Pine Warbler Sighting by Myrna Pearman

On Tuesday November 3, my partner Shelley and I arrived back from a trip to our friend Jim and Bonnie's place. We'd driven out to their beautiful property south of Delburne in hopes of getting photos of a snowshoe hare.  Jim and Bonnie have a few hares on their property, which are now in the process of acquiring their white winter pelage. 

Of course, the hares were out and about till about a half hour before we arrived. We wandered the property for an hour but didn't see any sign of the bunnies. We returned home feeling a little disappointed about the hares, but still happy to have been able to enjoy a morning wandering the woods. 

I was in the process of unloading the vehicle after we arrived home when I caught a glimpse of a small yellow bird on my deck. Although I recognized the bird as a fall warbler, I had no idea what species it was, so I grabbed the camera. Fortunately, the  80-400 lens bunny-hunting lens was still attached. 

The bird was quite skittish, so I approached quickly but cautiously. I was able to snap some pictures of it as it hopped atop then deck tub, then down onto the deck (where it pecked at the sunflower chips), then over to an apple tree before flying away into a nearby spruce grove. The entire encounter lasted less than two minutes. 

I sent the images to bird-expert friends, who came up with the suggestions of Black-throated Green, Blackpoll and Pine Warbler. I then sent the images to Dr. Jocelyn Hudon, Curator of Ornithology at the Royal Alberta Museum. He confirmed that it was Pine Warbler, likely an AHY male.  Dr. Hudon also provided information about past Alberta records for this bird. A rarity indeed! 

So, I still have to get bunny pics, but I am glad that last Tuesday transpired as it did. Luckily, I was at the right place at the right time, with a camera ready to go, when this little cherub graced us, albeit briefly, with his presence. 

Myrna Pearman

 AB rare bird records for Pine Warbler:  Dr Jocelyn Hudon, Curator of Ornithology, Royal Alberta Museum
June 5, 1924 (Castor – Specimen – William Rowan)  ref: Salt, W.R.. 1973. Alberta Vireos and Wood Warblers. Provincial Museum and Archives of Alberta. Publication No. 3. Edmonton, AB. 141 pp.
June- July, 1928 (near Boyle – several pairs – T.E. Randall, D.C. Oberholser)  ref: Salt, W.R.. 1973. Alberta Vireos and Wood Warblers. Provincial Museum and Archives of Alberta. Publication No. 3. Edmonton, AB. 141 pp.
Sept. 29, 1987 (Calgary – written report – Bob Storms, F. Braxier)  ref: Harris, W.C. 1988. Prairie Province Region. American Birds. 42: 92-93 and Hudon, J., Klauke, R., Lein, M.R., Riddell, J. Ritchie, B. and Wershler, R. 2006. Sixth report of the Alberta Bird Record Committee. Nature Alberta. 36 (2): 16-18. [1 imm in University Heights, Calgary on Sept 29/87 (RMW, RWS)]
Dec. 19, 1993 - Feb. 10, 1994 (Calgary – Photo? – Nicolas Totino, Andrew Slater, Mairi Babey, Harold Pinel, Jack Steeves, o. obs)  ref: Sherrington, P. 1994. Alberta Seasonal Bird Report Dec. 1, 1993- Feb. 28, 1994. PICA. 14 (2): 40 and Hudon, J., Klauke, R., Lein, M.R., Riddell, J. Ritchie, B. and Wershler, R. 2006. Sixth report of the Alberta Bird Record Committee. Nature Alberta. 36 (2): 16-18. [1f/imm at Riley Park on Dec 23/93 & Jan 3/94 (RMW) many observers]
Sept. 9, 2003 (Taber – written report – Lloyd Bennett)  ref: Hudon, J., Klauke, R., Lein, M.R., Riddell, J. Ritchie, B. and Wershler, R. 2006. Sixth report of the Alberta Bird Record Committee. Nature Alberta. 36 (2): 16-18.
           Others:

no date (Cypress Hills – Sight record – old record; no information)  ref: Salt, W.R.. 1973. Alberta Vireos and Wood Warblers. Provincial Museum and Archives of Alberta. Publication No. 3. Edmonton, AB. 141 pp.
Aug 28-29 & Sept 8, 1956 (Glenevis – Sight records – George Pegg)  ref: Salt, W.R.. 1973. Alberta Vireos and Wood Warblers. Provincial Museum and Archives of Alberta. Publication No. 3. Edmonton, AB. 141 pp. [Note: from the observer: “Perhaps you should not consider this species from here until more observations are made, as sight records are not thought much of anyway, are they?”].
June 8, 1965 (Leduc – Sight record – H. Burns - fide Ed Jones)  ref: Pinel H.W., W.W. Smith, and C.R. Wershler. 1993. Alberta Birds, 1971-1980, Vol. 2, Passerines, Provincial Museum of Alberta, Natural History Occasional Paper No. 20, Edmonton, AB. 238 pp. [Note: this record was not known to Sadler and Myres (1976) or Salt and Salt (1976) and appears to be second hand to Ed Jones].
1 imm at IBS on Sept 12/86 (RMW)
1 at IBS on July 24/89 (JRR)
Aug. 27, 1995 (Edmonton – Ed Mah-Lim)  ref: Sherrington, P. 1995. Alberta Seasonal Bird Report Aug – Sept., 1995. PICA. 15 (4): 43.
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