MA - Another Connecticut Warbler slips away 10/03

What a difference a day makes! This morning I tried the very same section of powerline off Mountain Road, Gill that I worked yesterday. After 20 birds yesterday, Ruby-crowned Kinglets were hard to come by but after nearly 90 minutes I'd found about six. By contrast, Golden-crowned Kinglets were up, with at least seven present. There was also a good show of Blue-headed Vireos, three of which were in full song. And new today was a first-winter Indigo Bunting.

Blue-headed Vireo - Mountain Road, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. October 2nd, 2013.



The prize, however, or perhaps another near miss, was a Connecticut Warbler which began calling spontaneously as I walked on the track under the powerlines. It stayed low in dense undergrowth offering just one, all-too-brief, dorsal view but showed uniform olive upperparts, brownish head and a conspicuous white eye-ring. I was able to track the bird through the undergrowth by following its calls but never got another look, never mind an image. It seemed to slip away with a Ruby-crowned Kinglet and that was that. Despite the migration window for this species coming to an end in Massachusetts, I'll keep plugging away as I'm still optimistic about photographing a Connecticut Warbler before the season for them is over.