More goodies at Wakefield Park
Mike Collins (collins@ram.nrl.navy.mil)
Mon, 14 Sep 1998 15:27:01 -0400
Below is a report that Bart Hutchinson sent me regarding
some good birds he saw at Wakefield Park on Sunday. We
have compared notes on the Connecticuts we saw. Based on
differences in the hood colors and locations, they were
obviously different birds. So it was a good day to be at
Wakefield, with 2 Connecticut, 1 Mourning, and 2 Wilson's
Warblers (I only mentioned one of the Wilson's in yesterday's
report). The Wakefield tally so far this fall:
5 Connecticut Warblers
5 Mourning Warblers
2 Brewster's Warblers
2 Wilson's Warblers
It was slow at Wakefield this morning, with 5 species of warbler,
including Nashville and Tennessee. I relocated the Connecticut
late yesterday but couldn't find it this morning. This was one of
the few mornings this fall that something good didn't show up.
Mike Collins
Annandale, Virginia
collins@ram.nrl.navy.mil
>
>Mike -
> I just wanted to thank you for your Wakefield tip. I went there
>yesterday (sunday) morning and had great luck. The very first
>bird I put my bins on was a Mourning Warbler! (a lifer). Less than
>10 minutes later I had great views of a Connecticut Warbler!, another
>lifer!!! (this bird had an all grey hood -no trace of brown, like
>the one you mentioned). Seconds later I had a Nashville in the
>trees behind the tennis courts, offering a great comparison.
> All of this action took place between 7:00 and 7:30 am, and it
>was all at the very beginning of the trail, right behind the tennis
>courts. After that things got real quiet - I didn't see much for the
>next two hours with the execption of a Redstart.
> All in all a great morning - 2 lifers in about 20 minutes!
>Thank you very much for the info. on Wakefield! I'll be back.
>
>As you come out of the "woods" (from the tennis area) and enter the
>power line cut area there is the main path which runs north towards
>the transformer station. I walked a few feet up that trail (north)
>when I saw the Mourning fly across the trail and land in the low
>weed/shrubs - just at the east edge of the cut. This was all between
>the large trees to the west of the tennis courts and the last courts.
> (As you know, there is a border of tall trees that block the courts
>from the view. This tree border extends about 100 ft. north form the
>start of the trail at the power line cut. North of the tree border,
>another court is visible.) The Mourning was seen about half way up
>the tree border, on the cut side.
>
>Also, as you come out of the "woods" and begin walking north along
>the cut, there is a small path that extends directly west from the
>main trail. It cuts through the brush and goes under the power lines
>and comes out on the other side of the cut where it joins the trail
>that parrallels the western side of the cut. This east/west trail is
>very close to the point where the main trail emerges from the tennis
>area. I was about half way across the cut on this trail when I saw
>the Connecticut. As you walk west on this small path, about halfway
>across cut on the northern edge of the path, there is a slight break
>in the thickness of the vegetation - it opens up slightly - This is
>where I saw the Conn. It was not in the "open" area proper but it
>was in a small tree/shrub very close to the "open" area.
>
>The bird gave me a variety of poses and I was able to get great views
>of the eye ring and throat. As compared to the Nashville (which I
>saw a few minutes later) the Connecticut's eye ring (and eye) seemed
>very big - I was immediately struck by how "big" the eye ring looked.
>When I say big, I'm referring to the diameter not the thickness of the
>eye ring. Everything about the Nashville's eye ring seemed much
>smaller. The same size difference was noted on the bills. The
>Conn's seemed big, thick, and long while the Nashville's seemed very
>small, thin and short. The most obvious difference was the full grey
>hood of the Conn, with a grey throat and yellow belly. The Nashville
>of course, had a yellow throat. Another difference was the
>location - the Conn was about 4 ft. off the ground in the "shrubby
>brush" in the power line cut. The Nashville was about 20 feet up in
>the trees just to the west of the tennis courts.
>
>Bart Hutchinson
>Alexandria, VA