Subject: Warbler ID
Date: Jun 14 09:18:12 2003
From: Greg Toffic - Greg.Toffic at Zoo.org


Jack,
Are you sure the bird was robin sized? If so, it's not a warbler. The only robin-sized bird I can think of that it predominately brownish with slight breast streaking and with a complex, variable, prolonged song is sage thrasher, and while I wouldn't expect it in that location, it's not out of the question. Did you rule out house finch or purple finch which are larger than warblers but smaller than robins?
Greg Toffic

-----Original Message-----
From: Jack Kintner [mailto:jack.kintner at verizon.net]
Sent: 14 June, 2003 8:32 AM
To: whatcombirds at lists.wwu.edu; tweeters-u.washington.edu
Subject: Warbler ID


On H street Road east of Blaine, just east of Colacurcio Construction,
where someone has spray-painted the word "bump" and an arrow in the
east-bound lane, there's a small dirt road leading north into a clearcut.
About half a mile in there's a small seasonal pond on the right. Much of
the time there's also a Border Patrolman sittting in a white SUV waiting
for customers.
It's a good spot for birding right now. Yesterday we heard a warbler's song
that we also hear daily from our yard, only it was quite loud, seemingly
right on top of us. After a 45 minute search of the branches of several
nearby Alders, we spotted what we think was a female Audubon's about 20
feet directly overhead. Brownish, slightly streaked breast, and large,
about Robin-sized. It - she - was directly overhead and we couldn't quite
see the tail.
The song was a loud, clear combination of three-syllable tweedle-dees,
trills, yodels and some riffs that might have been sound effects from a
cartoon. It would go on for several seconds, then after a equal period of
silence it would start again, a little different than before but just as loud.

So that's an Audubon (I know, Yellow-rumped is PC), right?

We also have a Rufous Hummingbird nest in our Atlantic Cedar, and the
female (I guess the guys have left) has to contend with another female
(from another near-by nest? How closely do they build?) while she patiently
works her way through our honeysuckle and fuschia, stopping every now and
then to hover five feet in front of me and roll her head this way and that,
as if to ask what I'm staring at, Bud. She'll buzz around a little with the
other female when she shows up, but it seems more like a reminder than a
real fight. Beyond knowing which tree it's in, I haven't seen the nest
itself nor do I intend to look for it, and the border collie has been
enthusiastic about keeping it a gray squirrel-free zone.

The Pileated Woodpeckers are still around though I've only heard them. And
we have a blazing yellow Goldfinch in the area whose erratic appearance
always makes me catch my breath.


Jack Kintner <jack.kintner at verizon.net> Blaine

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