[SBB] Hermit and Nashville Warblers; continuing Pine Siskins

["Kirsten Holmquist" <[[email protected]]>]

Rich Page and I did the Charcoal Road thing this morning.  We heard
Pileateds but never got a glimpse of one.  It still turned out to be a great
day.  Several BLACK-THROATED GREY WARBLERS greeted us at the wide spot in
the road provided for parking at the Saratoga Gap trailhead.   We soon
picked up our first ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS, WARBLING VIREO, and
BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAKS.  Then, we hit the warbler tree.  In one tree, we had
two BLACK-THROATED GREY WARBLERS, three HERMIT WARBLERS (2 Male, 1 Female),
one NASHVILLE WARBLER, an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, and finally a WILSON'S
WARBLER flew in to join them.  In the next tree down the trail, a female
TOWNSEND'S WARBLER was still hanging around.  Farther down the trail, we
were looking at a couple of RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES with a third calling
behind when Rich picked up our fourth HERMIT WARBLER of the day.

 

On the way back up, we thought we were lucky to see a flock of about 30 PINE
SISKINS.  We had no idea what was in store for us.  Farther up the trail, we
heard the muttering of what we assumed was a large flock of birds, so
continuous it was like water going over rocks.  Every once in awhile, the
sound would stop for a couple heartbeats then pick back up again.
Eventually, I saw the top of a pine tree poking above the rest of the tree
tops with what looked like a couple birds on it.  When I put my scope on it,
it turned out that every little branchlet of the pine top had its own PINE
SISKIN adorning it.  Just on what we could see, there must have been at
least 50 birds with the sound factor indicating more where we couldn't see.
We continued up the trail when we heard the sound coming up from behind us.
The PINE SISKINS came into a mature oak tree overhanging the trail in waves
of 100+ birds.  In all, there were 300+, possibly upwards of 500.  100's
would take off at a time in a great WHOOSH, only to turn around and come
back.  They were continually chattering amongst themselves as well.  Every
branch of the oak was crawling with them.  It was truly a wonder.

 

Yet farther up the trail, we had a beautiful male LAZULI BUNTING.  The
bunting was driven off by the wave of siskins following us up the hill.

 

Best Regards,

 

Kirsten R. Holmquist

 <mailto:[[email protected]]> [[email protected]]

 

 

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