Worm-eating Warbler - Berrien Co. - 6/16

[Love Creek]

Berrien County - June 16

Greetings,

Marie Ostrander and I observed a singing Worm-eating Warbler in Warren Dunes
State Park this morning while we were conducting a Prairie Warbler survey of
the open dune blowouts.

The Worm-eating Warbler was located near the south end of the park. From the
northern-most beach parking lot walk north on the beach a couple of hundred
yards or so to the first open dune blowout area. It was singing in a wooded
dune ravine on the south side of this area. While we could hear it singing
from the foredune (caution - there are Chipping Sparrows in the blowout and
on the forest edge here....), it was necessary to scramble up and over a
wooded dune ridge to reach the ravine where the bird seemed to be on
territory. We watched it singing for quite a while. A second bird may have
been singing as well, but we did not obtain a visual.

Regarding Prairie Warblers, we located 7 males and 1 female in the four
blowout areas we surveyed. One of the males was singing regularly from the
blowout area described above.

Oddly enough, this is the second time I've stumbled on a Worm-eating Warbler
from the beach at Warren Dunes while surveying Prairie Warblers....

Good birding,

Kip Miller