Bad Birdwatching

I am a bad birdwatcher - not in the sense of Simon Barnes new book. I'm just bad in the ordinary sense. I can generally see a bird if the species is abundant or common but really good birds almost always elude me. Yesterday, in Central Park, however, I was fortunate to see five warbler species including hooded, worm eating, canada, yellow and redstart. Of course, just to illustrate the above point, I thought that the female hooded was a Wilson's warbler but two excellent birders helpfully told me it was a female hooded. The key field mark was white on the outer edge of the bird's tail. The bird also has the habit of spreading its tail. Now you know!

Audubon repeated a story he had heard from Bachman about a pair of hooded warblers. "A sharp-shinned Hawk suddenly pounced upon them, seized the female, and flew off with her. The male, to my surprise, followed close after the Hawk, flying within a few inches of him, and darting at him in all directions, as if fully determined to make him drop his prey. The pursuit continued thus until the birds were quite out of my sight!."