and signed up 110 property owners who promised not to use insecticides.

These first steps inspired her to bolster a fledgling organization, Plant NOVA Natives, a coalition designed to influence the landscaping culture of Northern Virginia. For the last 12 years, she has expanded the group to more than 100 partners, agencies, nonprofits and garden centers.

She helped write Native Plants for Northern Virginia and organized 65 volunteers to label native plants in garden centers so customers don’t have to research whether a plant is native or not.

“The centers really like it, and we’ve seen a noticeable increased inventory of native plants,” she said.

Fisher conducts conferences for landscape professionals in English in summer and Spanish in winter, encouraging them to use native plants.

She also manages Fairfax Trees Rescuers, volunteers who help the million trees at risk in Fairfax County from infestations like English ivy.

“If we don’t do this as a community-wide effort, by the end of century, we will have lost most of native trees and natural areas,” Fisher said. “We must act now when we can prevent that. The longer we wait, the more expensive it gets.”

Another priority is the pollinator pathways project, which encourages neighbors to band together and create connected corridors, avoid insecticide use, and plant native plants.

With five neighborhoods on board so far, Fisher is pleased to see momentum growing.

“We make it easy for someone to do something, and they will think of themselves as environmentalists. If we can get them to do it, they will be more committed and do more,” she said.

“If you hope people will act and assume only one percent will, one percent of 1.2 million people in Fairfax County is still a lot of people. I don’t think it’s impossible, but we need a lot of dedicated people to make it happen,” she said.

Whether it’s saving injured bats, monitoring frogs, analyzing spring buds, counting salamander eggs in vernal pools or digging for artifacts, citizen scientists are giving back — and providing some human capital and data to improve our world.

“I have a motivation to do good things in the world, to help others,” Fisher said.

“It’s fun to actually become the steward of your property and save the little insects and birds right here. Every time you do that, you are taking a step to saving our environment.”

Glenda C. Booth, a freelance writer, grew up in southwest Virginia and has lived in northern Virginia more than 30 years, where she is active in conservation efforts.

Uncertainty Looms at National Refuges, While Other Protected Areas in Virginia Expand

Photo: Occoquan Bay NWR, Dixie Sommers

Brad Scriber

National Wildlife Refuges are entering a period of uncertainty that could undermine the vital protections they offer to around 800 bird species across the country. Northern Virginia’s refuges are not immune from the looming pressures, but area refuges outside the federal system are thriving.

Early Retirements and Budget Reductions Could Impact the National Wildlife Refuge System Soon

Since Theodore Roosevelt’s 1903 creation of the three-acre Pelican Island wildlife sanctuary at the urging of the Florida Audubon Society, National Wildlife Refuges have been a cornerstone of bird conservation. Today there are 573 refuges covering 856 million acres of protected land and marine habitat, run as a unified system by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

It takes a lot of workers to administer, maintain, and safeguard these refuges, and already-shrinking personnel levels may soon fall even lower. According to a recent briefing by the National Wildlife Refuge Association, the system has shrunk by about 17 percent since January 2025 (from 2,353 Full-Time Equivalent positions to 1,948, a loss of 405 FTEs). More reductions could come soon if employees accept early retirement or opt in to a fresh round of the Deferred Resignation Program, which was announced by the Interior Department in early April. 

It’s unknown how many workers may choose voluntary departures, but there are some limitations. The NWRA points out that fire, law enforcement, and field staff at National Wildlife Refuges cannot participate in the program. They also noted that the current USFWS leadership has signaled a desire to get more “boots on the ground” at refuges despite these retirement enticements. Possible strategies the agency has mentioned include co-management of refuges with state wildlife agencies, reorganization of USFWS, and a search for efficiencies, perhaps from using AI to review comments submissions or even to help with bird counts.

Large budgetary reductions are also signaled in the President’s budget request for 2027, including a 21% decrease in overall funding for refuges and the zeroing out of funds for a number of programs, according to the NWRA briefing. Given the political pressures of an election year, the association expects that final funding decisions will likely happen after the mid-terms.

