Seeing that we might get a well-timed break of morning sunshine, at 8:15 I drove across the valley to visit Worm-eating Warbler habitat below West Danby's north pinnacle. On the walk through the forest I flushed a couple of Wood Ducks from a tiny vernal pool where frogs and salamanders breed. Hermit Thrushes, Black-throated Green Warblers, Blackburnian Warblers, Blue-headed Vireos, a Scarlet Tanager and other birds were present but not very vocal. When I got to the slopes at 8:45 the Worm-eaters were silent. I sat down and waited. I could easily hear quite distant birds singing down in the L-P Preserve, including a Yellow-throated Vireo. At 9:10 the sun finally climbed above the north pinnacle and began to illuminate the treetops, at which point 4 or 5 Worm-eating Warblers began counter-singing. One perched at eye level directly in front of me. They kept it up strongly for 20 minutes, like a delayed dawn chorus, then the cloud cover returned and they all went quiet.
-Geo Geo Kloppel Bowmaker & Restorer 227 Tupper Rd Spencer NY 14883 607 564 7026 -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
