Saturday, September 4, 2010

And Some Warblers..............


Well I wish I had a photo of a Black-throated Blue Warbler, or even better a Worm-eating, sitting in the middle of these berries but I don't. As I've mentioned in my other blog warblers don't sit still for long. Photos are difficult and sketches almost impossible.

In any case a 3 hour walk at the Wissahickon yesterday found many Devil's Walkingsticks, all in varying degrees of fruiting. Some were just developing, some ripe as could be, some past their prime and others seemingly dead, the entire fruit head falling completely down. If I have time I may try to more properly document their lifecyle as I view it this year.

Robins were the most plentiful visitor but I also saw my first male Black-throated Blue warbler feeding on them. I believe I also saw a Worm-eating warbler. I only saw this bird for one brief second, then it was gone. I'm pretty sure of my ID but can't be positive. And I can't say for sure he was eating the berries. So this one goes down as a maybe, especially as it's the first Worm-eating I've ever seen in Philadelphia.

4 comments:

  1. My Devil's Walking Stick (in Toronto) has Cedar Waxwings eating the berries - along with the usual Robins.
    Mon., 6 Sept.'10

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks mteisen. I'll be happy to add this information to the spreadsheet I'm working on.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's sooo great that you're doing this! Thank you. Where are you? I believe West Coast.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi mteisen. I'm in Pennsylvania, on the East Coast. Just read today that Carpenter's Woods, where I've seen a lot of the birds feeding, is going to start using an herbicide on the Devil's Walkingstick. All sorts of people have argued with them regarding this but the Parks and Recreation Dept. is dead set on doing it.

    ReplyDelete