Staffing Challenges at National Wildlife Refuges in Northern Virginia

Creative management strategies are helping staff cope with key departures at the Potomac River Refuge Complex, a group of three National Wildlife refuges at the mouth of the Occoquan River (the Occoquan Bay, Elizabeth Hartwell Mason Neck, and Featherstone National Wildlife Refuges). 

About a year ago, the manager of this complex left. In lieu of a replacement, the complex has been managed with weekly visits by deputies stationed at other refuges in the mid-Atlantic. For a while this involved staff visits from West Virginia’s Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge, but more recently the complex has been tended by a deputy manager based at the Patuxent Research Refuge in Laurel, Maryland. 

Mike Bailey, Refuge Manager for Patuxent Research Refuge and the Southern Maryland Woodlands Refuge, says this arrangement is still in a trial period. Randy Streufert, a thirteen-year volunteer at the Potomac River Refuge complex is concerned that with additional staff reductions looming, the situation could become permanent and impact services and public access to these refuges.

Friends groups have warned about low staffing levels at the complex for years. For much of the early 2000s, the complex had between six and eight full time staff positions, about half the minimum level reflected in comprehensive plans. Streufert expects that by the end of May the complex may have only two staffers on site. 

A bit of good news could come soon as work progresses on a trail project through the Featherstone NWR section of the complex. The trail or portions of it may soon be opened to allow public access throughout the preserve for birdwatching and other activities.

Refuges Outside the National Wildlife Refuge System are Thriving

While the outlook at National Wildlife Refuges is grim, there is stability and even growth at other protected lands in northern Virginia.

Northern Virginia is home to Natural Area Preserves including Elklick Woodlands Natural Area Preserve, administered by Fairfax County Parks, and Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve, which is owned by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation.  

Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve added 178 Acres last June and now covers more than 2,500 acres of interior forest, key habitat for birds such as whip-poor-wills and woodcocks. Joe Villari, Preserve Manager at Bull Run Mountains NAP, explains that overall acreage is important, but the foundation is also pursuing grants to physically connect their northern and southern holdings. There are also some 8,000 acres of conservation easements in the surrounding area that limit development and help protect natural resources.

Recreation is secondary to preservation on these lands. As such, there is no public access to Elklick Woodlands, and limited access to Bull Run Mountains. The southern section of Bull Run Mountains is open to the public on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and a one-mile trail extension, for a total of eight miles of public trails, will open in June. Dogs are not allowed, in order to slow the spread of invasive plant species and to reduce behavioral impacts on other species in the preserve. 

Special tours and visits can be arranged to the northern section, but on a regular basis this is limited to scientific studies and school groups. 

Further to our south, there was a recent expansion of the Crow’s Nest Natural Area Preserve, which added more than 200 acres in 2024. Along with a parcel added in 2022, the area now protects 3,343 acres within the Audubon-designated Lower Potomac Important Bird Area.

Brad Scriber is an Arlington based writer, researcher, and bird buff.

Birding with Purpose: Six Principles for Ethical Birding

Photo: Great Horned Owlets, Tom Muehleisen/Audubon Photography Awards

Kent Blumberg

It’s the time of year when more of us are spending time outdoors, watching and photographing birds. It’s also a good time to review the principles of ethical birding. 

First, we want to protect the birds. They live on tight energy budgets, especially when migrating and nesting. Any energy spent responding to us is energy they can’t use for survival. Second, birds and the environment are shared resources that we want to protect for the future. And third, birding itself is a shared experience, and birding ethics serve as a social contract to keep it enjoyable for all. 

In short, birding ethics protect the birds, preserve the experience, and sustain the community.

Here are six principles to keep in mind as you enjoy the birds in northern Virginia.

1. First, do no harm to birds, other wildlife or the environment. Prioritize their needs over yours. If their behavior indicates stress, back away. Avoid flash, especially with nocturnal birds, as it may harm their night vision.

2. Stay in your lane. Keep your distance from birds, using binoculars, scopes, or telephoto lenses to get closer, rather than your feet. Stay on marked trails, or on boardwalks. Keep away from nests. Don’t use drones to capture photos or videos of birds, especially near nesting sites. 

