What can I say with a title like that? Well, this a.m. I flushed a bird from the ground and it landed 6' up in THICK shrubs. I got the binocs on it, but all I could see was a pizza slice through its face, showing it's beak, eye and cheek only. It was grayish brown in color on the head (what I could see) with a decent sized, bi-colored beak. It also had an eye ring, somewhat duller than a female Connecticut, but brighter than a first year female Mourning (compare to drawings in Peterson's Warbler guide). The bird sat absolutely motionless in this position for 1-2 min. I was about 20 or 30' from it. I tried to move slightly to see if I could get a better angle and it flushed. I could not refind the bird, but potentially flushed it one more time 10 min later, but it did not give me a look. I had to leave for the day and the thought of a potential Connecticut Warbler in my yard drove me NUTS! I did not return until 7pm and it was not refound. I'll have to try again in the morning.
SO, I guess I put down Oporornis sp. on the species tally... and for the warbler war. BUT, how to count this bird...that is the question. Seeing that Sean got Mourning Warbler today, it would seem fair to call my bird a tie with his so we both get 2 points for a first sighting. If I re-find the bird (unlikely) and confirm it as a CONW, then we can change it back to 3pts each. What say you Sean?
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The last week has been a real DRAG! Right now the only migrant in my yard is a friggin Yellow-rump. I can't even get a Traill's Flycatcher or Canada Warbler, let alone Oporornis... Well, the only saving grace is Curtis's inability to get an ID ;). Thanks for keeping me in the game, man.
ReplyDeleteUnless Sean speaks for himself I'll just leave the way I scored my oporornis sp. the way it is...2pts for me, 2 pts for Sean. That "could" be the nail in the coffin, Sean, so you may want to beg and plead with me...
ReplyDeleteYeah I guess I'm ok with you getting a point for the bird, but I would take issue with getting bonus first arrival points for something you couldn't ID to species... Am I alone in feeling that to be a little lame Caleb? I've essentially stopped going back in the woods due to the sqeeters and extremely low payback this late in migration... So its an academic point anyway with your bonus points coming. I never heard you respond to my query about having a separate fall tally for warbs and then a season breakdown as well.
ReplyDeleteOk, I'll give a bit of charity...I changed my score for the oporornis to 1 not 2. I can deal with that. Also, I think we should do this again as a separate fall migration warbler war. That may be my only motivation to get out as I already have pretty much all the warblers I can expect for the year...:)
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