Black-throated Gray Warbler at Arb (Ann Arbor), still, 5:40pm, Apr. 24

[Mike Sefton]

Birders,
  Don Brooks called at 5:40pm to say that the bird had
been relocated at the original site, described in
Roger Kuhlman's post below.
Mike Sefton
Ann Arbor

--- Mike Sefton <mseft at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2007 10:33:03 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Mike Sefton <mseft at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [birders] Re: Black-throated Gray Warbler
> at Arb (Ann Arbor), still, 12:55pm, Apr. 24
> To: birders at umich.edu
> 
> Birders,
>   Thanks to the note Roger left under my windshield
> wiper, I did indeed see the bird, with an assist
> from
> Larry Sheldon.
>   Just got a call from Lathe and Jacco saying the
> bird
> was relocated at 12:55pm in firs/hemlocks/whatever
> just at the point the trail bends to the right
> before
> ascending the hill to the original location for the
> bird, described below by Roger.
>   All props to my main man Roger for finding this
> excellent bird and getting the word out quickly.  To
> the best of my knowledge, this is the only record
> for
> this species in the county since one was seen in the
> Arb on 30 Apr 1958, and collected the following day.
> 
> If accepted by the MBRC, it will be about the eighth
> record for the state.
> Mike Sefton
> Ann Arbor
> 
> --- Roger Kuhlman <rkuhlman at hotmail.com> wrote:
>  
> > Shortly before 10 am I found a Black-throated Gray
> > Warbler in Nichol's Arboretum in Ann Arbor. The
> bird
> > was in the second most westernly valley off Dow
> > Prairie in a clump of evergreen trees--I think
> > either firs or hemlock. To get to this area you
> need
> > to walk south off of Dow Prairie past the
> > Rhododendron to the fence along the southern
> > boundary of the Arb. Once reaching the fence you
> > walk west along the fence up the hill until you
> see
> > an isolated patch of evergreens. Here is where the
> > bird was. Also in the vicinity a tree has crashed
> > smashing the fence.
> >  
> > When I first saw the bird I immediately thought of
> > Yellow-throated Warbler but it had no yellow
> throat
> > patch. I could see the big black throat and eye
> area
> > patches on the bird. Black streaking was limited
> to
> > the sides of the bird and the undertail coverts
> were
> > clean dull whitish. No streaking was present on
> the
> > back.
> >  
> > Only a few minutes before sighting the BTG I had
> met
> > Mike Sefton and I was telling him what I had seen
> in
> > the Arb Tuesday morning which I had thought was
> > pretty good--a mini-flock of migrating Pine
> Warblers
> > along the Huron river; Blue-headed Vireo; Brown
> > Thrasher; Winter Wren; several Palm Warblers; a
> > Nashville Warbler; large numbers of Ruby-crowned
> > Kinglets, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and Hermit
> > Thrushes; and a singing Ovenbird in the Warbler
> > grove by the Pavilon. After sighting the
> > Black-throated Gray I raced throughout the Arb
> > trying to find Mike but I could not locate him. I
> > told one birder about the bird but I don't know if
> > he was successful in seeing it. While running
> around
> > looking for Mike I heard a second good bird
> singing
> > along the Huron River. A Louisianna Waterthrush
> was
> > on the north side of the river just west of the
> > beach? area.
> >  
> > I hope the BTG can be re-located by other birders.
> > It is a superb bird.
> >  
> > Roger Kuhlman
> > Ann Arbor, Michigan
> > 4/24/2007
> >  


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com