Townsend’s Warbler is a very rare vagrant in New England, with birds
typically being spotted in late fall or winter.
My first ever New England Townsend’s was a bird I found at Odiorne Point
State Park in NH over Thanksgiving weekend in 1993 – the first year I moved to
New England. Unfortunately that bird was
a 1-day wonder which no one else saw. At
the other end of the spectrum sometimes Townsend’s will appear at feeding
stations, spending much of the winter returning to the same location, which was
the case for the one I saw in Cambridge, MA in 2007.
So when a Townsend’s Warbler was reported at Trustom Pond NWR in RI, only
the third record for the state, I really wanted to chase after it. But as with most of these chases I had to be
able to clear my calendar and hope that this non-feeder bird would stick around
until I was free. Luckily this one was
reported for the next couple days, hanging out in the same location at Trustom
Pond, and seen by a bunch of birders (though some needed several hours to find
the bird). Despite numerous posts, directions were at best confusing,
especially since I wasn’t too familiar with the nooks and crannies of the
refuge. Several reports mentioned the
bird was seen along the Red Maple Trail near the old windmill and near a bench
that was dedicated to local birder Phil Budlong. Other reports just said
near the windmill. I thought that meant
there was a stretch of trail between the windmill and bench to look for the
bird. So my plan was to start walking
the Red Maple Trail and look for the bench and windmill, and hopefully look for
other birders too.
When I arrived at the refuge early in the morning I was happy to see a
dozen cars in the parking lot - undoubtedly these were birders already searching
for the same target bird. My plan was
coming together - I could get close to the bird’s location along Red Maple
Trail and then look for the birders to tell me the correct spot. “Bird the birders” as I say. Perfect… I started down the Red Maple Trail and
quickly found the bench dedicated to Phil Budlong. But there were no birders to be seen.
My first thought was that I wasn’t in the correct spot and all those birders
were somewhere else looking at the target bird. So I decided to check my
e-mail for updates and sure enough there was a new post that the bird was seen
in the original spot about 20 minutes earlier “near the windmill”. But I
couldn’t find any windmill. Again that made me think that I was in the
wrong location.
I was about to head farther down the trail to look for windmill and the
birders, but quickly realized there was a major flock of passerines there. What should I do – hope I was in the right
spot and search through the birds (perhaps including the Townsends’), or should
I keep searching for the birders (and the windmill) instead? Although I also heard some distant chip notes
that made me think I might have been hearing the Townsend’s, I decided to keep
looking for the birders. Just when I started farther down the trail I
spotted a greenish-yellow bird fly by and got excellent looks at an
Orange-crowned Warbler! A great bird for
RI and only my second for the state, but it wasn’t my target bird. So I kept walking a bit farther and didn’t
see anyone. At this point I decided to
head back to the original spot to search through the flock I briefly saw
earlier.
I got back to initial location just a couple minutes later but by now
most of the birds were gone - ugh. So I concentrated on the area where I
heard the potential Townsend’s chip notes and heard the calls again. And
then I heard them again, this time closer nearby. A few seconds later I
spotted a bird high in a deciduous tree – it was the Townsend’s! I bet
the bird was in the area as soon as I got to the spot. Luckily it stayed
put while I tried to figure everything out. And while looking at the
Townsend’s I noticed the windmill – no more than 30 ft from the bench tucked
back into the woods hidden from the trail.
Like I always say – chasing down my target birds often requires a lot of
detective work.
So there I was looking at Townsend’s at its key location (within a few
feet of both the bench and the windmill), and there were at least a dozen
birders in the park searching for it, but I was the only one there. So
much for “bird the birders”! A minute
later 3 other birders arrived and I got them on the bird. But by the time
others arrived the bird had flown off.
I stayed in the park another hour and had the bird one other time,
though unfortunately again not all the birders had looks at it.
Townsend’s Warbler was #327 for me in RI. I’ve now seen this species throughout most of
its regular range in the western US and Canada, as well as in 3 New England
states as rarities (see my state and province maps below).
Since I was able to find my target bird so quickly I decided to make a
quick stop at nearby hotspot Mud Pond, which often has a nice group of ducks
and shorebirds, and then do a brief sea watch as well. But first I had to take a work call, and I
had just enough time to drive to Mud Pond to take the call from there inside my
car. As I started on the call another
birder drove up and set up his scope about 50 ft away to check out the ducks on
the pond. A minute later I noticed a bright yellow bird fly over the road
in front of me and land in a bush on the other side about 10 ft behind the
birder. I put my binocs on it and it was a Yellow Warbler. Unfortunately
the other birder never even knew it was there.
I was told that that may have been the latest record for Yellow Warbler
in the state.
Then just a few minutes later, while still on my call, I spotted a small
bird drop in from a bush next to the road to drink from a small pool right in
front of my car. It was a Cape May Warbler, not 25 ft away from me. An amazing pair of birds seen through my
windshield while on a conference call.
Not bad…
After the call was over I headed over to Mud Pond and found a nice flock
of Pintails, and a group of Dunlin foraging on the edge. And a short stop at the beach yielded a nice
Gannet show not too far offshore. But I
was actually more interested in looking for other late passerines, so I turned
around and started walking north up Moonstone Beach Road to see what else I
might find.
I began a slow walk up the road, not finding too much. But just then I noticed a large flycatcher fly
over the road. It was only a quick view
and I never got the bird in my binocs.
But the “jizz” of the bird was that of a Myiarchus flycatcher. The
view was too short to eliminate a Phoebe, but I would bet it was an
Ash-throated Flycatcher. If I had still
been in my car on my call I probably would have had a better view of it through
the windshield as it flew by. Go figure. Who needs to beat the bush
to go birding… I spent the next 15
minutes in the area hoping to refind the bird, but with no luck. At least I don’t need that one for my RI
list.
Along with numerous Yellow-rumps, I ended the morning with 5 species of
warblers. Not to mention the mystery
flycatcher. The Trustom Pond area can be
good for fall migrants, though I’m not sure if I’ve ever had as many as 5 warbler
species there in a single day before, even during the peak of migration.
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