It was a great day for us up by Lake Ontario in western Niagara County today. This evening we added our 24th and last species of warbler for the day, a NASHVILLE WARBLER, bathing in our pond. Earlier in the day, we thought we had chalked up our 24th warbler. Driving slowly with windows open into Four Mile Creek S.P. on Woodcliff Drive late this morning, Betsy and I suddenly turned to each other and simultaneously said, "Prairie Warbler!" after hearing the typical rising buzzy zee-zee-zee-zee-zee-zee-zee-zee-zee-zee song of that species. Immediately after, we saw John Welte standing in a grove of scots pines. John was so busy watching warblers that he did not notice us get out of the car and walk practically right up to him. After exchanging greetings, I asked him if he had heard a Prairie Warbler. He looked at me with a smile and said, "Yes, yes I did." But he had not seen it, so the three of us continued the search. We heard the Prairie sing several more times and we gradually tracked it until we were very close. But we just could not find him. A PALM WARBLER wagging its tail in the top of a pine caused momentary excitement. Finally, we got a look at the singer. But to our amazement, it was not a Prairie Warbler. It was a BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER! Before seeing this bird, I had already mentally added it to our list. This is another example of how unreliable some heard-only reports can be.
Our yard alone produced 19 species of warblers today, as well as LINCOLN'S SPARROW, VEERY, GRAY-CHEEKED, WOOD, and lots of SWAINSON'S THRUSHES. Several of the latter were at every place we went today. At Wilson-Tuscarora S.P. an OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER was a highlight as well as WILLOW and ALDER FLYCATCHERS. Other flycatchers were PEWEE, PHOEBE, E. KINGBIRD, LEAST, and GREAT CRESTED. Our warbler list: Tennessee - 5 Nashville - 1 No. Parula - 4 Yellow - 25 Chestnut-sided - 6 Magnolia - 18 Bl.-thr. Blue - 12 Yellow-rumped - 5 Bl.-thr. Green - 5 Blackburnian - 6 Pine - 1 Palm - 2 BAY-BREASTED - 20 (The most we have seen in many years.) Blackpoll - 26 Black-and-white - 4 Amer. Redstart - 20 Ovenbird - 1 No. Waterthrush - 2 MOURNING - 2 (a female in our yard and a male at Four Mile Creek S.P.) Common Yellowthroat - 18 HOODED - 1 (yard) Wilson's - 10 Canada - 4 YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT - 1 (Wilson-Tuscarora S.P.) Good birding! Willie ---------------- Willie D'Anna Betsy Potter Wilson, NY dannapotterATroadrunner.com http://www.betsypottersart.com -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
