Fearless Warblers Make For A Nice Day Of Birding At Wangunk Meadows

I decided to see if anything was new over at one of my favorite local birding spots-Wangunk Meadows in Portland. Not many people bird at this location, but it can be pretty good at times. I believe the top photo is that of a Common Yellowthroat. I'm thinking it must be a young bird or maybe a female. The features are subtle, and don't seem to match the field guide completely. I actually wondered if it might be a Nashville Warbler, at first. I've never seen a Nashville Warbler. If you look closely, it has an eye ring and what appears to be a little patch of rusty brown on the head.-both features of a Nashville according to Sibleys. Probably just the lighting. The field marks on many of the birds seemed to be more subtle than usual today.

Here is a photo of a Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher. It was fluttering its wings while probing its beak in to a bush trying to catch bugs. Kinglets seem to have that same type of fluttering motion. These birds have a tail with a white boder on the outside edge. It is kind of difficult to see that from this photo.

This is a young American Redstart featuring a grayish head, yellow on the sides, and yellow showing on the side of the tail in this photo.
This is a Blue-winged Warbler. There was no bee-buzz sound today though. I think that they are fresh out of bee-buzz for the year. Fall migration is just around the corner.

I was fortunate to be able to get reasonably close to these tiny birds. They usually don't stay out in the open long enough to give me a chance to take their picture. Other times they stay within the foliage, and end up coming out blurry.

I also some other interesting birds. I spotted 4 Bobolinks mixed in with the 100's of Red-winged Blackbirds flocking in the main field. I saw a Solitary-Solitary Sandpiper picking through the mudflats along the river bank. There was a variety of Flycatchers: Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Cedar Waxwings, Eastern Kingbird, Black and White Warbler,Great-crested Flycatcher, and Empidonax Flycatchers. The Empidonax flycatchers are getting on my nerves a little bit. They're not giving me any clues by making some noise.

I like birding alone, but wish you could have a life-line like you get on one of those quiz shows. It would be nice if someone like Ken Kaufman or Julie Zickefoose would suddenly materialize to help with a difficult identifications.

A fellow blogger, who also reads my blog, recently sent me an e-mail. It suggested that the phrase- "novice birder" which I use in my heading, does not match my birding ability. I have been birding every weekend for about 4 years now. If I were to talk to a non-birder about birds, they would think that I'm very knowledgeable. When I am birding with an experienced birder, I am a novice who makes many mistakes. I don't own Leica binoculars or scopes. I've never been birding in Texas, South America, or any other any other exotic locale. I'm uncomfortable trying to identify many sparrows, shorebirds, and Warblers within my own state. I often seek second opinions on the identification of birds. Thanks , but I'll stick with the title novice birder for a few more years. What level would you classify yourself as a birder? What are your strong points and weak points?

People have a habit of abandoning their cars at Wangunk Meadows. I've been looking for something that gets better gas mileage. This one has a few miles on it, but with some new tires and a fresh coat of paint, it should be as good as new.