Lucky Shoes + Dave Brown = One Worm-eating Warbler and one Yellow-throated Vireo! Dave and I left town at 4:30 on a wing and a prayer to find the Worm-eating Warbler found the day before by Bruce Mactavish in Cappahayden. We encountered one moose on the side of the road and another when we arrived in Cappahayden. As you can see, it was still quite early when we reached our destination, so we waited a while to give the birds a chance to wake up. At around 6:30 Dave led the way through the track trail.
Along the way, we picked up a small flock of chickadees and warblers that moved ahead of us. Stopped at the flag Bruce left, Dave became one with the alders and tried to draw the Worm-eating Warbler in. Nothing. He led the way again. About thirty yards up the trail, he announced - he had it! The bird stayed low and in the tangle. I managed to get only one blurry shot of its face, missing the only 2-second opportunity when it was in the open. Dave got much better shots. Unbelievable! This bird is known to be not only rare but almost impossible to re-find. It stayed in the area for about 10 minutes, but never really made it easy for us. Nevertheless, we saw it. Very exciting!
With a glow on, we set out to enjoy the rest of the day. Checking areas in Cappahayden, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Dave walked about 60 yards up the road at the end of Cappahayden. Soon, I heard him calling me. I thought he found the chat, but he seemed really animated. "Hurry, hurry," he said. I ran!
When I reached his side, a bird flew across the road. There it goes... When he told me he had heard the Yellow-throated Vireo and had it in his sights, I was elated. This is one lovely bird I always wanted to see.
We focused on the tree where it landed, and there it was! At last...!
It flitted around quite a bit but stayed in the vicinity for about ten minutes.
These shots were taken from a long, long distance. We were standing on the road shooting up, way up, into the tree, but it was a darned sight easier to see this Yellow-throated Vireo than the Worm-eating Warbler. Unbelievable: Two amazing birds within 30 minutes!
We carried on with our day, happy as a lark. It really didn't matter we didn't see anything else particularly unusual during the day. We just enjoyed seeing several flocks of the usual warblers and sparrows. There were an unusual number of Magnolia Warblers around, one of the nicest warblers of the season...to me.
What an amazing experience and who better to enjoy it with than Dave who has been pursuing good "looks" at a Worm-eating Warbler for a long time.
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