ML618979338

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Beautiful male. Photographed and recorded singing. (42.8559764, -72.5465551). I arrived here around 6:45 to make a dedicated effort for Ceruleans throughout the morning, hoping to catch a glimpse of one before full leaf out in the next few weeks would make views even more difficult than usual. Hiked about a mile up the trail checking every bird that was singing a Cerulean-like song, repeatedly coming up with Black-throated Blue Warblers singing their mimic song, until at 7:45 I heard (presumably) this bird loudly singing from directly above me. I immediately looked up, got a very quick view of the breast and head, and then watched as it flew upslope to the northeast. Spent some time searching for it but didn't hear it sing again, so I continued up the trail a while longer to see what else I could find. On my return trip back down the mountain, around 9:00, I had the bird at the above coordinates (approx. 1.5 miles from the parking lot) for about five minutes, associating very loosely with a pair of Black-and-white Warblers, and managed to get decent photos and audio. Bird was about 30 feet off the trail, towards the east (some bushwhacking was necessary to get photos and adequate looks), high in the tops of the deciduous trees and moving rapidly at all times - singing constantly, but very hard to pin down and get a clear look at. I left after the bird flew over my head towards the west and stopped singing. In the field, I thought there might have been two birds singing, but I only was able to see one and am now pretty sure the second was just a Black-throated Blue mimicking. Worth noting that this bird cannot be reliably identified by voice alone. There are many Black-throated Blue Warblers at the location, several of which were repeatedly singing very convincing mimic songs of Cerulean Warbler. I tracked down each bird individually as I heard them to confirm species, and although this bird sounded slightly different (notably louder and more clear-voiced), there's a lot of similarity to be careful of! On a quick look, it seems this is the first Cerulean in the state since 2021, the first at Wantastiquet since 2019, and the first photographed record since Ken Klapper's yard bird in 2020. Hopefully, the bird will stick around for others to see, and maybe even find a mate on the mountain! Very, very glad to see that they're still here.

Technical information

Dimensions

2698 pixels x 1798 pixels

Original file size

617.95 KB