Magee Worm-eating Warbler 25-Apr-2003 Observed at Magee: Field Sparrow, Yellow Warbler, 30+ Yellow Rumps, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, White-throated Sparrow, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Louisiana Waterthrush, Blue-winged Teal, Hermit Thrush, Winter Wren, White-eyed Vireo, Palm Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, and Purple Martin.

The LA Waterthrush sang briefly, but was singing more when I passed it again later. I also saw the bird along the water's edge, and I could see the same big tail movement like in the bird at Metzger. This tail bobbing difference between the waterthrushes has always been a key field mark for me, even though it's only mentioned in detail in two books that I've seen: Peterson's Warblers, Warblers of Ontario. Some field guides don't even mention that the waterthrushes even bob their tails. If a field guide does mention the tail bobbing, it does not go into detail about the noticable differences between the two birds. The fields guides focus on the differences in the eye stripes and the color of the flanks and legs. These field marks are fine when the bird is in the hand when banding, but are tough to see when the bird is 30 feet away, walking in water, behind limbs, and in lowlight. One decent field mark to go by, if it can be seen, is the throat. LA's have a clean or white throat, while Northerns have stripes or spots on their throats. But this throat field mark is not a 100% accurate. I did see the pink legs on both LA's on this day, but that leg color field mark is also not 100% accurate. Song and tail bobbing are the two best field id marks for the birder. One other item about the LA Waterthrush. While walking along the boardwalk that was near water, we flushed an LA Waterthrush. When it flew it let out a loud, sharp call note. The Kauffamn guide mentions this. I didn't know what bird it was we flushed, but Vic indentified as an LA Waterthrush.

The best warbler of the day and a life-bird for me, was the Worm-eating Warbler. It was located between markers 28 and 32 on the boardwalk. I saw it multiple times on
Friday. I probably watched him for at least 45 minutes in total. I showed it to Vic, and he videotaped it. I took D. out in the evening, so she could see it. Every time I wanted to relocate the bird, I would slowly walk along the boardwalk and listen for the sound of someone crunching down hard on a potato chip.

The Worm-eater has an interesting foraging technique, and he was fun to watch. He crunched, pinched, and pried open old, shriveled up leaves that were still attached to downed limbs, searching for bugs and worms. He also would poke under the loose bark on small dead limbs. Sometimes he would rip the bark off the limb. I also saw the Worm-eater rip off a leave, step on it with one foot, and pinch the leaf with his bill, then throw the leaf away. The Worm-eater was right next to the boardwalk and was about one to three feet off the ground. Close-focus was required at times. The bird was not afraid of people. The Worm-eater had a long bill, pink legs, olive green back, buffy throat.

In the evening, I took D out to see the Worm-eater, which was easily located. We also flushed a Common Snipe, got nice looks at Green Heron, and watched a Brown Thrasher forage through the leaf litter.