[cobirds] BLUE-WINGED WARBLER on Canon City Riverwalk this morning

I found a BLUE-WINGED WARBLER this morning on the Canon City Riverwalk just on the east side of the old sewer district tanks near the Sell's Lake trailhead.  It flew up into a small elm where I was trying to photograph some Wilson's Warblers and I got a brief, but clear, view from only about 30 feet away--very bright yellow head and underparts, dark wings with white wing bars and whitish undertail coverts.  I watched with my binoculars to get field marks before trying for a photo as should be done and it flitted off before I could get my camera on it--as much as I wanted a photo it's ok because I did get the field marks clear and had I tried for a photo I might have got a blurry shot with no definitive description.  This is about the third I have seen in Colorado but nice to get one less than a mile from my house-and I think it may be the first in Fremont County, at least per Colo County Birding lists.

Since the Wilson's Warblers were continuing to feed in vegetation (native licorice and tall unknown grass/forb) nearby I continued to look for the Blue-winged for another half hour without success.  I did see at least 6 Wilson's Warblers, all I saw clearly were adult males and they mostly foraged within a foot or two of the ground in that vegetation.  I had to leave for an hour due to one of my other commitment today but came back and looked in same area then around the Riverwalk for another 2 hours.  Saw a number of additional Wilson's Warblers, again the one's I saw clearly were all adult males, a couple of Gray Catbirds and a Cooper's Hawk.  I heard a lot of warbler chips from thick shrub vegetation but had been in some earlier when I thought about how much fun it would be to surprise a sleeping bear so stayed mostly out of the thickets (did see a couple of bear scat deposits, one from a larger bear in the several hundred pound range).  Also almost stepped on a 3 1/2 foot long Red-racer snake that saw me first and slithered away making clear it's upset .

I also saw an Eastern Phoebe on the other side of the Arkansas River (more about Eastern Phoebes moving through the area later).

SeEtta Moss
Canon City
Personal blog @ http://BirdsAndNature.blogspot.com
Blogging for Birds an Blooms Magazine @ http://BirdsAndBloomsBlog.com

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