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Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea)

November 30th found me back at Turners Hall Woods (THW), this time with the experts, Dr. John Webster, Ed Massiah and Grete Pasch in tow.  Our main goal was to see and identify the bird Jason and I saw on our first trip and for Grete and John to get their first look at a Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea).  The conditions were very wet with the threat of rain ever present.  I came prepared this time with a camera, a neat little point and shoot with a 24x zoom from a maker beginning with N and ending with N.

We got started at around 9am and as we entered the Woods there was an airy silence.  We got to the location where I saw the unidentified bird.  We pished, tried various recorded calls, including on of an Owl but the bird did not show.  We then made our way to the location where the Prothonotary was seen but that too was a no show.  We continued onward deeper into the woods, making periodic stops to search the canopy and undergrowth.  Ed showed us the areas where the Kentucky Warbler (Geothlypis formosa), Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapilla) and Worm-eating Warbler (Helmitheros vermivorum) were recorded in previous visits in years gone by.  We eventually came to our arranged turn around point, a brook that flows across the foot path which we call Turners Hall River, on the island any flow of water is called a river.  Here Grete saw a bird she described as Yellow with a white under tail, sadly no one else saw it so a positive identification could not be made.  We started heading back at a quicker pace still making periodic checks.  I am not sure if the others felt as dejected as I was on not finding anything if so there were not showing it.  As I approached the area where I saw the Prothonotary Warbler, it was suddenly there, sitting in a shrub almost at eyelevel. It was a most beautiful bird, a bright yellow head, with a faint reddish tint on the throat, a contrasting white rear end and large black eyes.  I was able to get a less than adequate image as the bird was feeding on a large caterpillar.  We spent a few minutes getting multiple looks at the bird before moving on to find the main bird we came to see.  We pished, played recordings but still were unable to entice this mystery bird to put in an appearance.  At the end of the trip into THW the checklist read: time spent 172 minutes; 1.20 miles travelled and 10 bird species recorded.  I am sure this will not be our last trip into THW for the year.  Let us hope that we can resolve the identity of that mystery bird.

Enjoy your birding!!