[birding] Blue-winged Teal still at EE Wilson, probable eastern O-c Warbler

[Joel Geier]

Hi all,

The pair of BLUE-WINGED TEAL reported by Rich Armstrong yesterday were
still on the NW corner marsh at E.E. Wilson just after sunrise this
morning. Nice to see a breeding-plumage pair, instead of having to
settle for that wintering female! 

I didn't see any shorebirds but they may have been on the back part of
the marsh. On my ride back I heard my first-of-year WESTERN WOOD-PEWEES,
which Rich had also mentioned.

Here's a link to a map that shows some of the commonly mentioned birding
spots at E.E. Wilson:

http://www.oregonbirds.org/Images/EEWWA_birding_features.gif

Back at our house, while sorting out the chickens & sheep I noticed a
very drab ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER foraging in a clump of hawthorns just
above our back yard. The underparts were whitish-drab with practically
no yellow tones. I started to think about a female Tennessee Warbler,
but it showed a pale split eye-ring and then I also saw yellowish on the
undertail coverts. Upperparts were generally more dull grayish than on
our locally nesting females (ssp. lutescens), so I think it might belong
to one of the eastern subspecies (celata or orestera, more like the
former). The head and back coloration were similar, i.e. no distinct
grayish head like on fall ssp. orestera (though my references don't show
spring adult females so I'm not sure if that's significant).

Happy birding,
Joel

--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis