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Subject:

Curlean Warbler in Waldorf

From:

"George M. Jett"

Reply-To:

George M. Jett

Date:

Sun, 16 Apr 2006 15:14:10 -0400

Folks

This morning I saw my first ever Cerulean Warble at our Waldorf, MD house.  The female was in a gum tree hunting w/ a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.  The warbler was hard to see, and I never saw the whole bird at one time;  first the head, then the undertail, then the side,...  

It chipped a couple times which got my attention, but I have seen so few Cerulean Warblers (heard less), and was unfamiliar with the call notes.  I did not know what it was, so I started looking for the bird.  The chip note was much softer and quieter than the nearby Yellow-rumped Warbler, so I really wanted to see it. 

My first reaction was a small greenish Pine Warbler, but the short tail changed my impression toward Tennessee.  The undertail pattern was more what you might expect from a male Tennessee, but I don't know what a Cerulean female undertail looks like.  With the quick look the white pattern in the center of the tail, bordered by dark gray, could have also been misleading.  A better head view was next.  The bold eye-stripe and heavy bill changed the Tennessee speculation.  I could see the lime-green upper body, then the two wing-bars.  The bird hopped around a couple more times before flying east toward the morning sun.  It stopped briefly in an oak but was not relocated.  

One other bird around this AM was a singing Brown Thrasher, and several Eastern Phoebes.  

Yesterday AM two visiting migrant Purple Finches stayed shortly.  While the male sang in the treetops a male Gold Finch harassed it until it left.  Tough little guy.

Gwen missed the Cerulean Warbler since she was catching up on her sleep, so we decided to go out to Douglas Point and scout for the April 29 Southern Maryland Audubon Soc. fieldtrip.  Along the way to Douglas Point we had a single Wild Turkey run across RT. 229 in front of the car coming from the opposite direction.  She made it safely across.  We also had Barn Swallow and Northern Rough-winged Swallow on Route 224.

The highlight for me was a singing Yellow-throated Vireo.  We also had a number of Worm-eating Warblers along the trial.  Other new arriving or singing migrants were American Redstart, Pine, lots of Northern Parulas, Ovenbird, Blue-headed Vireo, Red-breasted Nuthatch, and several Blue-gray Gnatcatchers.  One Red-headed Woodpecker was singing in the forest interior and one was drilling in a low spot on Rt. 224 about a mile and one-half from where Rt. 224 crosses Liverpool Point Rd.  Probably both are nesting birds this time of year.  Tree Swallows were also in at the low spot on Rt. 224.  

Good birding.

George