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The Peaceable Hoodeds



 While walking the trail along Haw River in Bynum (chatham County) I had
incredibly good looks once again at resident warblers as well as one bit
of curious behaviour that I am hoping someone will be able to shed some
light on. 
First of all, after my great warbler walk there this weekend I decided to
return to the Haw River Trail to see if that was just a fluke or if indeed
that high could be recaptured. It was not only recaptured but greatly
surpassed as I had great looks at Yellow Billed Cuckoos and Summer
Tanagers (birds I see far less often than hear); at one point a Louisiana
Waterthrush came flying right at me aiming for the large puddle I was
hanging out at, and veered off only at the last minute and then settled
very reluctantly about six feet in front of me. But the most puzzling of
all sightings was a trio (but maybe even four) MALE Hooded Warblers that
suddenly appeared out of the undergrowth where the Waterthrush was hanging
out. I assumed at first that this was an agitated response of several
males to my pishing, but then it became clear that it was not because they
did not disperse as agitated birds normally do after a while when the
pishing has stopped. In fact they were not all that agitated, and were
more interested in foraging than in me. For over a half an hour I watched
the three males forage in the thin strip of trees between the trail and
the river. THey stayed about three to twelve feet in the trees and unlike
the Hoodeds that I am used to seeing took no notice of me at all, not even
when I crept up to within less than ten feet of them--as I did
repeatedly. Now, this alone is unusual because I don't know about the rest
of you but I at least have found Hoodeds to be fairly skittish, and even
if they do show themselves fully it is only for the briefest second. But
the more unusual thing was the flocking behaviour of three, possibly four
males. They were showing no aggression towards each other and semed to be
working systematically down the trail. At one point the Louisiana
Waterthrush  flew down to the river to take a bath and then sat preening
itself on a low branch; and as it did so the Hooded flew in and sat a few
inches from it and stared at it as though it had never seen preening. Just
marvellous to have the two in the same view. The other thing which I
thought worth mentioning was that these Hoodeds were singing a song I
havenever before heard described. The normal sweet and ringing
Weetee_Weeteeo is what one expects, but instead the only sounds these
Hoodeds made, in addition to the flat chip call notes, was a harsh
khee-khee like that of a Blue Headed Vireo , and then a very quiet, hushed
little series of chrips that was neverthless quite musical (it reminded me
of the song of the Blue Gray Gnatcatcher).

Now I know that small passerines flock in the non-breedign season. But
isn't this the height of the breeding season and shouldn't surging
testosterone have precluded cooperative foraging--if indeed that is what I
saw? The only theory I have to explain this is that this was a family
group of almost fully grown first year males foraging with their father
before the group breaks up? My hesitation about this is that all of the
Hoodeds looked fully adult--do first year males attain adult plumage the
summer they hatch? The only other theory I can come up with is that
post-breeding or non-breeding adult males flock because they have no
reason to maintain territories. But if nyone else has any other theories I
would love to hear.

Finally, (and then I will shut up) if you live in the Triangle Area I will
highly recommend a trip to the Haw River. For sheer beauty and solitude
there are very few places that can compete with it; this much I already
knew; what Ihave been discovering is that as though this were not enough
the river is also very birdy. You certainly have good numbers of deep
forest birds like Kentuckies, Redstarts, and Hoodeds, but you also flush
up Kingfishers and Herons. There are almost always Black Vultures and Red
Shouldered Hawks and Pileated Woodpeckers and the bridge has swarms of
swifts, barn swallows and someimes even Purple Martins. Granted, these are
not unusual birds but it is the thick concentrations and reliability that
is so satisfying.

So, if you have any thoughts please let me hear.

Shantanu Phukan