[mou] a feathered "4-leaf clover"

[linda]

We went to Murphy-Hanrehan for our bird-hiking today, and had a lucky 
stop at the usual site for the hooded warbler. After a few minutes of 
silence, the hooded began his song. While he never posed in the open, we 
did get some clear looks as he continued to sing and feed along the 
hillside west of intersection #13. While searching for him, we had heard 
an unfamiliar, rather odd, 2-syllable sound that seemed like a contact 
call. It was somehow reminiscent of the strange call that had alerted 
Chet Meyers to the summer tanager at Bass Ponds last week, so I thought 
maybe it was a scarlet tanager. A short time later a male scarlet 
tanager became visible, feeding high in an oak near the hooded. While 
watching him, we spotted another feeder: a female rose-breasted 
grosbeak. Finally, another sound caught our ears--a male indigo bunting 
came to pose beside the path. What a deal--4-for 1!

We also saw a blue-winged warbler, a Cooper's hawk, an immature eagle 
(though no sign of the young osprey that did a fly-over Saturday), a 
kingbird, Tennessee warbler, redstarts, Swainson's thrushes, loons, 
bluebird, and probable ovenbird. (We heard plenty of common 
yellow-throats and yellow-throated vireos, among others, but didn't seek 
them out--after all, we had to get SOME honest-to-goodness exercise 
walking done.)

Then, there were those lovely cerulean songsters: once again heard along 
the ski trail on the way to intersection #11, but high in the oaks and 
aspen, so not really seen. Even parking ourselves in camp chairs for 
awhile proved futile. So the quest continues, but at least we should be 
healthier for all the hiking!

Good birding--Linda Whyte