I've said before that I am no great fan of confusing fall warblers, but skipping fall migration is simply not an option for me. This weekend was the first time we've been able to go birding here in New England since before the wedding, so I was really itching to get out. And thank goodness we did! On Saturday morning, we headed up to Plum Island to see if we could locate the Say's Phoebe that had been reported Thursday evening and Friday at the south end of the island or the chat that had been seen in the same place. Unfortunately we missed both, the chat only by about 15 minutes. A nice consolation was a Yellow-billed Cuckoo that crossed the road about 15ft in front of us. We then headed back north on the island to the pines trail, which is usually a good spot for fall warblers. There were lots of Red-eyed vireos feeding on Buckthorn berries and quite close, and plenty of the ubuitous Yellow-rumped Warblers and Eastern Towhees. Black-throated Greens and a Magnolia Warbler helped make it interesting, as well as Red-breasted Nuthatches and Brown Creepers. While chatting with a few other birders, a Pine Warbler foraged close to us, then flew back about 15' to a low branch. I noticed another bird fly up from the ground and alight on another branch about the same height but had an obscured view. A few moments later it popped up a little higher and looked down on the Pine - a nice, even, (slightly bluish) grey hood and thin eye-ring, pale yellow below. I stammered "uh.. UH... hood... HOOD - CONNECTICUT WARBLER!!" At which point it flew at the the Pine Warbler, they down to the ground (out of sight) and not to be seen again for the next 45 minutes from that spot. Luckily others were able to relocate the bird nearby - still harrassing the pine warbler. This was the first time I had located a Connecticut Warbler on my own (others I've seen had been found by others) and it was pure dumb luck. Plans for the rest of the afternoon prevented us from spening more time there, but it was a great day on the island.
Today (Sunday) we picked-up Paul and Diana at about 8am and headed to Nahant to go birding. A Black-headed Gull has been there for a while mixed in with all the Bonapart's and it was a life bird for Diana. Not being sure of exactly where in Nahant it was we figured we'd check wherever we saw gulls, and could also bird some of the other great locations there. We did check a few flocks (including one that had hundreds of Bonaparts) but never could pick out the target bird. We birded at Mass Audubon's "Nahant Thicket" sanctuary for a while and turned up plenty of birds, including Redstarts, Black-throated Blue & Black-throated Green Warblers, a Cooper's Hawk, Hermit Thrushes, both Ruby and Golden-Crowned Kinglets and a few Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. We then went to the 'stump dump' to look for warblers and sparrows. We felt like we were doing pretty well with the Wilson's and Nashville Warblers, when I noticed a Golden-winged Warbler in one tree. Less stammering this time, but id'd with the same enthusiasm. Golden-winged Warblers are pretty uncommon in this area any time of the year and I certainly would not ever have thought I'd find one in October. Again, we were immediatly calling friends to try to get others on the bird. Given the overcast skies and distance and height of the bird, I knew I wasn't going to get any great photos, but I tried desperately to get a few documentary shots. The bird, uncharacteristically, stuck around for quite some time and several others were able to get on it.
All in all, a pretty great weekend of fall migration birding!
Golden-winged Warbler
