Can you identify this “urban” bird? It was blasting its song over the main site for the New York State “Special Concern” Eastern Spiny Softshell Turtles in downtown Jamestown this past Sunday! It is not obscured and it is close but this is a difficult angle.
Yep, that is actually a Tennessee Warbler (Oreothlypis peregrina)!
There was a surprising bunch of migrants at the site and I noted the following:
Eastern Kingbird 1
Warbling Vireo 2
Red-eyed Vireo 1
Swainson’s Thrush 1
Gray Catbird 2
Tennessee Warbler 3
Nashville Warbler 4
Common Yellowthroat 1
Cape May Warbler 1
Northern Parula 2
Yellow Warbler 6
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2
That a solid list for a warm afternoon in the middle of a fully developed urban locality with a handful of trees surrounding the Chadakoin River, the main attraction. Can you imagine how wonderful it would be to add more vegetation to these downtown areas while making the river and its banks more hospitable to the Spiny Softshell Turtles? We are and will be working on all of these efforts and the first step is to continue collecting data like this. I hope there will be more wonderful avian surprises to come in the city.
Scott Kruitbosch
Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
