Warblers and Pipelines 6/20/15

This is a pretty late blog post, but not as late as the last one.

So we had heard about a place in Connecticut that had breeding Cerulean Warblers. Since this is a rapidly declining species we decided to head out there and see what we could find. It was Pumpkin Hill Road in Ashford, CT. One one part of the road there is and oil pipeline that runs under it. It is very easy to see the pipeline from the road. There is a parking lot by the pipelines and that is the area where Cerulean Warblers breed. We were told the warblers would be singing as soon as we got out of the car.

We got there at 7:00 A.M. and as soon as we got out of the car Ovenbirds and Red-eyed Vireos started singing, but no Ceruleans. A male Scarlet Tanager showed its very pretty red to us, but I only got a bad picture of it. At about that time Wood Thrushes, Veeries, and American Redstarts started singing, but still no Ceruleans. A Winter Wren also showed itself, a bird I did not expect to see.

At about 7:15 A.M. I heard the very distant ascending  zee zee ze ze zeeeeee of a Cerulean Warbler. Okay good, we know they are actually here. More started singing, but still very distant, so my dad and I decided we would drive down more of the road with the windows open to see if we could hear any more.

As we started driving a Cerulean song started getting closer and closer and when it was really loud and close we stopped to car and I got out to investigate. And of course right when I though I knew where he was in the tree he stopped singing and I didn't get to see him. I did see a beautiful male American Redstart though.

We continued driving and got to a pond while more very distant Ceruleans sang, and I heard a loud che-beck, che-beck, che-beck of a Least Flycatcher. Surprisingly this was actually a lifer for me and I got okay looks at the bird, but no pics, because he flew away before I could take one. After that my dad had to go to Dunkin Donuts so we drove into Ashford. We decided to check out the pipeline again just in case the Ceruleans were there. As we drove back up the road we didn't hear a single Cerulean Warbler.

We got into our little parking spot by the pipeline ,at 7:45 A.M, and as soon as we got out of the car very loud ascending zee zee ze ze zeeeeee. Probably about 4 males doing that all right close to me. I went over to where the song was coming out the loudest, pished, and like clockwork this little guy came down to meet me.

Cerulean Warbler

And the day ended with 2 lifers.

9/28/14 Plum Island (6 months late)

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't been updating you guys for a while. I've been busy with birding and stuff. Yearbirds will be bolded and lifers will be **bolded and have quotes around them**.

On September 28, 2014 Neil Hayward, North American Big Year record holder was leading a walk at Parker River National Wild Refuge in Plum Island, Massachusetts. Somehow we got lost on the Island, but allowed 30 minutes just in case we did get lost (which we did) and arrived at 8:00 sharp just as the walk was starting. As we were going through the pay toll to go to PRNWR a male Northern Harrier flew by (Gray Ghost) we would end up seeing a lot of Harriers, but that was our only gray ghost for the day. Once we got there we started carpooling to the different stops at Parker River.

Our first stop at a pond where we saw Northern Pintails, American Wigeons, and American Black Ducks.

Pintails, Black Duck, and Wigeon 

Our next stop was a field with a couple of pine trees and we saw a Brown Thrasher, Yellow-rumped Warblers, American Robin, a giant flock of Double-crested Cormorants flying over, and finally 3 **Pine Siskins**. 

Brown Thrasher

Me Birding with Neil Hayward

Our next stop, which was another little pond had American Black Ducks, Gadwall, and

Green-winged Teal

Next we stopped at Hellcat trail system and birded along the trail. We found Peregrine Falcon, Marsh Wren, Eastern Towhee, Cedar Waxwing, Gray Catbird, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Yellow-rumped Warbler, American Woodcock, and other common birds.

American Woodcock

Northern Harrier

Next we went over to Pine Loop trail and overlook and found Northern Harrier, Great Egret, Greater Yellowlegs, Scarlet Tanagers, Black-and-White Warbler, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Tufted Titmouse, **Golden-crowned Kinglet**.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Finally we stopped at the lookout where we could see shorebirds and we saw Black-bellied Plovers, Semipalmated Plovers, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Dunlins, Greater Yellowlegs, Great Egrets, and Snowy Egrets.

Stats

2 lifers

4 additional yearbirds

Here is the ebird checklist for that day

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S19969476