Eight members of the Cape Henry Audubon Society spent an enjoyable morning at
Gloucester's Beaverdam Park on Saturday, October 11th. We were initially
disappointed by the seemingly lack of neotropical migrants in the woods, but
eventually discovered a bird that made up for the lack of numbers. At about
10:00 AM, we noticed a feeding flock working the crown of a deciduous tree. The
first species identified was a heavily-streaked female Rose-breasted Grosbeak.
It gave its typical "pinc" call note and flew to a nearby tree, out of sight.
After watching an assortment of other migrants, including Parula and
Yellow-rumped Warblers, we noticed another Grosbeak very near where we had
first seen the Rose-breasted. It had the same behavior, massive pale beak,
whitish eye-stripe and dark mask as the Rose-breasted, and it gave a similar
call-note, but the breast was very different. Instead of the heavy brown
streaking against a light grayish base, this bird had a decidedly plain,
unstreaked throat, breast and flanks; and the overall color was a warm buff,
intensifying to a deep butter-scotch orange at the throat. As it picked and fed
in the leaves, it fluttered its wings several times, revealing a bright yellow
lining to the base of the wings. We observed this Grosbeak for probably 3
minutes, in overcast, but non-glaring light and were convinced we were watching
a Black-headed Grosbeak, probably a young male; since we saw no evidence of any
streaking on the breast or sides at all, and the orange color of the throat was
quite intense. Several of us in the group have seen Black-headed Grosbeaks in
their native range but are not necessarily familiar with all of their age and
sex plumage variations. I saw another Black-headed Grosbeak in Virginia, back
in 1978, coming to a feeder in Richmond. Time has faded my memory of the age
and sex of that bird, but I do recall that it had the same warm buff on the
beast.
Other highlights of our field trip to Beaverdam include Bald Eagle, Osprey,
Red-shouldered Hawk, Mute Swan (way too many!), 7 woodpecker species, Magnolia
Warbler and a great display of mushrooms in the wet woods. The staff and
volunteers at Beaverdam had done a remarkable job of clearing fallen trees from
the hiking trails, making our outing safe and enjoyable in spite of the recent
hurricane damage.
David L. Hughes
Cape Henry Audubon Society
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