There are a fair number of reasonably
regular migrant passerines that I need for my RI state list. These include Olive-Sided Flycatcher,
Philadelphia Vireo, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Tennessee Warbler, Mourning Warbler,
and Wilson’s Warbler. Unfortunately most
of these are not chaseable. In other
words, if one is seen one day it is not likely to still be around for me to
chase after the next day. Instead,
seeing these in RI require me to be lucky enough to be in the right locations on
the day they pass through in migration.
So with the passage of a cold front in early September, I planned a trip
to southern RI to see what migrants I could find. I targeted the woodlands in Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge
as my best opportunity, and decided to start my trip there.
After an early departure from home I
arrived at Trustom Pond at about 8 AM (sure wish it wasn’t a 2-hour drive to
get there). During the first few minutes I saw very few birds and no migrants at all. A few minutes later I ran into a
small group of titmice and then another bird flew in to join them. After a few seconds that bird came into the open and
it was a Philadelphia Vireo! My first
migrant of the morning was a new RI statebird!
Over the next 10 minutes it gave me great views at several locations, as
it foraged with a small flock of other migrants. I contacted local RI birders and told them of
my sighting, and several arrived to try to refind the bird. It took a couple hours of searching, but we
all refound the migrant flock including the Philly Vireo. Amazingly, in more than 3 hours in the park I
saw less than 20 total migrants. As they
say – it’s quality not quantity.
And now a comment on the fact that not all
my statebirding trips have positive results -
On my drive home that afternoon I got a
call that a Hudsonian Godwit was seen in Westerly, RI. Unfortunately I was too far away and didn’t
have time to turn around and go back for it.
Instead I went back to RI the next morning to try for the godwit, but
with no luck. And although a trip to
Trustom Pond that morning was extremely slow (only 1 migrant passerine), I did
find a Baird’s Sandpiper there which stuck around for several RI birders to see
(see my phonescoped photo below).
Philadelphia Vireo was number 309 for me in
RI. Plus RI was my last New England
state for this species – my 221st species in all 6 states. But as shown in my statebird map below, my
coverage of Philly Vireo elsewhere is pretty spotty.
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