Thursday, December 4, 2008

12/4: Black-throated Blue Warbler is a tough little survivor

I received word from Rob Bate that our Prospect long overstayed guest still lingers.Today Rob saw the gorgeous fella 2 pm at the Wellhouse. When Eddie Davis saw the bird here last time, the warbler was seen feeding on sapsucker holes above the wellhouse , tree sap another unknown but highly nutritious staple some warblers feed upon. So, go see the tough little survivor: there are very few NYState December records for this species-- i think it was 6 --5 recorded as feeder birds.....this one is a wilderness type......

the following link offers insights to warbler (the Dendroica genus which is our most dominant warbler genus) diet preferences.Interestedly, the BtBwarbler does incline towards sugary fluids, but nothing noted on tree sap....

http://www.aba.org/yb/yby/2004winners/rolnick_em.pdf

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I forgot my binoculars today; nevertheless, here is my "naked eye" list for the day, a very brief list due to my working most of the day at a single location .

Location: Prospect Park
Observation date: 12/4/08
Notes: Number of species: 20

Canada Goose X
Mute Swan 2 west island
Mallard X
Great Blue Heron 1 west island
American Coot 18 all at lullwater
Ring-billed Gull X
Herring Gull X
Rock Pigeon X
Mourning Dove X
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 west island
Downy Woodpecker 1 west island
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1 feeders
Hermit Thrush 1 lullwater
American Robin X
European Starling X
Swamp Sparrow 1 west island
White-throated Sparrow X
Northern Cardinal X
House Sparrow X

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)