[Bristol-Birds] KY Warblers and Electrical Wires
- From: "Mayhorn" <mayhorn@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Bristol Birds" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 13 May 2006 00:02:44 -0400
Area Birders,
I don't know about the rest of you, but I usually think of KY Warblers as being
rather reclusive and hard to see, partly because they seem to sing from thickly
foliaged trees, and also because they tend to sit on one perch and sing for
long periods.
A few years ago I was birding with Bob Riggs of Russell County and we found a
KY Warbler singing out in the open on a an electrical power line.
This week, while doing point counts with Aimee Weldon and my wife, I found
another KY Warbler sitting on a power line. It wasn't singing at that moment,
but it had been only moments before.
I was talking with Bob Riggs about this yesterday. Later in the day he heard a
KY singing and stopped along a rural road (all our roads are rural :) to see
it, and sure enough it was singing from a power line.
I would be interested in knowing if anyone else has observed this behavior from
KY's.
I have observed one bit of behavior that might help explain it. Even though
KY's often sing from fairly thick cover, they are usually sitting on a dead
branch or twig with no leaves within that cover. During this past weekend at
the VSO meeting in the Breaks Park I was leading a hike and we heard a KY
Warbler singing. One of the group, Catherine Bond, finally located it. It was
singing from a large Tulip Poplar that had lots of thick foliage. This bird
however had found a small dead branch within that tree to sing from. KY's seem
to prefer a singing perch that is rather bare, even though there may be foliage
arournd or near it. Perhaps they see a power line as another bare perch from
which to sing.
Roger Mayhorn
Compton Mt
Buchanan County
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