This morning during my weekly Connecticut Warbler search, I found what I
believe to be an immature Mourning Warbler. I was working some likely habitat when
a good-looking bird flew low from one thicket into another. For a
heart-stopping moment I thought I had the grail bird when a big, olive-green and yellow
warbler with a complete white eye ring flew up onto a low, heavy limb. But its
movements were herky-jerky and warbler-like; it did not walk on the limb. The
underparts, including the sides and flanks, were rich, bright yellow. When it
tipped forward to drop back to the ground, it showed a dark square tail and
yellow undertail coverts that were long but not extremely so.
I thought it was gone, but with a combination of spishing and a screech owl
tape I was able to entice it up for several more brief looks. The clincher
would seem to be a faint pale supraloral strip that gave the bird a vaguely
spectacled look, and a yellow throat with a faint, broken breast band. The eye ring
was bolder than Sibley shows for fall Mourning but consistent with the
illustrations in Dunn & Garrett. I'm a little troubled by the late date and the
apparent size of the bird, but much as I'd like to make it a Connecticut I believe
it was a Mourning.
Some other sightings:
Cooper's hawk - 1
RS Hawk - 1
E Screech-Owl - 1
E Wood-Pewee - 1
Phoebe - 2
WE Vireo - 1 STILL singing
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 2
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 4
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 3
Magnolia Warbler - 1
Black-throated Green Warbler - 1
Black-and-white Warbler - 1
Common Yellowthroat - 3
Also many Flickers, Blue Jays, Catbirds, Towhees and Cardinals.
Joel Martin
Catonsville, MD
|