Go to work on time, on a Monday morning? Not on a Monday as gorgeous as
this was!!
Spent 1.5 hours at Thompson Wildlife Management Area, Trillium Trail (on
Freezeland Road just south of the tower), plus a few minutes at the
Skyline parking area further south, between 7AM and 9AM. Most notable:
3 CERULEAN WARBLERS singing (2 visual)
2 HOODED WARBLERS (voice only)
Directions to the spot where I encountered these: Park at Trillium Trail
lot. Walk down (East) 0.1 to 0.2 mile on the wide trail to the sign
indicating "Trico Trail" and "A.T. 0.25 mile". Go right to the
Appalachian Trail (white blazes) then continue on in the same direction
on the A.T. another 1/4 mile or so. Be prepared to crane your neck up
and peek through the foliage a lot. If I return, I will bring a
collapsable (backpack-able) chair for those long looks up at the canopy.
Lots of birds singing, far more than I could identify. I think I know
the basic Kentucky call, and did not hear any. Probably heard either
Yellow or Black-and-White or similar high pitched birds, but I have very
poor hearing in the high-pitch range - no ID possible. I thought I
heard the Ruffed Grouse thumping once, but I was inside the car and when
I got out I did not hear a repeat. It's possible the car made a similar
sound - if so, it was a really good imitation, right down to the
increasing tempo. This was at the Skyline parking lot.
Also noteworthy: Yellow-Rumped only accounted for about 1/10 of the
warblers seen. Most common warblers were REDSTART (8) and OVENBIRD
(10+). I actually saw more Redstarts of each gender, than the total
number of Yellow-Rumps. Most vocal throughout the forest were the
ovenbirds and red-eyed vireos.
Identification question:
The "big one that got away" this morning was a warbler (I think). I got
a very long look and listen at this bird, and could not convince myself
that it even remotely resembled anything in my Sibley guide. On the
upper side, all of the tail, wings, and head were dark - very uniform,
no markings. There was a modest single wing stripe, very subdued. Dark
eye, no ring, and particularly dark patch right around the eye. It had
a dark/light demarcation between the top and underside of the head, very
reminiscent of a barn swallow. But it was smaller than a swallow, and
the shape and behavior were very warbler-ish. It perched and flitted,
spending at least 5 minutes in the understory about 15-30 feet above the
ground, not moving very far from perch to perch.
The underside was uniform off-white except for an orange splotch on each
side (below the front edge of the wing), and a couple of small dark
spots across the chest between the orange spots. Finally, the forward
edges of the tail (furthest from the tip) were lined with a light,
probably orangish edge. The size was that of a small warbler - like a
gnatcatcher or maybe slightly larger. The song or call was a short,
simple, high-pitched whistle - rather breathy, not clear or flutelike,
not very musical. It was rather faint - even when the bird was close to
me, it was much softer than many other bird calls. Sort of like a
one-note Yellow Warbler, but less raspy and maybe even higher pitched.
I will flip through my other field guides but this one is a real mystery.
Full list follows.
- Steve Johnson
Fairfax, VA
Buteo sp. - 1 (flying over, no time, probably Red-Tail)
Accipiter sp. - 1 (flying over, no time; from size, probably Cooper's)
Red-Bellied Woodpecker - 4
Northern Flicker - 1
Mourning Dove - 1
Carolina Chickadee - 3
White-Breasted Nuthatch - 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 3
Yellow-Throated Vireo - 2
Red-Eyed Vireo - 10+
Scarlet Tanager (including several singing males) - 8
Blue Jay - 1
Brown-Headed Cowbird - 1
Wood Thrush - 3 (sound only)
Eastern Towhee - 6
American Redstart - 8
Cerulean Warbler - 3
Hooded Warbler - 2
Yellow-Rumped Warbler - 3
Ovenbird - 10+ (3 sight, the rest by sound)
American Goldfinch - 2
Blue Grosbeak - 1
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