Posted by Raul U on May 05, 2003 at 21:21:30:
Connecticut warbler!!!
Connecticut warbler!!!
Connecticut warbler!!!
Okay, pardon my excitement, but as you can all see by my previous posting, I was kinda sulking at how next to dead A.D. Barnes was this morning...so I decided to swing by there after work.
At exactly 6:14 pm, at the place where the La Sagra's flycatcher was first spotted, I had a perfect view of a beautiful Connecticut warbler; I believe it was a male because of its dark head (darker than a female's, according to Sibley's). But it only lasted about 8 seconds...8 very long seconds. The bird flew across the dirt path and came to rest on the rope fence where rays of sunlight, semi-blocked by the opposing palm fronds gave me an excellent view. And then it took off, flying close to the ground. I stood still at first, waiting to see if it would pop back up, then I made a few "psssh" calls, then I combed the area...but it didn't happen.
The funny thing is, not being familiar with this particular warbler's behavior, I did most of my search from eye-level up. Then, upon further reading in Sibley's, I learned that, like the Kentucky warbler, this bird stays close to the ground. This made me wonder if the bird danced circles around me as I looked up. Oh well I'll be back with my team tomorrow morning at 6:30 AM. I'm hoping some of you get the chance to see this guy before he goes the way of the bay-breasted and the blackburnian...let's hope he hasn't done so already.
Cheers,
Raul