Just above there, I checked the area around the banding station and found a Northern House Wren and a Wilson's Warbler. I got some badly backlit photos of the Wilson's before it dropped back into the brush.
Soon after, Adam Miller walked up and we found a Tennessee Warbler among 3 Red-eyed Vireos, a Northern Parula, and a couple Black-throated Green Warblers.
We walked past the hawkwatch and checked there for migrants. I saw an Ovenbird and then Adam spotted a Connecticut Warbler! He got me on it and I saw the plump warbler with its distinct bold eye ring on a brownish hooded head for about a second before it took off to the right. Connecticuts are notorious for giving you one quick look and then dropping out of sight, never to be seen again. I walked a little farther and surpisingly refound it about six feet up in a tree where I managed to get a few photos of it before it flew off to the left and disappeared for good.
The Connecticut Warbler has always been a troublesome bird for me. Despite lots of searching, I have rarely come across one. I thanked Adam for spotting this one. This was the first one I had seen in well over a decade, so I was on cloud nine, espcially when I was able to get a photo of it, too!
A little farther along, we found more Black-throated Green Warblers, a Black-throated Blue Warbler, a Northern Parula, and more Red-eyed Vireos.
We walked back to the hawkwatch where Broad-winged Hawks were beginning to lift off. We got real nice, close looks at them as they circled nearby.
Sharp-shinned Hawks were doing the same thing.
By noon, a few Ospreys and Bald Eagles and a Merlin were also spotted among the hundred-plus Broad-winged Hawks.
Just before 1:00 PM, I started walking back down to the parking lot. I took the Appalachian Trail back down, stopping at several spots to see what might be around, especially since the wind had died down considerably. At an open rocky area, I found Magnolia Warbler, and Blue-headed and Yellow-throated Vireo.
Each time I stopped, I was finding groups of migrants flitting through the trees. About halfway down the trail, I came across a nice group of birds that included Cape May, Black-throated Blue, and another Tennessee Warbler among more Red-eyed Vireos and several more Black-throated Greens.
That's when I noticed a Brown Creeper working the trunks of the nearby trees.
I continued down and stopped again before reaching the pipeline cut. There, I found even more Black-throated Greens and two more Red-eyed Vireos, plus a Bay-breasted Warbler that wouldn't sit still long enough for a good photo, so I ended up with these crappy ones.
I was surprised to find another Brown Creeper there, too. This one had a less clean supercilium, confirming it to be a second bird.
I finally made it to the parking lot, over two hours from when I left the hawkwatch. I ended up seeing 40 species that included the Connecticut Warbler and the Wilson's Warbler among thirteen species of warblers! Warbler numbers were 4 Northern Parulas, 3 Magnolias, 2 Tennessees, 2 Bay-breasteds, 2 Blackpolls, and one each of Cape May, Blackburnian, and Ovenbird among at least 14 Black-throated Greens, 8 Black-throated Blues, and 6 Black-and-whites. Other notables included 2 Red-breasted Nuthatches, a Yellow-throated and Blue-headed Vireo among 8 Red-eyeds, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, 6 Chimney Swifts, an Eastern Phoebe, 2 Common Ravens, 2 Brown Creepers, and Cedar Waxwing. It definitely ranked as one of the best Fall days I had ever had birding locally.
On the way home, I stopped at the Tatamy Exit retention pond, which continued to hold 2 Pectoral Sandpipers among 8 Least Sandpipers and a dozen Killdeer.
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