Laura and I hit Sugarloaf this AM after a hearty breakfast at the Waffle
House in Urbana. The list wasn't particularly long but it was spiced up by
quality and very good looks. Like the BLACK-THROATED BLUE that she pished
in. We were trying to find it in the tree behind the Mountain Laurel in
front of us. Then I got to wondering if it was closer than we thought it
was. Yes, there it was in the Mountain Laurel, just a few feet away and
singing softly at us. Hard to beat the look we had. And the Mountain Laurel
was looking spiffy. too. All nicely in bloom today. How many out there knew
that Black-throated Blues are a pishable bird?
    A comment on pishing. Yes, I know that it's almost as bad as playing
tapes, etc. I think it elicits two responses: A few birds, most notably
Yellowthroats, Chickadees, etc. will readily respond and come in for a
closer look. The rest either ignore it or in some cases actually run away
from it. Most birds are not pishable. So don't waste your time unless you
know you're working with one of the pishables. And there aren't many.

Also nice looks at MAGNOLIA WARBLER, BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER,
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, WORM-EATING WARBLER, AM REDSTART, PINE WARBLER,
OVENBIRD and LA WATERTHRUSH. SCARLET TANAGER was seen at the start of the
trip. Also heard Blackpolls for about the 15th straight day. Seems like
they've been around since the start of the month.

We also had what I made out to be a GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH. Several  folks have
posted Bicknell's lately and it makes me jealous. I'm just not that good
that I can sort these two out. One of the experts wrote me and was talking
about "warm coloration" and not looking dead. And the face is "soft". Huh?
Didn't know they sat still for groping. And another mentioned today that the
bird had a "cold brown" color. These words don't mean a lot to me since they
are very subjective and I have a hard time seeing things like warm, cold,
soft and dead in a bird that is live and moving around. I don't carry tapes
or other sound gadgets when I bird so I can't test the songs out on them.
Wish there was something more obvious. We still have never seen a Bicknell's
that we know of. We heard them last year in the Adirondacks, but that put us
in a situation where the Gray-cheeked was very unlikely. Wish they woulda
shown themselves but that's what makes birding challenging.

Jerry Tarbell
Monadknocked out in Carroll County.