A Snowy Owl was found at the far south end of the runways at
National Airport at 5:10 this afternoon. Kurt was standing about 15 feet
from me, and I think we both saw the bird at about the same time as it
perched on a gravel pile. The owl was about a mile away, so nobody got a
good view. The owl was in the same spot when I left at 5:20.
I arrived at Gravelly Point at about 2:30. In the channel in
front of me was a nice collection of waterfowl, including Horned and
Pied-billed Grebes, a lot of Lesser Scaups and American Coots, some Hooded
Mergansers, a female Bufflehead, and some Mallards. As I was walking along
the bike path, there is a place where it splits, with the left fork going
to the terminals and the right fork elevated. On the elevated section, a
young Red-tailed Hawk perched on the railing next to the path, and I was
able to get to within ten feet of it. Some bikers who rode past came within
a foot of the bird, but it did not flush. At one point, I took some
close-up photos of the hawk with the Capitol Building behind its head.
When I got to the terminals, I went to an area which was
directly in line with the H Box on which the owl was perched yesterday.
This section of the airport has very little traffic, because it is between
Terminal B and Terminal A. Very few people seem to go from one terminal to
the other, and most people who want to go to Terminal A enter from outside.
Nobody asked me what I was doing, even though I had my telescope set up and
was scanning the airfield. I stayed from about 3:30 to 4:40. I might have
gotten a much closer look at the owl if I had stayed an extra half hour or
if I had been there 24 hours earlier. Anyone wishing to try to get a closer
look at the owl in the coming days might want to consider this option,
because the views from Gravelly Point have not been very satisfying this
week.
Finally, someone asked me how Gravelly Point got its name. I
did not know whether it was named after a person. According to something I
found on the internet, one of the George Washington Parkway rangers said
that the point was originally called Gravel because the Smoot Sand and
Gravel Company used to operate along the Potomac; Gravel ultimately became
Gravelly. In the mid-1700's, Captain John Alexander built a home there.
About 30 years later, the home was purchased by George Washington's adopted
stepson, John Custis, and Washington's adopted granddaughter Eleanor Custis
was born there. John Custis was one of Martha's children from her previous
marriage. The house burned down in 1930.
Best,
Bill Young
Arlington, VA
