Huber Preserve 5/8--Yellow-throated Vireo, Blue-winged Warbler, Prothonotary Warbler

Despite its reputation for extreme tickiness, I have found that if you stay on the broad, main trail (white) at the Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve you can come out of it pretty much unscathed, which appears to be the case for me today.  I went there this morning fairly confident that I'd be able to come with my first Prothonotary Warbler of the year which was, as in the past, hanging around the red-gated bridge. I was prepared this time to get a photograph and when it flew out from one side of the creek across the bridge and onto an overhanging branch, I shot my first photo from a distance, just to get the range. When I went to zoom in...the battery died. Thus the yellow and gray spot in the photo. 

Bonus birds there today were Yellow-throated Vireo that was singing as soon as I exited my car on Sooy Place Road ("Three Eight!") and a Blue-winged Warbler that I heard along the entrance trail, a spot I'd never had one before. I also heard at least 3 Hooded Warblers and saw one gorgeous male singing along the creek, plus a couple of Magnolia Warblers, a Northern Parula, along with a lot of Prairie Warblers (duh). Past the swampy area I came to one of the entrances to the Yellow Trail which horseshoes around and meets up with the White Trail where you have to ford a stream. I was tempted to take it but reminded myself that the last time I walked it I ended up pulling 28 ticks off my shoes, socks, and pants legs. Only I would count them. 

I counted 32 species there. Using eBird's Merlin's app, I could have counted more, but I have found it to be not 100% reliable. Thus, if I hear a buzzy song like the Blue-winged Warbler's and it tells me there's a Blue-winged Warbler there, I count it. But it also heard birds I wasn't hearing like American Redstart and Black-throated Blue. The first day I used the app it "heard" a Prothonotary Warbler in my backyard--extremely unlikely. So, my rule is to list what I hear, not what the app says is there. 

Canada Goose  3
Wood Duck  1
Mourning Dove  1
Laughing Gull  25
Downy Woodpecker  1     Heard
Eastern Phoebe  2
Great Crested Flycatcher  4     Heard
White-eyed Vireo  4     Heard
Yellow-throated Vireo  1     Heard at entrance
Red-eyed Vireo  2     Heard
Carolina Chickadee  4
Tufted Titmouse  5
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  5
Carolina Wren  1     Heard
Gray Catbird  1     Heard
Eastern Bluebird  1     Heard
Wood Thrush  1     Heard
Eastern Towhee  4
Brown-headed Cowbird  1     Heard
Ovenbird  25
Blue-winged Warbler  1     Heard
Black-and-white Warbler  2
Prothonotary Warbler  2
Common Yellowthroat  3
Hooded Warbler  4
Northern Parula  1
Magnolia Warbler  2
Pine Warbler  5
Yellow-rumped Warbler  7
Prairie Warbler  15
Black-throated Green Warbler  1     Heard
Northern Cardinal  1     Heard