2006 Tour Narrative
We began this year’s Sounds of Spring tour at Garrett Mountain, a small forested oasis amid the suburban sprawl or greater New York City. We found an excellent variety of migrants here, many of which we did not see later in the trip. Without a doubt warblers stole the show at Garrett and among the 18 species we found there, highlights were Magnolia, Cape May, Black-throated Green, Black-throated Blue, Blackburnian, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Wilson’s and Canada, most offering excellent listening opportunities. There were also impressive numbers of thrushes including many Swainson’s and a few Gray-cheeked, and we got to compare the similar calls of Northern Flicker and Pileated Woodpecker; Eastern Wood-Pewee and Yellow-bellied Flycatcher; and Blue-headed, Yellow-throated, and Red-eyed Vireos.
Our second day began at a swamp at High Point State Park where we enjoyed a lovely dawn chorus of Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Least Flycatcher, Brown Creeper, both waterthrushes, and many other species. We continued to work on the “robin-like” songs including those from American Robin, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and Scarlet Tanager. As we wandered through High Point, we found an amazing abundance of Veeries, Red-eyed Vireos, and American Redstarts and pondered what their local populations must be. We also encountered good numbers of Cerulean Warblers and were able to see a few of these treetop-loving birds. We continued on to Stokes State Forest where a wonderful spruce-hemlock grove held Red-breasted Nuthatch, Blackburnian Warbler, as well as Pine Warbler and Chipping Sparrow. The latter provided nice comparisons of their trilled songs. Non-avian highlights for the day included a Red Eft (the land form of Red-spotted Salamander) and a curious Mink that wandered along a stream, stopping just long enough to stare us down for a few moments.
Our final day began in a brushy bog at Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Here we found a very different set of birds than the previous day including Wood Duck; Black-billed Cuckoo; Alder Flycatcher; Blue-winged, Golden-winged, and Prairie Warbler; Yellow-breasted Chat; and Field, Swamp and White-crowned Sparrows. All but the White-crowned Sparrows were local breeders in full song. Oddly enough, the Golden-winged Warbler was singing a perfectly typical Blue-winged song, evidence of the close relationship between these two species. At this marvelous site we also had more practice with Yellow and Chestnut-sided Warbler songs, one of the most challenging pairs to learn due to a great deal of song variation. Heading south along the Delaware River, we continued to study the amazing variation in American Redstart songs while finding a nice variety of birds including Blue-gray Gnatcatcher; Northern Parula; Cerulean, Black-and-white, Worm-eating, Kentucky, and Hooded Warblers; and Indigo Bunting.
Michael O’Brien
Updated: June 2006