[mou] St. Croix State Park - YEWA singing CSWA song

[shawn conrad]

I spent a couple of days working at St. Croix State Park this week and led small bird hikes in and around St. John's Landing on Tuesday and Wednesday morning.  
 
At one point, we found a singing Chestnut-sided Warbler near the river and heard another one immediately adjacent.  The second one proved to actually be a Yellow Warbler singing a perfect Chestnut-sided song.  We watched it sing, and at one point, it sang the Yellow Warbler song once, then went right back to the Chestnut-sided song.  I can't remember ever noting this before and I wonder how these two birds can be such close neighbors...and whether the Yellow Warbler successfully attracted a mate--we never saw a female.  I didn't know warblers would sing the 'wrong' song; and sing it well.  
 
Also of note at St. John's Landing:
 
- Scarlet Tanager pair feeding a chick on a relatively low nest (a highlight for ANY bird hike!)
- Purple Martin pair in the nest box in the open field (I've never seen one at St. Croix...in fact, they're not even on the park's checklist)
- Blue-gray Gnatcatcher near the river (listed as Occasional in the park)    
- lots of Eastern Towhees (fun bird this far north!) 
- Northern Parulas and Mourning Warblers frequently heardShawn Conradhttp://users.2z.net/itasca_chippewa_birding/ 
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