Date of sighting: May 1, 2009

At County Park this morning, there seemed to be at least two warblers in every willow I scanned with my binoculars. I counted upwards of ten Wilson’s Warblers, the majority of which were males, although I did see a few females. I heard and found two Orange-crowned Warblers (my personal favorites). The park teemed with Yellow-rumped warblers, the males in their dark black and bright yellow breeding plumage, the females a more modest brownish gray. I sat and watched one Yellow Warbler hop daintily from willow to willow down by the boardwalk for a few minutes. Oh, warblers, you make my heart sing.

Other interesting sightings in the Park:

Gray Flycatcher, Black-headed Grosbeak, four or five Bullock’s Orioles, Blue-winged Teal, Least Sandpiper, and I saw and heard for the first time the display of the Wilson’s Snipe. I saw one standing high atop a tufa tower, calling a loud, repeated TIKa-TIKa-TIKa and then two or more dove from the air and I heard the “winnowing” sound that is produced by their outer tail feathers vibrating during the dive. It was quite a sight and sound combination to behold.

This post was submitted by Nora.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 1st, 2009 at 9:38 am and is filed under Birds. You can view No Responses on this post or leave your own response if you log in.