Pine warbler are rare in Rock Creek Park. But it was so cold there this
morning -- 42 degrees F at 6:40 -- that a pale, possibly first year pine warbler
must have thought he'd arrived at suitable nesting territory in the
Appalachians. He seemed in any event to be checking out real estate above
the bridle and hiking path from the Horse Center where it leads past the two
entrances to the Maintenance Yard, and stayed there singing loudly for at
least half an hour. The bird showed both spectacles and an eye stripe, pale
underparts with tinges of yellow undertail and a bit more yellow higher on the
breast. No one to my knowledge got a look at the wing pattern, but the song
was too fast for a palm, the undertail too yellow for a Tennessee, and an
orange-crowned would have been dizzy in the canopies of the trees this bird
was investigating (not to mention lost). A pine it was, as Marge surmised; no
thanks to me, ready as I was to dismiss the brilliant song for a wren's.
Here's a quick list of just the warblers I saw, heard, or heard about.
Northern parula, maintenance yard (MY)
Black-and-white, MY
Worm-eating, heard repeatedly at MY
Blue-winged, heard at MY
Nashville, ridge at dawn
Blackburnian, heard repeatedly at ridge
Chestnut-sided, heard over path near MY
Yellow-rumped, heavy concentrations, especially at the Nature Center
Black-throated green, MY
Pine, over path near MY
Black-throated blue, heard at MY
Blackpoll, heard on the ridge
Ovenbird, heard near the equitation field (no pipits today, alas, just a dog)
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