Maryland Birders -

To:  All who plan to search for the Virginia's Warbler

 

MOS Birders, Talbot Birders and Pickering Creek Staff are all delighted that
the charming little Virginia's Warbler has chosen to stop in and make some
use of the Pickering Creek grass and shrub habitat.  This bird was
apparently first seen back on January 26th, but the views were so brief and
the lighting so poor that the finders were not totally confident of the ID.

 

This bird was next seen yesterday, February 15th, with reasonably decent
views attained by four birders.  Jim Stasz was the only one to attain a good
photo, and his was sufficient to confirm the bird's identity.  After the
searching group of four had been given these mediocre views, the bird seemed
to have had enough of it, and disappeared for the rest of the day, even
though many of us believed it was still around somewhere.  The searching
numbers grew to eleven or more as the afternoon developed - but the bird was
not seen again that day.

 

Today, Feb 16th, several birders who were present between 7:15 a.m. and 7:45
a.m. managed a few brief views, but the bird is proving to be pretty shy,
and again, as the crowd grew, the bird seemed to find a way to bail out. It
had not been seen again as of 1:30 this afternoon.  No amount of effort by
hopeful birders seemed to produce the bird.  In fact, for a shy bird like
this, the intense efforts of hopeful birders may actually be reducing the
likelihood of additional sightings.

 

 

The attractiveness of this bird is expected to really bring out the crowds
throughout tomorrow and the rest of the upcoming weekend.  With that in
mind, Pickering Creek has asked that the following practices be adopted
immediately by the hopeful birders:

 

          1.  In General, do what you can to minimize the chaos and
confusion for the bird due to your searching.

 

          2.  In Particular - please respect the fact that the habitat of
the field where the bird has been is a warm season grass meadow disrupted
only by a minimal set of deer trails.  This meadow has not previously been
tramped down by human traffic, and it would be best to keep it that way.
Therefore, birders are asked to do their searching through use of existing
mown trails, driveways, mowed fields and dormant agriculture lands, but are
asked to NOT trample through the warm season grassy meadows. Such trampling
is not likely to produce the bird, and is very likely to actually push the
bird to leave the entire area.

 

 

The sightings of Wednesday first occurred while the four  lucky birders were
either on the main path or on the mown part of the adjacent field.  When
folks moved into the taller grass areas (amongst the briars and the bushes)
it really did not help, and quite promptly the bird totally disappeared.

 

We hope that some less wet weather tomorrow will allow greater sighting
success than has occurred today.

 

 

Thanks for your cooperation.

 

Mark Scallion, Director, Pickering Creek Audubon Sanctuary

Les Roslund, Hotline Coordinator, Talbot Bird Club


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