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Both Black-capped Chickadees were carrying food.----***----Chestnut-sided Warbler----Discovered while walking along the park foot trail as it continued northward along the creek and up the east-facing slope. Seen at eye level at 7:40 p.m. for about 5 minutes at 20-25 feet with 10x40 binoculars. Mostly clear skies. Sun low over foothills, so good lighting, no glare. Winds calm.----Singing: Heard the typical Chestnut-sided call: "Please, please, pleased to meetcha," which it repeated numerous times during the observation.----From notes taken during and immediately after observation:----1. Adult male, breeding plumage.----2. Cap: lemon yellow----3. Black through eye, extending underneath and slightly past eye----4. Black whisker marks along both sides of face----5. Face otherwise white----6. Underside white except for distinct chestnut streaks extending about half way down both flanks.----7. Upper side generally blackish with black streaking. Some random yellowish streaking also noticed on lower back.----7. Two faintly yellow wing bars----8. When bird briefly stretched its left wing, light yellowish webbing visible.----Behavior: Singing and foraging alongside trail on east-facing slope in c. 10-foot vegetation. Bird stayed generally at eye level. For the first couple of minutes, it was identifiable and mostly visible but was moving in and out of leaves and branches. At one point, it flew onto a dead branch of one of the shrubs and stayed fully in view for about 2 minutes before flying to an adjacent shrub, where it went into the shrubbery before coming out again for another brief view and then flew across the trail into the shrubbery along the creek.----Experience: I am from the South and birded for 20 years or so along the lower Mississippi River between the mid 1970s and 1990s. I saw chestnut-sided warblers frequently most, if not all, spring migrations. I have also found the species on a number of more recent occasions, most recently while birding in the Blue Ridge Mountains, North Carolina in late May 2009.----Bird reported earlier in the afternoon of this same day by an experienced birder. Two other experienced birders also saw the bird shortly before my arrival.

Osprey Pandion haliaetus