Saturday, October 18, 2014

Prospect orange morning

A flash of gray and green flew across my intended path along the south fence of Butterfly Meadow atop Lookout Hill. Having lost sight of the little blob that landed atop the fence -initially obscured-before descending into the wild meadow,it reappeared moments later not one but two ORANGE CROWNED WARBLERS.

Seen feeding very close in tall or common Goldenrod,one of the rare warblers cooperated fully giving me at least a minute views atop the goldenrod.The second Orange crowned appeared below the first one,however more furtively.Nevertheless its the first time in my long birding career I've seen two together in the same spot or maybe my memory is going .

Also present on this cooler day at least 4 woodpeckers around Butterfly Meadow.They were Flicker,RED BELLIED,YELLOW BELLIED SAPSUCKER and HAIRY.I tried sticking around long enough for a fifth species.

Prospect Lake now has an increasing Ruddy Duck population,47 by today's count,no doubt more in coming days. A short morning for me,but satisfactory given the gift of a favorite warbler in Orange Crowned.

Lastly,old friend VESPER SPARROW must like it here ! Staying true to the overlap zone of fields 1&7outfield ,it was spotted along the constructio fence by visitor John Zucker.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/orange-crowned_warbler/id