Date:         Thu, 13 May 2010 08:09:37 -0700
Reply-To:     Joel McNeal <j.mcneal@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Georgia Birders Online <GABO-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Joel McNeal <j.mcneal@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Possible BELL'S VIREO at State Botanical Garden, Athens (13May10)
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And I do stress *possible* here.  The measure of proof necessary on a bird this unlikely here is high, and the level of evidence and confidence I have is low.  I feel sick about this bird right now.  I even hesitated to post on it because even if it was a Bell's Vireo, it appeared to completely leave the area.  In any case, here are the details:

About 8 AM, Krista Gridley and I were walking along the river on the White Trail headed upstream past the privet eradication area but before the spur trail that leads to the maintenance area/greenhouses.  I heard an unusual song that made me stop in my tracks.  Unfortunately, the bird seemed muffled and only sang a total of 3 times (the last time very abbreviated), and only once sang without other louder species in the near vicinity partially drowning it out.  After the first, partially drowned-out, song, I immediately thought "Bell's Vireo" to myself but also considered Warbling Vireo judging from the rapid but burry quality.

After the second song, I tried every way I could to convince myself the bird was just an extremely odd Canada Warbler (I could *almost* transcribe the song as 'chip-chuppity-swee-ditchity,' but again with a rough & muffled quality as if sung by a vireo...).  The next song was abbreviated and unsatisfying, but again confirmed the tone as not being Canada-Warbleresque in the least (the rhythm and angry quality were there, but the tone was decidedly 'interesting vireo').

I do have past experience with Bell's Vireo in NW Ohio and central Texas, but given that I haven't heard a Bell's Vireo in person in over 7 years, and given the unlikelihood of the bird and the confounding other noise in the vicinity, I was far from convinced by the song.  The bird had not made a noise for quite a while, so I decided to pish a bit in the hopes it would come out.  It immediately flew into the dense privet thicket within a few short feet of us, but still not visible.  What I could see when it flew in was that it was a very small bird (seemingly at least as small as a White-eyed Vireo) without any obvious markings that stood out in a 1/10 second in-flight view.  It was light olivish-brownish on top and absolutely was not a Canada Warbler- that much is certain.

More pishing brought more frustration, as rustling privet branches less than 4 ft away showed the bird was painfully close.  The bird unfortunately then darted across the river and didn't stop or even slow down near the edge as far as I could see.  The area to which it flew is swampy and completely inaccessible for a considerable distance from any roads, public property, or neighborhoods (last seen flying across the Middle Oconee River at approximately 33.90018,-83.391236).

In the brief view as it flew across the river, I again got the impression of a tiny bird approximately White-eyed Vireo length, very drab on the back (which was about all I could see from our angle), but seemingly longer-tailed than a White-eyed Vireo.  Given how many White-eyed Vireos I've seen flying across the river out there, I feel *pretty* good about these proportions, but we're still talking about extremely brief views of a bird in rapid flight.

We waited for quite a while with no further sign of the bird.  Hoping that it might come back if left alone, I finished my normal loop, then returned.  Again, no further sign of the bird or further singing even though I spent about 20-30 minutes waiting and hoping.  I'll check again this evening and tomorrow, of course.  I think it was a Bell's Vireo.  I'm not at all positive it was a Bell's Vireo.  If it were submitted to eBird with this paltry evidence (3 songs, mostly obscured by other louder birds, plus 2 brief, rapid, in-flight looks), I wouldn't dream of letting it through.  So take all that for what it's worth.

Otherwise, the only remaining migrants I had this morning were a Swainson's Thrush and a couple Blackpoll Warblers.  Finding a weird bird was barely on my radar by the time I reached the privet eradication area.  Sorry for yet another long email, and sorry I couldn't see or hear this bird more clearly to be sure.

Joel McNeal
Winterville, GA

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