Jumping Brook Preserve | Colliers Mills 5/9--Nashville Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Among the many warblers whose songs I either don't know or can't hear is Nashville Warbler. Not surprising since I'm lucky to come across one or two a year. When I heard an unfamiliar buzz on an offshoot of a trail I've only walked a few times at Jumping Brook, I pulled out the Merlin app and it gave me Nashville. Now, as I've said, I don't find Merlin 100% reliable, but at least the app and I were both hearing the bird. Sometimes it "hears" what I know is not there or what I can't hear. I got a little closer and tried again. Same result. I pulled out my Audubon app and played Nashville Warbler. A match and whoops, a little bird flew out of the tangles and up into a tree then zipped away. So, I guess it was my first Nashville Warbler of the year. 

I am really liking Jumping Brook a lot the more I go there. Today, I added another shorebird to my bog list, Lesser Yellowlegs, saw my first Black-throated Green Warbler there, heard a Blue-headed Vireo, and had an Osprey fly overhead. All new patch birds for me and the patch. My last few visits there have pushed the species count up over 100, a few more than the Whiting WMA behind our house where most of the birds listed have come from my reports. Bittersweet to surpass the home patch. 

The only problem with Jumping Brook is that is just a little too small to get in a full walk. If the dams weren't breached in a couple of places I could probably add a mile or so to the walk but even with backtracking on dead end trails, it doesn't quite add up to the mileage I want. Fortunately, it is only about a 10 minute drive to Colliers Mills, where I went mid-morning. I wasn't about to make my usual hike around Turnmill Pond; instead I headed south along the lake. I suspect a lot of activity had died down, but I did fine one jewel, a Blackburnian Warbler high in an oak. With the sun finally out after 3 miserable days, it practically glowed. Just for fun, I looked for the Red-headed Woodpeckers, even standing by their nesting tree, but no one was home. I know they're there; I've seen them; I just don't know where they go when I'm there. Last year, I had a 50% hit rate. It's more like 10% this year. 

For the two spots I had 49 species for the morning's walks:

Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Killdeer
Solitary Sandpiper
Lesser Yellowlegs
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Blue-headed Vireo
Blue Jay
Fish Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
White-breasted Nuthatch
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Carolina Wren
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Chipping Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Eastern Towhee
Orchard Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Common Grackle
Ovenbird
Black-and-white Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Blackburnian Warbler
Pine Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Northern Cardinal