I had another great morning birding on the jogging trail along Steffi Rd in
Hilliard. Started out fairly slow at 6:00 am. All I saw were a Common
Yellowthroat, House Wren, Robins and R-w Blackbirds. Then I happened upon a
Willow Flycatcher, which I usually see around here in the spring but don't
seem to breed at this spot. I continued past the open fields and into the
woods, where I immediately noticed some bird activity and hung out for a
little while. I saw another Yellowthroat, heard some pewees and an Acadian
Flycatcher, and saw several Swainson's and Gray-cheeked Thrushes.
Then, from a nearby tree, I heard a call I hadn't heard before. It was very
loud and emphatic, high-pitched, sharply staccato and accelerating series of
"teep, teep, teep-teep-teep tip-tip-tip-tip-tip" notes. I wondered if it
was a CONNECTICUT WARBLER and searched as hard as I could, but for the life
of me could not spot it. He only sang about 5-6 times, then stopped. After
a while I gave up and moved on. When I got home later I listened
to recordings of Connecticut Warblers and confirmed my suspicions. The
loudness, accelerating, and staccato qualities were what stood out the most,
and made it easier to distinguish from other bird songs. That was
definitely the highlight bird for the morning, but picked up a number of
other notables as well:
Warblers: CONNECTICUT (1, heard only), CANADA (1), Tennessee (1),
Yellowthroat (6), Bay-breasted (1), Ovenbird (1), Black-throated Blue (1,
female), Redstart (5), Magnolia (2), Blackburnian (1)
Vireos: Red-eyed (6), PHILADELPHIA (1), Blue-headed (1, wrestling a HUGE
caterpillar about 3-4 inches long!)
Flycatchers: Yellow-bellied (1- very cooperative and seen beautifully),
Acadian (1, heard), Willow (1), "Traill's" (3-4, probably Willow but
possibly Alder, not vocalizing), Great-crested (3), Eastern Wood-pewee (2)
plus 1 Lincoln's Sparrow, a flock of Cedar Waxwings, and the resident pair
of Spotted Sandpipers
Later in the morning I took my kids out to Prairie Oaks MP, where I didn't
see a whole lot (gotta keep the eyes on the kids!) but did see three Eastern
Kingbirds, a Baltimore Oriole, and a Greater Yellowlegs.
Here is a link to a map of the jogging trail I birded this morning, with a
marker showing where I heard the Connecticut Warbler:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=39.990175,-83.157513&spn=0.007365,0.013733&t=h&z=16&msid=103669267121720770731.00046a0bd8d43a74f4aed
Nate Nye
Hilliard, OH
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