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Yellow warblers



This was so far the best morning's birding yet this season. Sandy Cash and
I were out in the Chapel Hill Botanical Gardens, where, in addition to the
usual residents we saw: several singing Black nd White Warblers, Hooded
Warblers who posed and sang tantalizingly, a Black Throated Blue intent on
taunting us from on high (though I kept reminding it that it was a
mid-canopy bird), and many elusive summer tanagers which we initially took
for Scarlet Tanagers--such, I guess, is the power of wishful thinking. We
left highly energized but a bit peevish at missing out on the Scarlet
Tanager. And then, instead of getting down to work, I decided to do the
little exploring that I have always wanted to do in my own
neighbourhood. So, I drove down Jones Ferry to where Phil's Creek runs
into University Lake. This was part of my ongoing quest for those
Prothonotaries that have so far eluded me this millenium. I decided to
poke around Phil's creek and peer off the road towards the lake. Needless
to say, there was neither a Prothonotary, nor even the ghost of a one. But
Yellow-throated warblers were singing high in the canopy, and then, just
as I was pulling myself out of a muddy hole I had fallen into two adult
male Scarlet Tanagers flew in chasing each other in the willows. These are
my first self-found Scarlets in North Carolina, so it was  great
moment. Great Crested Flycatchers called overhead and Kingbirds screeched
in the distance, while Red-Eyed Vireos questioned me incessantly. And to
cap it all off an osprey ad Black Vulture soared overhead. But the best
surprise of all was around noon when I finally pulled into my apartment
complex on Jones Ferry Road. The complex has a small creek running along
it that has some wispy little willows, and an unkempt open area. From this
I kept hearing a warbler song I couldn't positively identify. It was
coming from high up on an oak which made it difficult to see in the
still-grey day. But after much peering it turned out to be two Yellow
Warblers. Now, I am used to seeing these in willows, but these yellows
stuck quite pointedly to the oaks, and pretty high up at that. I have been
told that Yellows are not the mos common warbler here in N Carolina. Is
that right, or is that just in the Triangle area? I certainly have only
seen them once before in the area and that was int he willows at lake
Jordan. Anyway, these are definitely new birds this year which takes my
millenium list upto 222.
I may make 300 yet this year.

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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