We went to Murphy-Hanrehan for our bird-hiking today, and had a lucky stop at the usual site for the hooded warbler. After a few minutes of silence, the hooded began his song. While he never posed in the open, we did get some clear looks as he continued to sing and feed along the hillside west of intersection #13. While searching for him, we had heard an unfamiliar, rather odd, 2-syllable sound that seemed like a contact call. It was somehow reminiscent of the strange call that had alerted Chet Meyers to the summer tanager at Bass Ponds last week, so I thought maybe it was a scarlet tanager. A short time later a male scarlet tanager became visible, feeding high in an oak near the hooded. While watching him, we spotted another feeder: a female rose-breasted grosbeak. Finally, another sound caught our ears--a male indigo bunting came to pose beside the path. What a deal--4-for 1!
We also saw a blue-winged warbler, a Cooper's hawk, an immature eagle (though no sign of the young osprey that did a fly-over Saturday), a kingbird, Tennessee warbler, redstarts, Swainson's thrushes, loons, bluebird, and probable ovenbird. (We heard plenty of common yellow-throats and yellow-throated vireos, among others, but didn't seek them out--after all, we had to get SOME honest-to-goodness exercise walking done.) Then, there were those lovely cerulean songsters: once again heard along the ski trail on the way to intersection #11, but high in the oaks and aspen, so not really seen. Even parking ourselves in camp chairs for awhile proved futile. So the quest continues, but at least we should be healthier for all the hiking! Good birding--Linda Whyte
