On Wednesday morning in Sapsucker Woods, I found an OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER on a tall dead tree near the lone bench south of the Sherwood Platform. I watched this bird for about 20 minutes, hoping for a front view, which I never really got. Presumably soaked from the downpour within the previous hour, this bird engaged in a few bouts of furious preening. At certain moments, the bird's white tufts were invisible. At others, they poked out along the bird's sides. Mostly, though, the tufts showed boldly above the folded wings on the bird's back. They looked like the eyes on Spider-Man's mask.
Otherwise I found mostly the same species mix along the Wilson Trail as in recent days. The warbler-watching continues to be very good, with multiple MAGNOLIA, CHESTNUT-SIDED, BLACKBURNIAN, BLACKPOLL (nice views of both male and female), CANADA, and migrant NORTHERN WATERTHRUSHES, plus single MOURNING (probable, heard singing once then chipping), WILSON'S, and BLACK-THROATED GREEN. Tennessee Warblers are conspicuously absent, maybe because they're all joining the throngs at the Hawthorn Orchard. YELLOW-THROATED VIREO is still singing along the south edge of the pond. In the woods, I saw one SWAINSON'S THRUSH, as well as the breeding pair of SCARLET TANAGERS. The tanagers were together in a small tree near Sally Sutcliffe's memorial bench. In the early evening on Tuesday, my daughter Francesca and I made yet another circuit of the Wilson Trail. We saw rather few birds, but did see one Blackpoll Warbler from Ruth Davis's arbor and bench south of the building. This bird, a life sighting for Francesca, was perched completely still in a pine for several minutes. I thought that we might be able to watch this bird all the way until sleep or migration takeoff at sundown, but alas, a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK chose that moment to buzz the east shore of the pond, setting off a great multispecies chorus of alarm calls, led by ringing Red-winged Blackbirds everywhere. When we looked back at the pine, the Blackpoll was gone. Mark Chao -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
