Chirps and Cheeps

Today was one of those beautiful, early fall days: cool in the shade and toasty warm in the sun. the morning just BEGGED me to play hookey! Not one to argue, I skipped out to Tifft, intending to stay for just an hour or two and be back at work by 10'ish. But oh gosh, I had the hardest time leaving! The day was perfect, birds were everywhere, and I couldn't make my feet head back to my car for anything...

No sooner had I parked the car than I saw a White Egret fly over the main pond. Beautiful! I had fun watching a Song Sparrow take a bath, and, as I got further in, I had a really nice view of a Green Heron sunning himself, I found more Great Egrets, herons, warblers, a thrush (not sure what kind), kinglets, Red-tailed Hawk, a Common Yellowthroat, a Brown Creeper (FOS), several White-throated Sparrows (FOS), several Song Sparrows, 2 Winter Wrens, an Easter Wood-Pewee, many, many Gray Catbirds, and more!  I'm pretty sure I heard some Lincoln Sparrows too, as their chirps were described by Sal at Amherst State Park last Wednesday.  I tried hard to find them but even my spishing failed to produce that would-be lifer!

As Bill Watson wrote the day before to the Genesee Bird List, there were several warbler species to be found at Tifft.  I didn't find all that his expert birding skills were able to find, but, in addition to a Yellow, Yellow-rumped, Magnolia, and Common Yellowthroat, I did find either a Nashville or a Blue-headed Vireo - and managed a few nice shots of him to boot. I'm told by my friend, Carl, that the eye-ring isn't quite strong enough to be a Blue-Headed Vireo, so I'm going with his expertise and saying it's a Nashville Warbler.

Oh, and I met a couple of readers, Rick and Doug out at Lisa Pond.  Hi guys, it was a real pleasure meeting you both today!

9/30/2012 Update: a few people have contacted me offline to say that the bird in question is definitely a Nashville Warbler. Some key factors being the thinner, warbler beak, the eye ring is lighter on this guy and if it were a Blue-headed Vireo, the lores would form the appearance of spectacles around the eyes.  The breast would have more of a white wash under the throat as well...  There's so much yet to learn!  Thanks to all for your input; I really appreciate it!