Monticello Park is a small park (6.25 acres) located at 320 Beverley Drive in Alexandria, Virginia. The park, which is owned by the City of Alexandria, is open all year from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Admission is free, and parking is available on the surrounding streets. The park has no restrooms or portable toilets. The only amenities are a picnic table and a bench. There is also a small dog exercise area where neighborhood people bring their pets.
The park is on a tree-covered ridge, and migrating birds see this small green oasis in the middle of suburbia as a place to land and feed. Monticello has a stream running through it, and many birds who usually stay high in the trees come down to drink and bathe, allowing birders and photographers to get close views. The stream runs the entire length of the park (about an eighth of a mile), and paths run along each side of the stream. The stream is in a “valley” between two sloped areas.
Monticello Park is best known for its abundance of migrating songbirds. The best times of year to visit are from the third week in April through Memorial Day, and from mid-August through mid-October. For the remainder of the year, the park has mostly resident species. In the spring, common warblers are American Redstart, Black-and-white, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Blackpoll, Canada, Chestnut-sided, Common Yellowthroat, Hooded, Louisiana and Northern Waterthrush, Northern Parula, Ovenbird, Palm, and Yellow-rumped, and Monticello Park is one of the easiest venues in Northern Virginia to find Magnolia Warblers during the first three weeks in May. Blackburnian, Bay-breasted, Cape May, Nashville, Yellow, Worm-eating, Pine, and Blue-winged Warblers are also seen each spring. The east slope of the park is especially good for thrushes; Veery, Wood Thrush, Swainson’s Thrush, and Hermit Thrush are common, and the park is one of the most reliable places in Northern Virginia to see Gray-cheeked Thrushes during the second and third weeks in May. Other common species are Scarlet Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Baltimore Oriole, Ruby and Golden-crowned Kinglets, Winter Wren, Red-eyed Vireo, Blue-headed Vireo, Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Wood Pewee, Great Crested Flycatcher, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Brown Creeper, and Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Most of the same species pass through during the fall, but they are more difficult to see. During some years, Mississippi Kites have nested in the neighborhood near the park.
Ashley Bradford and William Young have created a website called MPNature, which has detailed descriptions of 124 birds commonly seen in Monticello Park. Each description contains: the early and late spring dates when the species has been seen at the park; the best dates to see the species; where to see the species in the park; a physical description of the species (with photos); vocalizations of the species; the origin of the common, genus, and species names; notes about the species; and video footage. A unique feature of the website is the daily bird checklists for every day in April and May, based on when species have been seen at the park during past years.
Other features of the website are: a library featuring links to resources in 14 natural history categories; resources for nature-related travel; videos by William Young, including recordings of 4 classes he taught about how to identify warblers; natural history essays by Eric Dinerstein and William Young; a section with write-ups about 144 different plants found at Monticello Park; a virtual tour of the park; and a section with maps showing both the park and how to reach the park by car and public transportation.
You can access all of these features on the website at www.MPNature.com.
Owner/Manager: City of Alexandria
eBird Hotspot: Monticello Park
—William Young & Ashley Bradford, February 2021