Greetings All:
After a productive morning elsewhere I decided to spend lunch chasing
the potential Black-throated Green Warbler that was reported from
below Lake Six.
I did get a brief glimpse of a likely looking candidate at about 12:16
- from the road crossing just downstream from the trestle but all
thoughts of Black-throated Green Warbler were driven from my mind when
a stunning Blue-winged Warbler perched on a stick hanging over the
water. I got a great look through binoculars but by the time I got my
camera up and powered on the bird had flitted downstream. I hastily
summoned Jim Crites - who was upstream a ways, and we spent a fair
amount of time working our way downstream without any luck.
When we got back to the crossing the warblers (about thirty
Yellow-rumped Warblers, at least two Wilson's Warblers) had returned
and I got another brief glimpse of the Blue-winged Warbler - again,
just downstream from the crossing.
Jim and I spent more time trying to locate the critter (I really
wanted a photograph) and then he headed off. I returned to the
crossing and, a few minutes later, the bird popped up again; this time
in the thickets along the river just upstream of the crossing. I
tried for a couple of shots but got nothing but foliage.
Frustrated, I returned to the crossing and sat on one of the curbs,
looking downstream in hopes that the bird would return. It did not
return but at 1:21 a perfectly photogenic Chestnut-sided Warbler
popped up. I got two crummy shots and one really good shot of this
one (by way of a consolation prize) but by 2:15 the old tummy (not fed
since 7:00 in the aye) was rumbling and I gave up and headed out.
All three of my sightings of the Blue-winged Warbler were within fifty
feet of the crossing. It was quite close to the illustration of a
breeding male in Sibley though the white wingbars seemed a bit thinner
to me. It is skulkier than the Yellow-rumped Warblers but is really
noticeable when it flies.
Anthony Hewetson