Chirps and Cheeps

Today was one of those beautiful, early fall days: cool in the shade and toasty warm in the sun. the morning just BEGGED me to play hookey! Not one to argue, I skipped out to Tifft, intending to stay for just an hour or two and be back at work by 10'ish. But oh gosh, I had the hardest time leaving! The day was perfect, birds were everywhere, and I couldn't make my feet head back to my car for anything...

No sooner had I parked the car than I saw a White Egret fly over the main pond. Beautiful! I had fun watching a Song Sparrow take a bath, and, as I got further in, I had a really nice view of a Green Heron sunning himself, I found more Great Egrets, herons, warblers, a thrush (not sure what kind), kinglets, Red-tailed Hawk, a Common Yellowthroat, a Brown Creeper (FOS), several White-throated Sparrows (FOS), several Song Sparrows, 2 Winter Wrens, an Easter Wood-Pewee, many, many Gray Catbirds, and more!  I'm pretty sure I heard some Lincoln Sparrows too, as their chirps were described by Sal at Amherst State Park last Wednesday.  I tried hard to find them but even my spishing failed to produce that would-be lifer!

As Bill Watson wrote the day before to the Genesee Bird List, there were several warbler species to be found at Tifft.  I didn't find all that his expert birding skills were able to find, but, in addition to a Yellow, Yellow-rumped, Magnolia, and Common Yellowthroat, I did find either a Nashville or a Blue-headed Vireo - and managed a few nice shots of him to boot. I'm told by my friend, Carl, that the eye-ring isn't quite strong enough to be a Blue-Headed Vireo, so I'm going with his expertise and saying it's a Nashville Warbler.

Oh, and I met a couple of readers, Jim and Doug out at Lisa Pond.  Hi guys, it was a real pleasure meeting you both today!

9/30/2012 Update: a few people have contacted me offline to say that the bird in question is definitely a Nashville Warbler. Some key factors being the thinner, warbler beak, the eye ring is lighter on this guy and if it were a Blue-headed Vireo, the lores would form the appearance of spectacles around the eyes.  The breast would have more of a white wash under the throat as well...  There's so much yet to learn!  Thanks to all for your input; I really appreciate it!

1/31/2025 Update to the Update: Now that I'm able to ID my own birds, I can easily tell the warbler in question is an Orange-crowned Warbler, the gray-headed subspecies. The gray head is obvious, but then there's the broken eyering, the yellow underside that's got diffused streaking, and there would be white on the undertail if it was a Nashville.  This was my life bird experience with this bird - too bad I didn't recognize it at the time!  Now, if I made an eBird checklist, I'll have to go back and change it!