3. Be polite and considerate of others. Nurture the shared experience. At Huntley Meadows, don’t take up the entire boardwalk with your gear but leave a clear path for others to pass. If you spot a rare bird or a particularly good view of a bird, take your photos and then step aside so others can enjoy it as well. Balance your needs with the needs of others and help create space for everyone.

4. Don’t manipulate birds to get the photos you want. Avoid flushing them repeatedly, baiting them or playing recorded bird calls to attract them. Don’t approach birds to force them to fly. 

5. Respect private property and follow all restrictions on public lands. 

6. Lead by example. When you share photos and videos of birds, include how you captured the images ethically. Modeling ethical behavior can help others learn.

Most of the time, we’ll never see the results of the choices we make in the field. The bird that stays instead of flushing, the nest that remains undisturbed, the moment that unfolds naturally because we chose patience over proximity.

That quiet impact is at the heart of birding ethics and it’s also what makes birding meaningful. We head out because we’re drawn to something: beauty, curiosity, a sense of connection to the natural world. When we give birds space and put their needs first, we protect that connection.

In doing so, we often gain something better than a closer look or a sharper photo: an encounter that feels authentic. One that wasn’t taken but offered.

To learn more, check out Audubon’s Guide to Ethical Bird Photography and Videography.

Kent Blumberg is an MBA professor, passionate bird photographer and voracious reader. 

Your Yard Can Help Save Our Streams

Photo: Dense plantings of native plants capture stormwater, Margaret Fisher

Plant NOVA Natives

Northern Virginia’s stream and river water quality is not great. Although agriculture is the largest contributor by far of nutrient and sediment loads in Virginia’s streams, rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay, urban and suburban stormwater runoff is the second-largest and the fastest-growing contributor of these pollutants.

Consider, for example, the 52-square-mile Accotink Creek watershed in Fairfax. For several years, the U. S. Geological Survey and Fairfax County have partnered to monitor pollutants in 20 watersheds across the County, including Accotink Creek. The good news is that nitrogen levels have generally dropped. But phosphorus concentrations have remained exceptionally high. Why? Because 87% of the Accotink Creek watershed is developed with 27% of the land covered in impervious surfaces. Such intensely developed regions produce large loads of sediment from stormwater runoff, and phosphorus is bound to sediment. Reduce the sediment levels in our local streams, and you will lessen the phosphorus pollution.

Dense plantings of native plants capture stormwater. Photo: Margaret Fisher

Both the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality have announced focused efforts during 2026 to reduce nutrient-based pollutants and sediment loads in our water. By December of 2025 we had met 100% of our sediment reduction targets, which is excellent news. But we met only 80% of the nitrogen and 62% of the phosphorus reduction goals.

This is a compelling call to action for all property owners in northern Virginia. Below are several strategies to reduce nutrient pollution and sediment loads in our waterways.

• Plant more native plants, especially where stormwater tends to flow. Their deep roots stabilize the soil and absorb far more harmful nutrients than turfgrass lawns. Notice where stormwater tends to flow on your property along swales or slopes and plant there first.

• Plant a street-side garden. Remember the underused strips of your property next to the street or sidewalk. These are ideal spots to add native plants, as their roots will catch stormwater overflow before it hits the pavement. Take care, however, to avoid underground lines, pipes, and overhead wires. And please consider whether your plantings impact people’s access to their cars, mailboxes, or safe crossing to the sidewalk. See  Plant NOVA Natives’ comprehensive list of considerations for street-side gardens before you begin to dig.

• Use organic compost. Ditching commercial fertilizers and using organic compost is always the best option to enrich the soil. But if you must use fertilizers, choose only phosphorus-free or low-phosphorus brands and use them sparingly.  

• Pick up pet waste: Nitrogen, phosphorus, bacteria like E. coli and Salmonella, parasites, and ammonia can all be found in pet waste! While pet owners often remember to pick up pet waste in public areas, remember to do so on your own property as well for the sake of our streams and rivers.

