Cerulean Warbler has a song that is rather unique. That is if you compare its buzzy, rising-pitch
song to the primary songs of other eastern warblers. But then again, if you consider alternate
songs, both Parula and Black-throated Blue have similar buzzy songs that rise
in pitch. And once I even heard a
Redstart giving a nearly perfect Cerulean song.
These are all sufficiently similar that in my role as a member of the NH
Rare Birds Committee, I’m not likely to accept a record of a heard-only
Cerulean. Though of course Cerulean is
quite a rarity as far north as NH, so any record generally deserves
considerable scrutiny. And with limited
experience with Ceruleans in New England in general, I wasn’t feeling very
secure in my ID’s of singing Ceruleans as well.
But all that was cleared up, at least for me, when I moved
to western NC. Soon after I arrived I
heard about a new mnemonic for the Cerulean song – “I am a Cerulean”. To my ear that’s a perfect description of
their song. And ever since knowing that
mnemonic, I’ve been able to separate Ceruleans from those less typical songs of
Parulas and Black-throated Blues. Or
even rogue Redstarts.
And all that came in handy while participating in the 2021
Greenville County Spring Migration Count.
The Count was initially scheduled for Saturday April 24, but that turned
out to be a rainy day. So I took
advantage of the option to delay my counting to the 25th, which turned out to
be dry but quite windy in the morning.
The key part of my territory is the Greenville Watershed which has
tremendous deciduous woodland habitat – some of the highest elevation woodlands
in SC. There are just 2 roads that wind
through this habitat. My greatest bird
numbers are along Saluda Road, principally because the road has next to no
traffic and lots of opportunities to pull over or even just stop while on the
road. The other road I bird in the area
is Old US Highway 25, which has a little more traffic and fewer places to pull
over, so my tally along this road is typically a bit lower.
Once again this area had great numbers of the higher
elevation breeders, despite the chilly and windy conditions to start. Notable tallies included 33 Red-eyed Vireos,
16 Ovenbirds, 36 Hoodeds, 15 Parulas, and 10 Wood Thrushes. And as always one of the stars of this area
is the Swainson’s Warbler – I had 6 singing males plus another silent
pair. But the best was yet to come.
As I neared the NC/SC stateline on the upper end of Old US
Highway 25 I started to look for a place to turn around and head back down the
road. There are several pretty sharp
turns in this stretch of the road and limited shoulders. But just as I neared a spot to pull over I
heard what I thought was a classic “I am a Cerulean” call in the distance. But were my ears playing games on me? Luckily it took me just a few seconds to pull
over and listen for the call again. And
there was the call, clear as day, coming from the canopy of an area of large
deciduous trees – “I am a Cerulean” over and over again for at least 5 minutes.
Sure am glad to have learned that
mnemonic so I could recognize the song so quickly even when I was driving along.
This same bird was re-found by other birders the next day
and again on the 29th. Perhaps it’s
going to be a local breeder. There are
no eBird records in Greenville County from June or July, though some range maps
show Cerulean as a local nester in the area.
Cerulean Warbler was #285 for my SC state list. SC was my 25th state for this somewhat
elusive species (the blue-shaded states in my statebird map below). The cross-hatched states are those where I
still need Cerulean in its regular range.
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