Author: David Gorsline

At the park: 18

not quite ready to leaveThe brood of Tufted Titmouse has not left the nest in box #5 yet. The boxes along lower Barnyard Run continue to be the most popular: we have second clutches (all Wood Duck) started in three of the boxes, and all seven of them have been occupied at least once this year.


two weeks laterWe had reports of Virginia Rail (Rallus limicola) at a certain spot along the boardwalk where the vegeation opens up and the birds have to break cover, so we stopped to check. About fifteen minutes of waiting and listening was rewarded with good looks at one of two birds. The speculation is that nesting is in progress.

To rebuild a wetland

Dr. Katharina (Katia) Engelhardt of the University of Maryland spoke to the Friends of Dyke Marsh about her research at the wetland and the prospects for its restoration. Dyke Marsh constitutes about 200 hectares of tidal freshwater marsh on the west bank of the Potomac River, just south of Alexandria, Va. and the Beltway. The marsh, as a wildlife preserve, is part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway lands, administered by the National Park Service. The NPS is considering acting on long-discussed restoration and management plans for Dyke Marsh.

Over the decades, parts of the marsh have been overtaken by the river. Some of the causes are global—worldwide sea level has been rising at the rate of 3.1mm/year and the Chesapeake Bay at twice that rate—and some are, we suspect, local. A bridge over Hunting Creek, just upstream of the marsh, as well as other development and urbanization, has changed siltation patterns, perhaps starving the marsh of sediment. Dr. Engelhardt stressed that very little good erosion data were available for the area, so we don’t really know how accretion nets out against sea level changes.

Dr. Engelhardt’s research turned up a couple of surprises. Though much of the ground lies in the range of elevations from 0.3m to 0.8m, there is much bumpiness in the terrain. Tidal channels, rather than following a hierarchical flow from lower to higher orders, instead form a complex web of cross-linked flows. Her focus on the botany was limited to the emergent herbaceous vegetation. Even though tidal freshwater wetlands tend to be species-poor, nevertheless she and her research students found representatives of eleven taxa, annual and perennial, including spatter dock, wild rice, and cattails. (Invasives tend to be more prevalent in relative upland of the woods, which was not the focus of her studies.)

Three restoration scenarios were outlined:

  • Aggressive pumping and dredging to restore the marsh to its full extent from the first half of the twentieth century.
  • Partial restoration, perhaps in a shallow area below Hog Island, which was designated as a demonstration area in a 1977 study, with the possibility of further efforts.
  • Shoreline erosion control only.

Whatever we do, Dr. Engelhardt said, we must make sure that the effort is sustainable, that is, that future natural accretion is sufficient to maintain the marsh.

Upcoming: 12

Leta and I have our seats reserved for this year’s Contemporary American Theater Festival, 9 July through 3 August. I’ll be posting reviews of that we see, but since our dates are late in the run, I’m posting now to spread the word. We’re especially looking forward to Neil LaBute’s monologue Wrecks and the completion of Richard Dresser’s Happiness Trilogy, A View from the Harbor.

At the park: 17

Two more clutches of Wood Duck have started since last week, so we’ll be checking boxes well into June.

New arrivals of the season seen or heard on Sunday: Green Heron (Butorides virescens), Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) (spotted by Paul), Acadian Flycatcher (Empidonax virescens) (heard by me), Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea), and Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea) (found by Myra).

Cinderella

The surprise star of this production, set to a supremely danceable score by Sergei Prokofiev, is the role of the Jester, who stirs up the merrymarking at the Prince’s ball. At Saturday’s performance, Chauncey Parsons danced the role with aerial brio. James Kronzer’s set also deserves mention: silvery birches frame all of the scenes, even the palace, setting an other-worldly feel; the effect of a dozen clock faces descending from the flies on the foretold stroke of midnight is also very impressive.

  • Cinderella, choreography by Septime Webre, Washington Ballet, Warner Theatre, Washington

Not that it will make a difference, but let me state a wish that the Warner would rethink its food policy (it’s acceptable in the house). The noise of crackling snack wrappers in the balcony was, at times, a noticeable distraction.

Attend the lords of France and Burgundy

We struck King Lear yesterday evening. All in all, a good run, one that met my expectations.

The scanty houses middle weekend (16 Sunday, 11 stalwarts on Friday) built to some better numbers for our closing weekend, including a declared sell-out Saturday (CLS ordinarily sets up two rows of chairs, seating about 50).

We continued to make costume and blocking adjustments through Saturday. Too bad that we never found a safer place for the wheelchair (for IV.iv) that every night I had to wrangle out of a fire exit stairwell.

A few days ago I was noted the passing remark that a typical shift in the NHL is 45 seconds. That’s about the amount of time that it takes to deliver 15 lines of Shakespeare. So I skated my two shifts, plus a bit. I’m actually most satisfied with my tiny bit as the Messenger in Act IV who brings word of the advancing British army.

It turned out that the daylight streaming through the Sunday afternoon windows was not as distracting as the exterior building security lights shining through the evenings. It just never gets dark in that space.

In my long layover between I.i (the division of the kingdom and the betrothal) and III.vii (the blinding of Gloucester) each night I would help Chris by making up his back for when Edgar goes underground as Poor Tom. We went through a few containers of brown and black character color in the nine-show run. Chris tried dark street makeup foundation, but was dissatisfied with the results: too blendy.

I noted before that the church is a multipurpose facility, and that’s really apparent on Friday nights when the AA/NA meetings are held downstairs. I tried to convince myself that the gabble of voices rising through the ventilation system suggested unseen denizens of the palace, but my resolve faltered when I smelled coffee onstage.

Fortunately we had a lot of hands for strike, and we were on our way to food, drink, and celebration in under an hour.

At the park: 16

nestlings
Sometimes our boxes are visited by members of families other than Anatidae. A Tufted Titmouse has taken over box #5, located down lower Barnyard Run. At least five nestlings are visible in the photo at left; you can also see the considerable amount of unused box space surrounding the tiny nest.

Box #8 on the main wetland also has a songbird nest in it—probably Carolina Wren.

As for our intended guests, two Hooded Merganser nests have hatched out, as well as two Wood Duck clutches. We’re still expecting hatches of two hoodie families, three woodie families, and perhaps one more.

Also heard, seen, or both: American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus), Osprey (Pandion haliaetus), Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla), Great Crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus), Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus), Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapillus), and Prothonotary Warbler (Pronotaria citrea)(vocalizing!).