Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve 5/17--Acadian Flycatcher, Louisiana Waterthrush, Prothonotary Warbler

Red-headed Woodpecker, South Park Road

I thought it was going to be another of those "all ear" mornings, where my new year birds were all "just" heard. But if I stand on the bridge long enough at the Huber Preserve, eventually one of the singing birds will show itself. I had previously heard from there an Acadian Flycatcher ("Pizza!") and a Louisiana Waterthrush, the latter one being a bird I had forgotten was a possibility there. I spent some time walking down near the creek looking for the waterthrush. The water isn't really fast running there, which is where I think of Louies being, and this bird was especially frustrating since it sounded like it was high up in the trees. The foliage is pretty dense in there now; I couldn't find it. 

I walked along the White Trail, which, from experience is the only trail where you're relatively safe from ticks--relatively. The birdsong in there was reaching cacophonous levels, particularly from Ovenbirds, but I also picked out Hooded Warbler, redstart, Pine Warbler (a gimme), Prairie Warbler (of course), 3 different vireos, a Wood Thrush, a Veery (infrequent in the Pine Barrens) and even a distant Wood Duck. Some of these birds I even saw. 

Prothonotary Warbler, Huber Preserve

Back at the bridge on the way out I stood around and pished and pished, even though I don't think Prothonotary Warblers respond to it. Eastern Phoebe, which nests beneath the bridge kept flying out to find out who the fool was. I heard the Protho, but it took a long time before I got eyes on it. And then it flitted all around the creek, never sitting still for more than a few seconds. A laughably bad photograph was produced, the result of just pointing the camera where I saw a yellow dot in the trees. 

Afterwards, I drove over to South Park Road, a few minutes away, just to see if I could track down the resident Red-headed Woodpeckers that frequent the dead trees about 3/4 of mile down the road. Just as in Colliers Mills, I had given up on them and was making my way back to the car, when I first heard one call, then saw two in the back. They came fairly close and then flew back & forth over the road. South Park Road is one of the few places in Burlco that you can find this (rare for the county) bird. The other spots are a lot harder to get to. It's a case of "I wanna see the bird, but I don't wanna see it that bad." 

The Huber list:

31 species
Wood Duck  1     
Wild Turkey  1
Yellow-billed Cuckoo  1
Turkey Vulture  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee  4
Acadian Flycatcher  1
Eastern Phoebe  1
Great Crested Flycatcher  4
White-eyed Vireo  3
Yellow-throated Vireo  1    
Red-eyed Vireo  1
American Crow  1
Fish Crow  1
Carolina Chickadee  4
Tufted Titmouse  2
White-breasted Nuthatch  2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  2
Veery  1     
Wood Thrush  1
Eastern Towhee  4
Brown-headed Cowbird  1
Ovenbird  25
Louisiana Waterthrush  1
Black-and-white Warbler  3
Prothonotary Warbler  1
Common Yellowthroat  2
Hooded Warbler  4
American Redstart  1
Pine Warbler  5
Prairie Warbler  8