Things are heating up bird-wise - NOT weather-wise! Today, a gorgeous male Yellow-throated Warbler was found by Joe Fell at Forest Lawn Cemetery. I finally saw the handsome warbler on my second trip down there in the afternoon. He was very handsome and well worth the extra time and gas! It is interesting that, as Terry Mosher pointed out, this bird is of the White-lored subspecies, those that are from the western interior part of its range in the eastern US. Last year's Yellow-throated Warbler (
Click here to see) was of the other subspecies, the Yellow-lored, whose range is from the southeast.
Earlier, in spite of a migraine I was fighting, I found my First of Year Spotted Sandpiper and also the Black-throated Green Warbler that Karen Vizzy found on Tuesday. The warbler was a little more photogenic this time and the lighting was much better.
Later, Sal, Chris Hollister, Steve Brenner, Peter Yoerg, and I finally came upon the Black-and-White Warbler Alec Humann found yesterday. This guy gave us some excellent looks too and we all left feeling quite satisfied with ourselves.
As I was getting back down to work, another opportunity presented itself - and this time, it was for a life bird! A Yellow-headed Blackbird was visiting a private residents' bird feeders in Blasdell. They ran its photo by Beaver Meadow Audubon Naturalist, Tom Kerr, who confirmed the ID. Wow. The homeowner, Frank, was quite willing to allow birders to come and see this rarity so I hopped in my car and ran over there. I happily saw this unique looking bird, photographed it, drove home - and was gone a total of 45 minutes altogether! I think that's probably the fast life bird I've gotten in a long time.
A little bit about the Yellow-headed Blackbird: this freshwater marsh bird winters in the southwest and Mexico and breeds in the west and mid-west up into Canada. It's an unusual visitor to Western New York and its appearance today created quite a stir.
This blackbird is larger than a Red-winged Blackbird, the male being quite a bit larger than the female. The bird we saw is a male, and is very black overall except for distinctive white markings on its wings and then its head, neck, and upper breast are a very bright yellow, giving it its name. It's a truly striking bird and one I'm happy to have on my life list now.