Wednesday again already so that means Bird Class. Today we headed to Coronado Drive, home of the famous Coronado Seep. I have been spending my share of time there this fall.
Within the last couple of days a Prothonotary Warbler has been seen nearby. You may recall this is a bird typically found in the eastern portion of the US. It is not known if this is the same individual seen at the seep a couple of weeks ago. In any case our teacher Joan Lentz thought it would be great to see this bird, so we went to the spot where it had been seen.
The trees here were heavily infested with the Lerp Psyllid and crawling with warblers. Mostly Yellow-Rumped Warblers. Since the recent arrival of the wintering Yellow-Rumped Warblers it can be much more difficult to find the unusual warblers. There are just so many Yellow-rumps around it can be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
We were unsuccessful in locating the Prothonotary Warbler, so made the rounds of the area stopping at the seep along the way and then again at the end of the class. There was a good level of bird activity and we got good looks at the expected species but saw nothing unusual.
After class was officially over a number of us stayed at the seep for awhile and watched a fairly slow but steady stream of visiting birds. I left the group and headed back to the Prothonotary Warbler spot. Here I met Adrian O'Loghlen who said he had seen the bird several times in the last hour or so. We walked over to where he had seen it and sure enough there it was! We had great views as it worked its way through a low tree nearby.
I texted Joan that the Prothonotary Warbler was present. She and the remaining members of the class arrived shortly thereafter. Miraculously the bird reappeared and all present got really nice looks at this beauty. Many photos were taken. It was a joyous occasion.
Although this is a species I had already seen this year it was a real pleasure to see it again.
A couple distant photos from this morning:
Prothonotary Warbler
Note Lerp-infested leaves.
Prothonotary Warbler
Also present this morning was a Giant Swallowtail Butterfly. Apparently there have been an increasing number of these beauties seen in our area lately.
Giant Swallowtail
After today the year's total still stands at 256.
Today I rode a total of 28.1 miles
More later,
Glenn
No comments:
Post a Comment