• Compost and mulch yard waste: Composting and mulching are two strategies that effectively return nutrients to the soil and keep them out of stormwater. Grass clippings should be composted or mulched back into the lawn. Leaves are best left in non-lawn areas, but those that fall on the lawn can also be mulched or raked up and added to your compost pile. Keep lawn debris out of the street and away from storm drains.

• Create a rain garden: Rain gardens are landscaped areas constructed to capture and hold stormwater so that it seeps into the soil instead of running off our property. A link to a  step by step guide on how to build a rain garden can be found here on the Plant NOVA Natives website.

• Use rain barrels: If you can capture water from downspouts and use it later to water your plants, this greatly reduces stormwater runoff caused by our roofs. 

• Redirect downspouts to vegetated areas rather than paved impervious surfaces: When rain barrels are not an option, try to redirect downspout water flow away from sidewalks and driveways and towards the more vegetated areas of your property.

• Reduce impervious surfaces: Replacing asphalt with gravel or permeable pavers will capture and keep more stormwater on your property. But reducing the lawn by converting parts of it to native plant gardens is also highly effective. Turf grass, while green, behaves more like concrete when it comes to water absorption.

• Maintain septic systems: Regularly inspect and pump septic systems to prevent nutrient leaching into groundwater.

• Wash cars responsibly: Either use a commercial car wash or wash your car on grass to filter soapy water before it enters the ground.

Additional strategies to capture stormwater are discussed here on the Plant NOVA Natives website, along with a discussion of planting and maintaining riparian borders. Finally, here is a link to a  Fairfax County Soil and Water Conservation District manual with instructions on how to build and maintain rainwater gardens, green roofs, and more.  

Victims of Window Collisions May Help Scientists

Photo: Study skins from “Lights Out - Recovering Our Night Sky,” Robin Duska

Robin Duska

Sadly, many of us have come across a dead bird, whether near a window or out on a trail, often a result of its collision with a window or other object. NVBA’s Bird Safe NOVA partners are working to reduce the number of collisions that result in bird deaths. 

Study skins from “Lights Out - Recovering Our Night Sky.” Photo: Robin Duska

When birds do die, can they be of use to scientists? “Absolutely,” says Museum Specialist Brian Schmidt of the Smithsonian’s Bird Division in the National Museum of Natural History. He frequently works with Lights Out D.C. and Lights Out Baltimore volunteers to ensure birds found dead can be relayed to the Smithsonian’s Bird Division and considered for inclusion in its collection of over 600,000 specimens. The Bird Division’s specimens are used by the Feather Identification Lab and over 300 researchers who visit every year to study migration, climate change, disease, parasite screening, seed dispersal and other bird-related topics. Lights Out volunteers end each spring and fall migration season by taking frozen birds and inventory lists to the Bird Division, where ornithologists like Brian prepare the birds as “study skins” or skeletons for the collection. 

Readers can learn more about bird-window collisions at the Smithsonian’s current “Lights Out—Recovering Our Night Sky” exhibition, which has been extended to December 2026 (see also this NVBA article on the exhibition). 

Lights Out D.C. and Lights Out Baltimore are able to accumulate the birds they find until the end of each migration season because they have permits from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. But you as an individual also may collect a dead bird for the scientists at the Bird Division under an allowance for opportunistic salvage, if you follow a few simple rules. 

• First, any dead bird you pick up must be donated or destroyed within seven calendar days. 

• Second the donated specimen should go to an entity like the Smithsonian’s Bird Division which has authorization to retain the specimens. 

• Third, if not donated, the dead bird must be destroyed by burial, incineration or landfill disposal. 

• Fourth, do not salvage dead birds from federal lands, where additional permitting requirements may apply, or other public lands or private property that is not your own without authorization. 

Note that additional requirements apply to eagles under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. Here’s a link to a USFWS fact sheet on salvage of migratory birds.

