David Wade was nice enough to let me know about his Worm-eating Warbler at McMurry NA in Fort Collins this morning. I got over there and spent most of the afternoon multi-tasking: coincidentally trying for birds and hypothermia. I failed to see the Worm-eating, but stuck around after other birders left trying a little bit more for this great bird. About 100 yards west of the McMurry parking lot in a thicket on the north side of the trail I heard a chip. The bird popped up briefly and was a male MOURNING WARBLER. I also heard a Yellow-breasted Chat well north of the trail, perhaps off McMurry property.
I went home, took a hot bath, changed to a new set of dry clothes and tried again for the Worm-eating about 6pm. Nick Komar, Austin Hess, David Wade, and Rob Sparks all showed up. Most of the good birds from earlier in the day were refound, including the Mourning and the Worm-eating (Nick). Also seen were an Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, multiple Gray Catbirds, Blackpoll Warbler (Nick), a number of Swainson's Thrushes, empids, Western Wood-Pewees, Yellow Warblers, Veery, Brown Creepers (one seen feeding another in an apparent display of courtship behavior and both David, Josh Bruening, and Rob have reported seeing these birds at this location during recent visits - further evidence of breeding at an unusually low elevation), Broad-winged Hawk, and one thrush which I will leave to Nick to describe (I never saw it). David Wade got an ID photo of the Worm-eating. I thought I had done the same for the Mourning until the camera message said "No Card In Camera". Not sure if any of the others got an identifiable photo of the Mourning, although all in the late group got identifiable binocular looks. Dave Leatherman Fort Collins Date: Tue, 19 May 2015 15:38:55 -0700 From: davespeedb...@gmail.com To: cobirds@googlegroups.com Subject: [cobirds] Worm-eating Warbler - Ft Collins Greetings birders, There was/is a Worm-eating Warbler at McMurry Ponds Natural Area today. When I arrived at the parking lot, the rain was heavy and steady, I sat in the car for 30 minutes waiting for it to let up, it never did. I almost left but thought I made the effort to get here I may as well get out and see if anything is around. How happy I am that I did. The woods were full of birds almost too many to keep track of. It was the kind of day one dreams about. I saw White-throated Sparrow, Gray, Dusky and Hammonds Flycatchers, I Thought I saw an Eastern Phoebe but now think it was a wet Western Wood Pewee, Swainson's Thrush, Veery (may be 2), Blackpoll Warbler, MacGilivrey's Warbler, 2 Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush and the Worm-eating Warbler along with the usual Yellow, Yellow-rumped and Wilson's. Look low to the ground near the downed wood and flood debris for the Worm-eater or listen for its buzzy metallic call which it gave a few times while I was there. All the birds were in the flooded stand of trees just west and south of theMcMurry Ponds parking lot. McMurry Ponds is at the end of Hemlock St. off of N College Ave. David Wade Ft Collins CO -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/049282fd-23d2-4f62-bae0-a17270fb0f39%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/SNT148-W29D4B364AA69B17D9A22A4C1C20%40phx.gbl. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
