Date: 1/16/25 6:48 am From: 'Gail Mackiernan' via Maryland & DC Birding <mdbirding...> Subject: Re: [MDBirding] DC under the Polar Vortex: Grebes and gulls
We used to get frozen Tidal Basin as well as frozen Washington Channel regularly In the 1980s and 1990s. I recall driving with my mother to Hain’s Point to look for two Kumlien’s Gulls that were around, to find them flying over the ice floes in the Channel. This would have been in the late 1980s. Many a pleasant albeit cold afternoon was spent sorting through the gulls on the Tidal Basin ice. Of course this was when the Oaks Landfill was in full cry, so the Gull numbers were huge. Some good ones were found over the years...But think late 90s were the end of it...
Gail Mackiernan
Colesville
Sent from my iPad
> On Jan 16, 2025, at 9:23 AM, Jim Felley <jdfelley...> wrote:
>
> You may have seen on the news that the Great Lakes are freezing over earlier than usual, due to the succession of polar vortices we have been experiencing.
>
> Especially when Lake Erie becomes ice-bound, wintering grebes are displaced and head south, looking for open water. Often the first they find is the Chesapeake Bay or the Potomac, and we can see an influx of grebes, in particular Red-necked grebes. Keep an eye out! Under such conditions, Riley's Lock has been a good place for these guys. Also, a commonplace observation is that you rarely see grebes flying. At Riley's Lock you will often see them in flight,. The current drifts them down to the rocks at Violett's Lock and they have to fly back upstream.
>
> The Tidal Basin may freeze over as subfreezing conditions continue. When this happens, there may occur a event called 'winter-kill', where the ice blocks oxygen exchange with the air, and fish die from hypoxia (especially shad and river herring). Their dead bodies float up and accumulate under the ice and this attracts hordes of gulls. A frozen Tidal Basin with winter-kill happened in 1994 and 1997. To my knowledge the Tidal Basin has frozen over once since 2000, and then only briefly. Climate change!
>
> Good birding to all
>
> Jim
> Jim Felley
> Clarksburg MD
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