How should you safely save a dead bird for a museum? According to the CDC, the health risk to humans from bird flu is low; however, wearing nitrate gloves or using a disposable object to move the bird into a clear resealable plastic bag is a common-sense precaution. Include a piece of paper listing the date when and the location where the bird was found along with your contact information, then seal the bag, removing as much air from the bag as possible. Keep the bird in a freezer until it can be relayed to the permitted institution. 

For questions about relaying dead birds to the Smithsonian’s Bird Division, contact Brian Schmidt at schmidtb@si.edu.

Robin Duska is a volunteer collections management assistant with Bird Division at the National Museum of Natural History

A Closer Look: Nature All Around Us, May 2026

Photo:  Small Milkweed Bug adult and nymphs with Common Milkweed seeds, Judy Gallagher

Judy Gallagher

May 2026

Small Milkweed Bug adult and nymphs with Common Milkweed seeds. Photo: Judy Gallagher

Milkweed will be blooming soon, and with it come Milkweed Bugs. Milkweed Bugs are true bugs, part of the Lygaeidae or Seed Bug family. As the name implies, most species in this family eat seeds, but some can also eat other plant parts. Like all other true bugs, they have piercing-sucking mouthparts, well adapted for piercing hard seeds. 

Some seed bugs have a limited number of plant host species, while others are able to eat seeds from a broad range of plants. Availability of suitable plants tends to limit seed bug populations. Most seed bugs are found in open grassy areas, where there is a mixture of flowering plants. There are about 80 species of seed bugs in North America. 

Like other true bugs, seed bugs undergo incomplete metamorphosis, with eggs hatching into nymphs that look like the adults, but without wings and reproductive organs. Some seed bug nymphs are gregarious, meaning that they cluster together. Entomologists speculate that, with a group, it takes less saliva per individual to soften the seeds for digestion. After the nymph undergoes its final molt, the winged adult emerges. All adult seed bugs have an X on their backs, produced by the way the wings fold. 

Some seed bug species females lay multiple sets of eggs during their lifetime. Those laid later in the year mature faster than ones from earlier in the year, presumably to allow the nymphs to mature quickly before cold temperatures limit them.

Large Milkweed Bug adults and nymph on Common Milkweed Seed Pod. Photo: Judy Gallagher

Small and Large Milkweed Bugs are bright red with black markings. Both feed on milkweed seeds, inserting their long proboscises into seeds, injecting enzymes to liquefy the seeds' contents, and then sucking out the juice. The seeds contain toxins called Cardenolides. Small and Large Milkweed Bugs have evolved to be able to process the toxins, and they sequester the chemicals, making the Milkweed Bugs unpalatable to birds and other vertebrates. They advertise their distastefulness with their bright colors.

Small Milkweed Bug eating another Small Milkweed Bug. Photo: Judy Gallagher

Small Milkweed Bugs aren't as picky about their food as some other Milkweed-dependent insects. When Milkweed is scarce, they can also feed on Honey Bees, Monarch caterpillars and pupae, Large Milkweed Bugs, Dogbane Beetles, and each other.  

White-crossed Seed Bugs mating. Photo: Judy Gallagher

White-crossed Seed Bugs feed on Ragwort seeds, and are chemically protected by alkaloids in Ragwort. They migrate to find new Ragwort sources, and females will also migrate to find a mate. But if a female has enough food and a mate, hormones trigger her flight muscles to shut down, instead using her resources to produce eggs. Males retain the ability to fly throughout their adult life. 

False Milkweed Bug adult and nymphs feeding on aster species seeds. Photo: Judy Gallagher

But not all brightly colored seed bugs are toxic. The False Milkweed Bug looks very similar to the Small Milkweed Bug. However, it has a very different diet: it prefers to eat the seeds of members of the Aster Family. Its mimicry of the toxic Large and Small Milkweed Bugs discourages predators from attacking it.  

The above-mentioned seed bugs are colorful, but many seed bugs are small and brown. The drab ones most likely aren't protected by toxins and depend on camouflage for protection from predation. Some seed bugs emit foul odors to deter predators. 

