Up to 3 Mourning Warblers at Wakefield Park (9/12)

Mike Collins (collins@ram.nrl.navy.mil)
Sat, 12 Sep 1998 13:43:27 -0400


There were at least two, and probably three,
Mourning Warblers at Wakefield Park this
morning. In addition to the adult male 
that Howard Youth reported, I got a good 
look at an immature bird a few hundred yards
north of the power facility along the main 
trail. While Howard and I were staking out
the site that has been producing Connecticut
Warblers, a bird with a broken eye ring
and hood popped up briefly. I was almost
certain it was an immature Mourning Warbler, 
but I only had a brief look at it. There
were also two Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and
a few other species of warbler in the area,
which was very slow today other than the
highlights.

If you visit this site, listen for a White-
eyed Vireo that does immitations. I have heard 
it immitate chickadee, towhee, Blue Jay, and 
today it seemed to be doing a catbird. It only 
includes one or two notes, usually at the 
beginning of its song. I have read that this 
behavior has been observed before but so far 
haven't run into another birder who has seen 
it. 

Mike Collins
Annandale, Virginia
collins@ram.nrl.navy.mil