Photo © Todd Kiraly
This bird walk is part of the Audubon Society of Northern Virginia's Stretch Our Parks initiative, in partnership with the Four Mile Run Conservatory Foundation.
Morning is a great time for a bird walk through Four Mile Run Park - newer birders as well as veteran birders are welcome to join!
We will begin at the Commonwealth Avenue parking lot (between the two baseball fields) on the east side of the park as it is a good place to start the morning scouting for potential rarities on the ballfields. We will then proceed and do a circular loop (almost exactly a half mile) around the main marsh area (unfortunately, we will have to backtrack our route back to the cars as they most likely will still be doing repairs on the one bridge). Expect to walk about 1 mile on paved paths (boots not necessary) for this walk. The expected time is about 1 hour.
Optional Extension: As we backtrack, you will have an opportunity to continue the walk westward down to the other main parking lot on Mount Vernon Avenue (which adds about another .5 mile and 1 hour to the walk). The expected total for the longer walk is 1.5 miles and 2 hours as we stop along various spots.
If you have binoculars, please bring them with you.
Your birding guide is Todd Kiraly. Todd has extensive experience birding in the local hotspots in and around the Potomac River in NOVA. Todd is also a photographer; visit his collection of local wildlife photography posted on his site, k
Four Mile Run, with its close proximity to the Potomac River and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, offers a great variety of bird habitat (streams/marsh/meadow patches/grass athletic fields/low tide mudflats) within an urban environment. Another feature is the ability to scan a large area of sky without obstruction for flyover rarities. In the last 2 years, during the first week of April, some of the species of birds found and photographed are Eastern Meadowlark, Black-crowned Night Heron, Palm Warbler, Purple Finch, Vesper Sparrow (also Fox, Field, Chipping, and Savannah), Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Rusty Blackbird, Greater Yellowlegs and early arrivals of Osprey and Green Herons to name a few.
The walk will be entirely conducted from paved paths but for those interested, we may take a walk out on a grass t-ball field if there is a rare find to draw us in (but still within binocular distance for anyone choosing to stay on the paved path).
You will learn many details on bird habitat, whether the birds are there or not, as educational pointers to take away for future consideration when birding
Todd, your leader, is an outdoor photographer and will share pointers for beginners to more advanced and would welcome any tips from others.
It should be noted, that “bad” weather can bring in the most unexpected results when it comes to birding. We will hope for the best, but a threat of rain or light drizzle could yield good results as the birds may be forced down from their travels into the park.
Registration is recommended but not required. Registrants will get a reminder about the walk and will be notified via email if the walk is cancelled.
We will be documenting the birds we see in eBird and the leader will share the ebird list with you after the walk. If you don't already have an eBird account, you can sign up for a free one here: https://ebird.org/home
Four Mile Park is close proximity to multiple quick food vendors (Subway/McDonald’s/Popeye’s) as well as quick access to places like Del Ray or Potomac Yards for additional meal choices if desired.