Birch Catkin Bug, blending in well. Photo: Judy Gallagher

Birch Catkin Bugs are rust colored, and can blend in well with a background of fallen leaves. They overwinter as adults and breed in the early spring. They emit mating calls by striking a rigid part of the wing against a scraper on the thorax. 

Most seed bugs aren't numerous enough to pose a major threat to plant populations. Some are controlled by birds and reptiles but one of seed bugs' major biological controls is parasites like bacteria, or Tachinid Flies, who lay eggs on the seed bugs.  

I hope you'll have a chance to see some seed bugs this summer! 

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View more of Judy’s articles on A Closer Look: Nature All Around Us (formerly Observations from Meadowood).

Wildlife Sanctuary Almanac: Your Neighbors' Trees

Photo: English Ivy choking several trees, Margaret Fisher

Margaret Fisher

Once any of us becomes aware of the threat to our community’s trees from invasive vines, walking through our own neighborhoods can be a little frustrating. As they say, once you see it, you can’t unsee it: trees engulfed by English Ivy or Wintercreeper, others choked by Japanese Honeysuckle, Asiatic Bittersweet, or Wisteria; still others smothered by Porcelain Berry. Tempting as it might be to do a little guerilla gardening to rescue those trees by moonlight, it is probably not worth getting arrested.

What if you could help those trees in a friendly, neighborly way? Facilitating those rescues has been the goal of the Plant NOVA Natives/Plant NOVA Trees campaign and more recently by other outreach organizations. Plant NOVA Trees started its Tree Rescuers educational program in 2021 with the goal of informing all the owners of trees at risk in northern Virginia while quantifying the problem. If you sign up on the website, a volunteer will mail you a packet of door hangers that highlight the six most common invasive vines and how to control them. You would then take them around your neighborhood, counting trees at risk as you go, and report back the numbers so the area you visited can be marked on the map as already surveyed.

NVBA’s Stretch our Parks initiative uses volunteers to do more intensive outreach around specific parks. On a county-wide scale, the Loudoun Invasives Removal Alliance is getting the word out through events such as Scrape the Grape and HOA invasive control training and by working with the County on grants to pay for the work. The Fairfax Invasive Removal Alliance recruits community associations to advocate for better public policy. And the Fairfax Tree Rescuers PRISM has undertaken the most ambitious educational program of all, with the goal of facilitating a community-wide effort to actually save a million trees at risk and to control the worst of the other invasive plant infestations.

Accomplishing that goal is going to require someone in every neighborhood to volunteer to relay information (which will be provided) to their neighbors. Those Community Representatives for Fairfax Tree Rescuers can take advantage of existing outreach opportunities, such as block parties, neighborhood newsletters, Facebook groups, or NextDoor.com, to help their neighbors see what is going on right under their noses and provide them with resources to start to take action. Volunteers who would like to take it further will be connected to each other to strategize about what to do about roadside rights of way, commercial areas, or other problematic areas within their community.

Could you be the person who forwards information to your neighbors in Fairfax/Falls Church? If so, please fill out this interest form and let us know where your community is located. The obligation is very light, but very important. After all, if you don’t do it, what are the odds that someone else in your neighborhood will?

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Catch up on past Wildlife Sanctuary Almanac articles here.

Here’s Another Reason to Get Rid of Your Invasive Japanese Barberry

Photo: Japanese Barberry, Leslie J. Mehrhoff, University of Connecticut, Bugwood.org, CC BY 3.0 US , via Wikimedia Commons

Tom Blackburn

The April Potomac Flier ran my essay outlining reasons to remove invasive plants such as Japanese Barberry. If Barberry’s painful thorns; berries that are poisonous to people, birds and other animals; and tendency to create dense, impenetrable thickets isn’t enough to convince you to get rid of it, here’s another reason. Barberry creates ideal conditions for the survival of black-legged ticks, which transmit Lyme disease. Lyme disease can cause fever, fatigue, joint pain, muscle weakness, heart problems and long-term neurological conditions. There is no vaccine for Lyme disease. You can learn more about Barberry, black-legged ticks and Lyme disease in reports of studies by the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station and researchers from Trinity College and South Dakota State.

