After many, many attempts to relocate at least one of the Pine Warblers that had been at Winsor Dam as recently as December 28th I finally had some great luck today. I honestly did not expect to find any given that it was cold and a little breezy but I'm glad I made a return trip to the dam late in the morning after getting home from work and taking Wilson for a walk. I was there about twenty minutes when I had a mixed flock moving through and I started looking through every bird I could see and I came across first one, then two and then at least three Pine Warblers! Getting even one Pine Warbler in January around here is very unusual and having at least three together is unprecedented. They mainly appeared to be feeding on the abundant Eastern White Pine cone crop as well as some other cones. Until recently (meaning my very late December sightings and today) the Pine Warblers at Winsor Dam have exclusively been in a mixed flock that contained at least a few Eastern Bluebirds but they now seem to be travelling with a mixed flock that contains Black capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmouse, Dark eyed Junco and both nuthatches (as well as a few others). The Pine Warblers become the second warbler species I have found in the county so far for 2024. The forecast looks to take a dark turn into true winter with perhaps a foot of snow arriving tomorrow night into Sunday. With the abundance of cones hopefully the Pine Warblers will still find plenty to eat.
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