One of the rules of attending field trips is - never stay home because of a bad weather report! Though the skies were strongly overcast with a constant threat of rain, Laura Sexton, Amy Wilms, Stephanie and Rob Ripma, Matt Kelwasinski, Jeff Canada, Elvin Wilmot, Kathy Feldman, and myself, under the leadership of Gordon Chastain, called the weatherman’s bluff. The group arrived at the Eagle Creek Park marina parking lot just before 8:00 a.m. on 11 September 2010. Warblers were thick and even though the lighting conditions made it difficult to identify most of them, it didn’t matter. There were so many of them. By 10:30 a.m. at least four major waves of warblers passed through the small area, composed of up to 300 individuals and twenty species. Black-and-white and Cape May Warblers entertained as they crept along the trunks of trees, Blackpoll Warbler and Tennessee were the default warbler species, and a salting of other warbler species such as Golden-winged, Canada, Orange-crowned, and Black-throated Blue kept participants on the alert. Almost ignored in the process was the Bald Eagle that chased down an Osprey and stole its fish, Carolina Wrens still feeding young, and the female Indigo Bunting feeding its fledgling.

We finally moved on and checked out a small area at the Circle Drive east of the marina but added little. After lunch a walk to the mudflats at the north end of the lake got us back into the thick of things with at least 50 more warblers, mostly Tennessee, lots of Swainson’s Thrushes, Wood Thrush, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, and a Cooper’s Hawk that, in a blink of an eye, nabbed a Robin on the trail in front of us. At the mudflats, a mix of Mallards, Blue and Green-winged Teal, Wood Duck, and Northern Shoveler were found, as well as Stilt, Least, Pectoral, and Solitary Sandpipers and Lesser Yellowlegs. An adult and immature Bald Eagle were present as well as a number of Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets.

When all was said and done, 78 species had been tallied in spite of the sparse mix of passerines other than warblers. But more than 200 warblers were identified out of an estimated 300-350 individuals passing through, and participants were virtually exhausted from studying them.

The actual warbler count is as follows:

• 1-Golden-winged Warbler
• 65-Tennessee Warbler
• 1-Orange-crowned Warbler
• 12-Nashville Warbler
• 3-Northern Parula
• 6-Chestnut-sided Warbler
• 11-Magnolia Warbler
• 12-Cape May Warbler
• 4-Black-throated Blue Warbler
• 1-Yellow-rumped Warbler
• 15-Black-throated Green Warbler
• 5-Blackburnian Warbler
• 17-Bay-breasted Warbler
• 27-Blackpoll Warbler
• 8-Black-and-white Warbler
• 25-American Redstart
• 3-Ovenbird
• 1-Common Yellowthroat
• 2-Wilson’s Warbler
• 1-Canada Warbler

Thanks to Gordon and all who participated for making it a memorable day!

Alan W. Bruner, IAS Field Trip Chair