Golden-winged Warbler and Least Bittern

 

May 12th

          Early this morning while I was still drinking my coffee, we got a tweet about a Golden-winged Warbler being seen near the Oak Openings Lodge.  Mike said, “Let’s Go.”  We got over there ASAP.  I got on the bird quickly, but Mike didn’t see it before it flew.  We couldn’t relocate the Golden-winged, so we walked around a little looking for other things.  Luckily, when we came back to the original spot, the Golden-winged Warbler was singing away, and we were able to see it.

          The Golden-winged Warbler has a sharply declining population due to habitat loss.  They need shrubby open spaces for breeding, and these areas are declining on their breeding grounds in the Great Lakes and Appalachian Mountain regions.  Also, the open woodlands where they live during the winter in Central and South America are disappearing.  Finally, Golden-winged and Blue-winged warblers hybridize which also contributes to their population decline.  We were lucky to see and hear this special warbler.

          As long as we were at Oak Openings, we decided to look for a Lark Sparrow which is a specialty bird in this area.  We went to the usual spot, but it took us a long time to find even one Lark Sparrow.  A Lark Sparrow is more of a western bird, but a small population breeds in the Oak Openings region.

          We headed for the east side and met up with Ann and Howard.  We had a picnic lunch together on the beach at Magee Marsh.  After lunch, we birded the boardwalk together.  It was a little warm but not too crowded.  We saw a nice variety of birds but nothing unusual.  Afterwards, Ann and Howard left to try and find the Golden-winged, and Mike and I went to Howards Marsh.

          We were looking for shorebirds but didn’t see much.  As we were wandering around, I saw a guy waving his arms at us like he had something special.  We walked toward him, and I happened to see a Least Bittern perched up on the reeds.  Mike didn’t see it before it went back down.  We looked for the bittern for the longest time but didn’t see anything.  Mike can be very persistent and didn’t want to leave.  As I started to walk away, Mike shouted, “I’ve got it!”  I walked back and sure enough, he had found the Least Bittern.  (3 new species, total 254)

          Least Bittern (scarce)

          Lark Sparrow (scarce)

          Golden-winged Warbler (scarce) 

                                            Least Bittern

                                            Golden-winged Warbler






   

Comments

  1. SharonMay 13, 2022 at 1:37 PM

    It is so much fun hearing your excitement when you see what you headed out to see!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJune 1, 2022 at 4:20 PM

    👍👍👍

    ReplyDelete

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