So, take out your Barberry before it takes you out! And remember to check yourself carefully for ticks afterwards.

Save the date for the annual Migratory Bird Count at Occoquan Bay NWR

Photo: Black-throated Blue Warbler, Matt Felperin

The Migratory Bird Count is on Saturday, May 9 at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Over this count’s history, final tallies have averaged over 100 species.  Altogether, this site’s range of habitats from open waters, wetlands and various fields and woodlands offers an extraordinary opportunity to witness the richness of spring migration and beginnings of a new breeding season. 

Teams are assigned specific quadrants on/around the refuge in which to do an intensive count of species and numbers. Team leaders are very familiar with the refuge.  Experience of team members (adults only) may range from novice to expert.  A noontime tally is held at the parking lot shelter. Weather conditions may dictate changes of time/methodology.  A final report of results is emailed to participants and other interested parties.  

Save the date and learn how to participate here.

Thompson Wildlife Management Area in Spring

Photo: Trilliums and Mayapples in bloom, Sudhir Viswarajan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Usha Hippenstiel

During the transition from winter to spring, nature shows off. There are a trillion different emerging sights, but few as captivating as the trilliums (Trilliaceae family). Boasting one of the largest concentrations of trillium in Virginia, the G. Richard Thompson Wildlife Management Area (often abbreviated to Thompson WMA) stands out as a spring destination. Managed by the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR), the Thompson WMA is located along the eastern Blue Ridge Mountains in northwest Fauquier County, with parcels in Warren and Clarke Counties. The 4,000-acre area boasts hardwood trees, remnants of fruit trees, streams, semi-open vegetated slopes, and its famous spring ephemeral blooms. 

Although the Thompson WMA is worth a trip any time of year, spring is the time to see the display of ephemerals. Beginning in late April through mid-May, the forest floor is covered by blooms. A particular two-square-mile area within the Thompson WMA hosts an extensive covering of the white trillium (Trillium Grandiflorum) and is reputed to be the largest plant community of its kind in Virginia - with some arguing it might even be the largest in the United States. The DWR website provides guidance for viewing the spring wildflower display.

It’s worth remembering that at one point the habitat was at risk of being fragmented and lost. In 1990, the DWR (then known as the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries) proposed a project to log the forest in the Thompson WMA. The project called for heavy machinery and large-wheeled logging trucks that would cross through areas where the trillium population grew. 

Fortunately, the Virginia Native Plant Society (VNPS) and other concerned citizens rushed into action to designate the area as the first site on the Virginia Native Plant Registry. The registry is a voluntary program designed by the VNPS to protect the native plant resources throughout Virginia. Recognition of the designation by DWR allowed the agency to manage the area to protect the spring ephemerals. 

If you're planning a trip this spring, aim for around the first week of May for optimal viewing. Pay some attention to general warm or cold fronts toward the end of April because they can affect the timing. Warm springs push trillium blooming earlier and cold springs push blooming later.

While there, keep your eyes and ears out for the area’s warblers and other iconic birds of the area. Watch for flashes of yellow and you might be lucky to spot a Hooded Warbler, a Worm-eating Warbler, or the Kentucky Warbler, all of which are seen in this area more frequently than the regional average. Although not common, you could also see a Blackburnian Warbler. Other Trillium Trail favorites eBird lists as iconic include the lovely Cerulean Warbler and Scarlet Tanager, but any springtime visit will provide views of many of the 135 species eBird lists for that hotspot. 

Consider taking a trip to the Thompson WMA this spring if you desire a lovely day surrounded by wildflowers and other emerging sights and sounds of spring!

Usha Hippenstiel is a young, passionate, DC-based environmentalist working in the natural resource sector.

Spring in Virginia: Some Birders’ Thoughts

Photo: Blue-winged Teal, Joyce Palm/Audubon Photography Awards

Summer Delehanty

On a particularly overcast and chilly day in March, it’s hard to believe the next few months bring warmth, greenery, and a slew of migratory birds. Yet spring marks the beginning of another migration season in Virginia, with hundreds of thousands of birds making their way back from a tropical winter to their summer breeding grounds in North America. After snow flurries and a couple of cold snaps this past month, here are a couple things local birders are looking forward to in April.

