Saturday, September 18, 2010

a slow start

Today was a little slow in getting started compared to other days this past week but there were a few warblers and other migrants in view. The most notable of these was one of those wing-barred Dendroica warblers which is either a Pine or a Blackpoll or a Bay-breasted. It seemed at first to be too bright to be either a Pine or a Bay-breasted but too unstreaked to be a Blackpoll. Huh? The best clues may have been the effect of an eye-ring or even spectacles and the fact that the rather bright yellow was more-or-less restricted to the breast. I first called it a Pine then switched to Bay-breasted. I now think it was an exceptionally bright Pine Warbler (I never had a chance to see if it was streaked on the back which would have been decisive). Whatever it was, it was in the company of a small flock of B-c Chickadees as well as Am Redstart, Common Yellowthroat and N Parula. A grayish empid with a tear-drop shaped eye-ring was probably a Least Flycatcher.

The Osprey migration continued this morning with several birds coming across the creek and then up the west side of Shinnecock Bay. And yesterday's continuous line of Royal Terns continued this morning with birds -- mostly adults with young -- flying up and down the creek.

Eric Salzman

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