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Subject:

Mourning Warbler at Rockburn, Howard Co., 10/2

From:

Joel Martin

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Date:

Sun, 2 Oct 2005 22:34:06 EDT

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