Passing Migrants

Warblers, vibrant and active little birds that pass through every spring, are often a fan favorite, especially when they congregate in colorful mixed-species flocks. Many species, no bigger than the palm of your hand, pass through northern Virginia in droves, often making pit stops on the way to their breeding grounds in Canada and the northern United States. While some species stick around for the summer, many can only be found here for a few weeks of the year.

The Blue Ridge Mountains are a popular spot to look for warblers, but these birds can also be found in many local parks and even backyards, exhausted from their long-distance journey and seeking a place to rest and regain strength. One northern Virginia birder I spoke with is particularly excited for them to return to his yard. “We live in northern Virginia in otherwise boring suburbs, so the first time we saw a Palm Warbler in our backyard was a treat,” he said. Now, his backyard reliably attracts several species in the spring, including his lifer Cape May Warbler. “I just had to know what to listen for, which drove me to look more closely and spot them. There's so much variety!” He added.

Another birdwatcher, Christian McGuirk, described his favorite local warbler spot, Monticello Park in Alexandria. “It’s a small, nondescript park in Alexandria that is jam-packed with warblers and other migrants April [through] May. They come down from the high canopy to bathe in the stream that runs through the park. I don’t know what it is about that park they love so much, but I’m glad it’s there!” He added, “I’m looking forward to introducing some of my young cousins to birdwatching there and taking lots of photographs, hopefully with some lifers in the mix.” 

Spring is also a great time for passing shorebirds. Another local birdwatcher said, “In a couple of weeks, the Blue-winged Teals will be making pit stops around here, ushering in shorebird season!” Like warblers, these birds are returning to their summer breeding grounds, using Virginia as a stop along the way. Birders may spot some of the earliest migrants, like Greater Yellowlegs, when they pass through in late April, followed soon after by the rest of their shorebird friends. 

Returning Summer Residents

Prothonotary Warbler. Photo: Donald Wuori/Audubon Photography Awards

In addition to birds just passing through, keep an eye out for returning breeding residents, or birds that spend their springs and summers in northern Virginia. While these birds also migrate, Virginia is far enough north for them to stay, rather than continuing to New England or Canada. Some notable returners include Baltimore Orioles, Scarlet Tanagers, and Prothonotary Warblers, sporting fiery shades of red, orange, and yellow.

As the trees regain their foliage, many of the birds are easier heard than seen. Spring is when many birds start singing again, whether to establish territory or attract a mate, so prepare for an explosion of new voices this April. One birder commented on the joy of hearing familiar songbirds again: “It is the sounds I am most anticipating—Great-crested Flycatchers, Indigo Buntings, orioles, and pewees calling.” The birds’ musical songs can be heard in parks all across northern Virginia beginning in late April and early May, after a long hiatus through the winter months. “It is like old friends coming back from a long break,” he added.

Baltimore Oriole. Photo: Adrian Azar/Audubon Photography Awards

Birding with Friends

Finally, on the subject of friends, warmer weather often means more people will be spending time outdoors. Birding in the winter requires lots of layers, lots of patience, and a special kind of dedication. Spring brings more comfortable conditions and a wider variety of birds to find, drawing many birdwatchers back into the field. Rachel Barham, a classically-trained singer working in DC and an accomplished birder by ear, is most excited to see familiar faces again. “I can’t believe I’m hearing my introvert self say this, but I am really looking forward to connecting with our amazing birding community in person!” Barham said. “I don’t see everybody as much in the winter, and birding together is so joyful, even on slow days.” 

In the midst of pollen attacks and crushing cherry blossom crowds, it’s easy to overlook the smaller signs of spring. Whether chasing lifers, spending time with other birdwatchers, or simply enjoying the influx of returning singers birds, birders can’t wait to get outside and embrace the new season. 

Summer Delehanty is a product designer with a passion for birdwatching.