Subject: [Tweeters] East Coast Warblers - Heinz (Tinicum Marsh) NWR in
Date: May 19 09:27:51 2010
From: johntubbs at comcast.net - johntubbs at comcast.net




Hi everyone,



Trisha and I just got back from a whirlwind five-day trip to Pennsylvania, the primary purpose of which was to see our two nieces graduate from college one day apart (at opposite ends of the state, which made for a couple of long driving days).? The last couple years we have 'discovered' (for us, it's been there for some time) the Heinz National Wildlife Refuge, which is an excellent birding location within a stone's throw of Philadelphia International Airport.? If you are in Philly, it is well worth the effort to plan a visit to the refuge, especially if you're there in migration.?



Because of our schedule, we had very little time to bird, but did manage to fit in an early-morning walk for an hour and a half or so on two of the days we were there.? It made us wish we had much more time.? Warblers were being seen in fine numbers and good variety.? If I knew eastern warbler songs better, I'm sure that we would have logged at least three times the species we did.? Still, we had some nice warblers and a few other good birds plus plenty of the usual suspects.? The more interesting finds (all seen as well as heard) included:



BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER (male)

MAGNOLIA WARBLER

BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER

OVENBIRD (GREAT LOOKS)

NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH (2 - GREAT LOOKS)



AMERICAN KESTREL (with prey - this species is a bit rare for that refuge, due to being so close to urban and industrial areas)

GREAT EGRET

CHIMNEY SWIFT (PITTSBURGH)

CAROLINA CHICKADEE

BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER



>From the naturalist at the visitor center in the refuge, we heard that a bird walk on the previous day had logged 15 species of warblers - not a huge number compared to east coast hot spots in migration, but for the location and its proximity to an international airport and very large city, that was quite a nice number.



Well worth a stop if you are traveling through or visiting that area.



John Tubbs

johntubbs at comcast.net

www.tubbsphoto.com