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B&W Warbler, Waxwings at Mason Farm



 I went out to Mason Farm this morning for what I thought would be a
miserably hot and buggy walk with not much to show for it and was happily
proven very wrong. The bird activity was absolutely incredible with much
song and even better sightings, though my Scarlet Tanager sighting drought
still continues as they insist on taunting me and then flying off.

Anyway, the best and most surprising sighting was that of a singing Black
and White Warbler near milepost 16 or 17, in other words right around
where the Kentucky likes to elude us all. I followed it as it foraged for
a good fifteen minutes and at one point had it in view with a female
redstart and a yellow billed cuckoo. I dont ever recall seeing a Black and
White in the Piedmont in early June and am wondering if the bird is
 nesting or if it is a failed nester sojourning in less than ideal
habitat.
Any information on BW Warbler breeding in the Triangle?

The other intriguing sighting was a small flock of three Cedar Waxwings
that were acting very unlike they normally act. They flew into the low
Willows along the ditch (where the Chats usually are). It looked to me as
if it was a pair chasing off an intruder, or an unsuccessful suitor
insisting on a menage. There were no fruiting trees nearby. People might
keep an ear open for beeding waxwings in the farm.

The third intriguing thing was a series of Bobwhite calls I heard around
milepost 24 (where the trail splits). I have only once seen Bobwhite at
Mason Farm and that was 4 years ago, so I had a hard time believing my
ears. THe call was repeated a few times and then what I heard was just the
BOB part of it, minus the WHITE part. THere were lots of Chats singing in
the vicinityand I am now wondering if what Iheard was a Chat doing a
 Bobwhite imitation. Have people had this experience before and are Chats
known to actively imitate other birds or is it the case that they simply
have a very large repertory of their own and this, combined with wishful
thinking conjured up a Bobwhite for me this morning?

THe last thing of note was an Osprey circling for along time over the
ponds  in the Golf Course as one drives out of the parking area. I have
never seen an Osprey at Mason Farm and the golfing ponds ahve always
seemed barren of all life, so I guess it was somewhat heartening to see
that the Osprey disagreed. But then it made a swoop into the pond and
since it came up empty taloned maybe the ponds are barren afterall, or
nearly so.

Also seen were two singing Redstarts, a Louisiana Waterthrush, a Belted
Kngfisher and a Prothonotary Warbler where the dirt road crosses the
creek. What a bonanza--and not just for me, but also for the flies that
feasted on me.

So, one last question for the locals. Where would you suggest I go to end
the Scarlet Tanager drought (and yes, I have tried the hill in the NC
Botanic Garden as well as the woods along Haw river at Bynum and while
both yielded singing birds, the foliage was too thick to see anything).

Shantanu Phukan

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SHANTANU PHUKAN
Lecturer in Urdu-Hindi & Indian Literature
University of N. Carolina, Chapel Hill
Curriculum in Asian Studies
Alumni Hall 413C
Chapel Hill, N.C. 27599

phukan@email.unc.edu
919-962-6825
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