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Subject:

Cerulean Warbler at Oak Grove

From:

"Lovelace Glen (DelDOT)"

Reply-To:

Lovelace Glen (DelDOT)

Date:

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 11:27:37 -0400

Good morning,
	I took a couple hours off this morning to look for migrants brought through by the last weak cold front (more a change in humidity than temperature).  Probably should have done this yesterday, but I was unable to.  This morning was a bit lower temperature, but decidedly muggy especially after the sun came out from behind some high, thin clouds.  The best group of the day was the first group.  There is a corner of woods across the railroad tracks from my farm with a couple tall trees and a couple snags.  The sun hits here first and it always seems to be very active.  I begin many a fall day right here.  Today was no exception with a mixed flock that included 8 or more Kingbirds, a female Orchard Oriole, a Red-eyed Vireo, a Prairie Warbler, a very drab immature Pine Warbler, a male Redstart and a female Cerulean Warbler.  I think there were more birds in this group that I missed, but my attention was focused on the Cerulean.
	It was a greenish warbler that first caught my attention.  It had warm green tones (as opposed to olive drab type green of the Baypolls), darker on top of the head, fading down its back.  I strong supercilium line in a washed out pale green, contrasting with the head and a darker eye stripe.  The throat and chest were washed in the same pale green, almost an off-white, but with a darker smudge at the shoulder  that was not distinct enough to call streaking.  The other prominent feature was two very strong white wingbars.  It was very active, flitting about through several trees.  It generally followed the Prairie around and seemed more energetic than the Redstart.
	I include these details because to a Delmarva birder, a Cerulean is warbler non grata.  I have never seen a migrant anywhere before.  The only ones I have seen previous have been on White Clay Creek and I doubt that I ever saw a female (well, maybe one, circa 1994).  Therefore this is a new Oak Grove homelist bird (#194), a Caroline Co bird (#204 maybe) and a MD state bird (# whatever, I lost count).  I would like to here comments about migrant Ceruleans, especially on Delmarva.
	The other species of note was a first of season Bobolink flock overhead.  For the record, Bob, all species noted in MD.

Good Birding,
Glen Lovelace III
Seaford, DE