I was finally able to break free from work for a few hours. My goal: 
to scour underbrush for a Connecticut warbler, a bird I've missed in 
28 years of birding. (I was inspired by the MD Osprey's scattered 
reports of this bird in the area.)

My first stop: Woodend's goldenrod-filled meadows. I chose the one 
leading up from the gatehouse to the mansion. Took the left trail 
headed up to the mansion and studied three or four common 
yellowthroats along the way. Then I headed down the right trail. An 
odd, larger warblerish bird with a greenish back flushed and flew to 
the left trail I'd just traversed. I backtracked and tried to be 
patient. Then a tan-headed bird with a neat, thinnish white eyering 
popped up for a few seconds. Caught a view of its long pink tarsi and 
yellow vent to belly and the very subtle melding of this yellow with 
the tannish breast. The bill was flesh-colored at the base, long, and 
fairly heavy. The bird dropped to the grassy trail edge for a moment 
before vanishing. I was 95% sure of what I'd seen.

I went back to my car, sketched the bird, and consulted Sibley. All 
seemed right. I headed back to the site about a half hour later and 
re-found the bird. This time, a far better look, as it bobbed up and 
down on a shrub stem about three feet above the ground. Dull whitish 
throat surrounded by tan down to breast. Even dullish yet rich yellow 
below that, all the way to near the tail tip thanks to the long 
ventral feathers. The heavy bill was more evident on this prolonged 
view. The pink tarsi and honking big pink feet were noticeable. I'd 
always thought the feet on the first -edition National Geo. field 
guide painting of the Connecticut warbler was exaggerated, and 
apparently the artists/editors did too, because they covered the feet 
with leaves in subsequent editions. But now I don't think the 
painting was way out of line. With the heavy bill and eye ring, the 
warbler's head had a thrush-like aspect. Saw too the long wings and 
greenish olive above. This all left no doubt and felt to me, given my 
desperation to get out and look for a Connecticut warbler, like going 
into a casino with four quarters and striking it big on a slot machine.

Here are directions for this morning's bird:

(In Montgomery County) After turning off Jones Mill Road and onto the 
Woodend (Audubon Naturalist Society headquarters) entrance road, pull 
into the first parking spaces on the right, at the gatehouse. Cross 
the street and you will be facing the large meadow that heads up to 
the mansion. Take the left path, which runs between the woodland edge 
on the left and the meadow on the right. The bird was seen twice in 
one hour near the second bluebird box, on the left. It perched in 
shrubs there and once briefly landed on the ground at the trail's 
edge. A bare (dead) horizontal branch protrudes from the woods here 
and is another landmark. When I left it, it had flown across the 
trail (on the right side) and dove into milkweed not 8 feet off the trail.

Hope someone else has luck finding it!

Howard Youth

Bethesda, MD