Thursday, August 25, 2005

Evening Walk

What a beautiful evening! The air was cool and the sky was a mix of blues and pinks as the sun set. After dinner I took a short walk over as far as the National Museum of the American Indian. Its gardens were a sea of green with reds and purples and yellows mixed in. The cardinal flowers seem to be peaking now. There were not too many birds at the museum, though. I did see an eastern kingbird catching insects over the Capitol's reflecting pool. It dove down so that it almost touched the water before stopping suddenly and pulling up. Lately the cicadas have been buzzing loudly, almost as loudly as last year's periodical cicadas.

SPECIES SEEN: 11

Mallard
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Eastern Kingbird
Northern Mockingbird
American Robin
European Starling
House Sparrow
Common Grackle