This is bird note. It's incredibly challenging to spot a Connecticut

warbler. It's now that the bird is especially rare or its range is especially

narrow. It isn't restricted to rugged remote wildernesses. This relatively big

slow-moving warbler just keeps a low profile, whether it's nesting in the

boreal forests, wintering in the forests of South America, or migrating between

the two. The best way to track down a Connecticut warbler is by listening for

its loud and distinctive song.

But even singing birds on the breeding grounds can be tricky to spot.

Observers in the north woods of Minnesota regularly find themselves

swatting blackflies for an hour or more before seeing so much as a brief

glimpse of this bird as it struts across the forest floor. When it does

perch deep in a small spruce or tamarack to sing, the Connecticut warbler

carefully conceals itself before making a peep, and even the call itself

makes it hard to pinpoint the bird. It often sounds like the bird is calling

from low in a tree when it's actually perched high in the crown. It takes more

than a little luck for intrepid birders to train their binoculars on this

songbird.

For bird note, I'm Michael Stein. Find us at birdnote.org