Birds of Kenilworth Park

Checklist

The wetlands, forests, and fields of Kenilworth Park attract a wide variety of bird species throughout the year. The ornamental lily and lotus ponds of the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens are used for foraging and roosting by Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Belted Kingfishers, and other waterbirds. In fall and winter, Green-winged Teal, American Black Ducks, Hooded Mergansers, and occasional other ducks join locally nesting Mallards, Wood Ducks, and Canada Geese on the waters of the Kenilworth Marsh and the adjacent Anacostia River. The mudflats of the Marsh attract Killdeer and migrating shorebirds, and areas restored to emergent vegetation host Washington, D.C.'s only nesting Marsh Wrens. Eastern Kingbirds, Warbling Vireos, and Baltimore and Orchard orioles nest in trees that fringe the Marsh and the Anacostia River. The park's swamp forest provides nesting habitat for Acadian Flycatchers, White-eyed and Red-eyed vireos, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Northern Parulas, and resident woodpeckers, chickadees, titmice, and Carolina Wrens. Common Yellowthroats, Song Sparrows, Blue Grosbeaks, and Indigo Buntings nest in scrubby vegetation along forest, marsh, or field edges. Raptors forage over the fields, and Grasshopper Sparrows have nested in the meadow that borders the ballfields south of the Marsh. Eastern Bluebirds, a variety of sparrows, and occasional other species, such as Horned Lark, American Pipit, and Eastern Meadowlark, use the fields in other seasons.

Additional information on each species on the checklist can be accessed through hypertext links. Click on the species name to access general information from the Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter; a description of the information available can be obtained by clicking on the "Species" heading in the checklist. To view maps of bird distribution in the park during the nesting season of 1999, click on the summer abundance codes that are in hypertext. Distribution maps were prepared for species that are probable or confirmed nesters in the park from data collected by biologists from the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. Maps showing the distribution of birds detected on surveys conducted during January- February 2000 can be accessed by clicking on the winter abundance codes that are in hypertext. Additional information on the bird surveys can be accessed by clicking on the "Summer" or "Winter" headings on the checklist.

If you see any of the boldfaced species, any species not already on the checklist, or any species in a season marked by a question mark, please report the sighting to: Brent_Steury at nps.gov