Persistence Pays Off!

I'm glad I talked myself out of bed this morning considering my first class didn't start until noon. And I only had to hit the snooze button once. Then it was off to my new favorite birding spot around the Cities; the Old Cedar Ave Bridge trails. I've been getting out every spare minute I have desperately trying to find a Philadelphia Vireo. It seems everyone in the area has been seeing them except me. They won't be around too much longer, either.

I walked the trails, enjoying the few remaining fall warblers that are trickling through. However, when it came time to head back I had only seen Blue-headed and Red-eyed Vireos. On the way back, I ran into a good group of chickadees with a few scattered migrants flitting in the tree tops. I worked the flock and got a brief view of a Philadelphia Vireo! Too fast for pictures. I waited and waited with no additional sightings. Finally, I heard it call and tracked it down. I overexposed the picture, almost beyond recognition... almost.

Philadelphia Vireo

Some bright eastern Warbling Vireos can look similar to Philadelphia Vireos, but this bird shows a bright yellow throat (a great field mark for Philadelphia), a dark contrasting hood, and, possibly most importantly, dark lores.

I was extremely happy to see and photograph one of these before they are all gone. Check back soon, I'll be birding hard this weekend!