Sue had to attend a meeting on the Grassland Restoration Project at Caumsett State Park this morning, so I tagged along to do some birding while she attended to business. The recently plowed west field held about eighteen American Pipits. Among the Savannah Sparrow and Palm and Yellow-rumped Warblers was a single Vesper Sparrow. The brush pile to the northeast of the west field had a good number of birds, including three Lincoln's Sparrows as well as a few Nashville Warblers.
Sue rejoined me after her meeting and we proceeded to the manure pile just west of the polo field. The fields of rank weeds (mostly invasive mile-a-minute) were alive with warblers, mostly Yellow-rumped and Palm, but also including Nashville, Parula, Blackpoll, Orange-crowned (1), and ten Tennessee Warblers (conservative estimate). In the wet puddles around the manure windrows were three Rusty Blackbirds. Many of the wingbar-less warblers (many immatures) posed some interesting identification challenges. I have included in my flickr site photos of Common Yellowthroat (with a big eye ring tempting you to turn it into a Connecticut Warbler), drab immature Nashville Warblers, and a few different plumages of Tennessee Warbler. They can be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kfeustel/ Ken Feustel -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
