Warbler Agresssion

So I was back out at the edge of the far field, where I saw the Brewster's warbler, and many others besides, when I heard the song of the golden-winged warbler again. Then I heard the mixed song I'd heard the Brewster's singing. And of course, now that I've seen a Brewster's, I really want to see any bird singing this kind of song, not least because I can count the Brewster's as a "probable" breeder for purposes of the Breeding Atlas if I see it singing again in the same place a week or more after the first time. So, I listened and watched, climbed my viewing rock at the edge of the field, behind the willow copse (I have a line on a new camera--so I hope to be illustrating the action again soon), and watched and listened some more. I finally located the bird, but couldn't get a fix on it. I was looking through the binoculars, when all of a sudden, it flew by like a bullet within inches of my head.

Last fall I was in just this same spot, looking and listening, trying to identify the migrant warblers feeding in the shrubbery, and "pishing" to get one to show itself. A golden-winged flew at me in just this same way. I never did get a really good look at this current divebomber, but the glimpse I got after I found it again in the willows suggested golden-winged (I could see the a dark patch on the throat) not the Brewster's of earlier this month.

Any little bird might fly at your head once by accident, on its way somewhere perhaps, a moment of inattention, mistaking a person for some other large oblong shape. But twice? Same species? Same habitat? All I can say is, watch out for the pretty little golden-winged warbler.