[mou] Ceruleans at Murphy-Hanrehan

[Mark Mulhollam]

As the Cerulean Warbler is "a Neotropical migratory bird of high conservation
concern, … experiencing population declines in parts of its range" (Cornell Lab
of Ornithology), we were pleased to hear good numbers of them in Murphy-Hanrehan
Park Reserve on Saturday morning.  In several hours in the northern part of the
reserve (the 1-2-3 loop and the 12-13-14-15 loop, etc.), we saw or heard at
least eight Ceruleans, even though there was intermittent rain and many birds
were silent (e.g. even Tennessee Warblers, though present, were not singing!)
The Ceruleans were almost all in the canopy and hard to see.

We saw a total of 15 species of warblers in the poor conditions.  It does appear
that migration is largely over (e.g. we didn't see any of the early migrants
like Yellow-rumped, nor any Nashvilles, Black-throated Greens, etc.)

Sunday it was clear but windy, and even harder to find birds.  There were very
few passage migrants left (a few Tennessees, a Canada, a Blackpoll).

Steve Greenfield