Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Warbler Migration Capital of the World: Rooks County?

Okay, so maybe the title indicates that I'm getting a little carried away with myself, but seeing how the warbler migration has gotten off to a flying start compared to last Fall and especially this Spring, I'm ecstatic.  The other day I picked up 5 year birds and 3 state birds.  The culprits include Nashville, Black-and-white, and Mourning Warblers.  The Mourning was a tough id because it was a young female, lacking any hood or other typical Mourning Warbler field marks.
The highlight of the past few weeks was definitely the Pine Warbler yesterday, though.  This is NOT, I repeat NOT, a species I expected to get in Kansas any time soon, let alone in Rooks.  But a small group of birders found a few small groups in the area over the weekend.  So it was on my mind as a possibility, albeit a very remote possibility.  But the bird I saw was a pretty typical individual.  I even got great looks at the undertail, which definitively separated it from Blackpoll or Bay-breasted.
Anyways, I now sit at 241 birds for Kansas for the year!  I'm only 4 away from my target!  With the way migration is going right now, I wouldn't be surprised to get it in the next few weeks.

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