Scotia Barrens – September is here, and so are the warblers!

This morning Anna and I went over to Scotia Barrens to search for migrants. We started off the morning at Scotia Pond, where we met up with Tim Schreckengost. Activity was low, and we only saw a Tennessee Warbler and a Chestnut-sided Warbler. The highlight was when Tim spotted an Olive-sided Flycatcher perched on a distant snag. We were able to get great looks at the flycatcher through Tim’s scope. This was a lifer Centre County bird for all three of us. I sent out a text alert and soon Nate Fronk and Drew Weber arrived. The flycatcher was also a new county bird for Nate.

Olive-sided Flycatcher - the bird was very far away, so please excuse the terrible photo quality; note the white tuft near the bird's rump

Everyone else had to leave, except for Anna and I, so we decided to go search for warblers over by the guard station. As soon as we parked, a large feeding flock of warblers was present and very active. We tried as best we could to sort through the flock, picking out new species; of the roughly 8 species in the flock, highlights were a Blue-winged Warbler and a Canada Warbler. Once the flock dissipated, Anna and I walked down the road. Soon we ran into another group of warblers, this flock offered us great looks at of Blackburnian Warblers, Cape May Warblers, and was loaded with Chestnut-sided’s. That flock soon moved on, but it wasn’t long till we found another group. This particular group was very photogenic, and Anna sat and tried to snap photos while I sorted through them trying to ID as many as possible as they foraging through the trees, and chased each other. Below are a few of Anna’s photos.

Chestnut-sided Warbler - first fall female (Photo by Anna Fasoli)

Black-and-white Warbler - first fall male (Photo by Anna Fasoli)

Chestnut-sided Warbler - first fall male (Photo by Anna Fasoli)

Canada Warbler - first fall female? (Photo by Anna Fasoli)

Canada Warbler - first fall female? (Photo by Anna Fasoli)

Magnolia Warbler - first fall male/adult female (Photo by Anna Fasoli)

American Redstart - first fall male (Photo by Anna Fasoli)

Hooded Warbler - adult male (Photo by Anna Fasoli)

Pine Warbler??? (Photo by Anna Fasoli)

We ended the morning with 15 warbler species! To see the complete checklist for Scotia Barrens, use this link. To see the complete checklist for Scotia Pond, use this link.