ML612096942
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age and sex
- Adult Male - 1
- Sounds
- Call
- Playback
- Playback not used
Media notes
Faint chip calls throughout recording, but the loudest call near the end is a chickadee.
Observation details
Lifer! This is presumably the same bird originally reported 10/24 by Don Heitzmann, Jo-Ann Conklin, Kay Kriz, and Michael Sandfort. The exact location isn't listed on their checklist, but the checklist was submitted under the Fountain Creek Regional Park hotspot, so my assumption is it was somewhere south of the Nature Center. It was not seen again until Jonathan Bookman refound it on 11/19 here at the Nature Center. I lucked into it pretty quickly this morning when I heard it chipping around 7:10 am. Not long afterward I saw it in the fir tree by the platform feeder. It visited the feeder a couple of times and would retreat back to the fir. I never saw it really associating with any of the other birds in the area, although there was a chickadee in the same tree for a little while. It's bright yellow throat stood out significantly from its otherwise black, white, and gray plumage and sometimes appeared almost orange from the side. I couldn't see the limited yellow in the supraloral in the field, but it did show up a little in some of my photos. Others have noted this as an adult male, and I agree with that assessment based on the amount of black on the forecrown and a lack of obvious contrast between the primary and greater coverts. The chip calls weren't particularly distinctive to me. In trying to come up with a comparison the best I can do is they sound like a slightly weaker Yellow Warbler. I have visited the Denver area several times for work since starting a job based here last year, but this is the first time I've been back to the Colorado Springs area since 2007, which was long before I had ever even heard of birding. I probably wouldn't have come, but this long continuing bird was such tantalizingly low-hanging lifer fruit, I couldn't pass it up, even with it being an hour drive out of the way. I didn't have very long due to a morning flight out of Denver, but I was hoping an hour and a half of daylight would be sufficient. It turned out to be more than enough. While certainly not common here, this species does turn up in Colorado much more frequently than near my Bay Area home. I'm not totally sure this is the first warbler I've ever seen visiting a feeder, but if it isn't, it's one of very few. Big thanks to all who contributed to finding this bird as well as all those who continued reporting it!
Additional species
Technical information
- Recorder
- Microphone
- Accessories
- Original file size
- 1.35 MB