Chipper Phillips, eyes fixed on a tree, camera on the ready, squinted by the side of a road of a quiet neighborhood one sunny Saturday in South Denver.
Phillips was easy to spot with his green winter shirt and a pair of binoculars dangling from his neck.
He's out to catch a glimpse of the elusive Pine Warbler, a song bird from the warbler family that breeds in eastern North America and rarely ventures in Colorado.
Chipper Phillips, a bird watcher, said the Pine Warbler, which breeds in the pine forests of eastern North America and rarely ventures in Colorado, has been spotted in South Denver. (Video: Luige Del Puerto/The Gazette)
The bird — recognizable by its extensive yellow throat and white wingbars — has been spotted in the neighborhood, drawing the attention of about a dozen of Colorado's bird watchers who have fanned out in the area.
"I haven't had the opportunity to see the Pine Warbler in the state of Colorado yet," Chipper told Colorado Politics. "It's a pretty rare bird any time of year in Colorado – only a few hundred records."
"It's been seen right around this house," he said.
Chipper said the Pine Warbler doesn't breed in Colorado, and a few migrate all over the continent in the winter, many of them ending up in the pine forests of the Gulf Coast.
"A few will spread out and end up in strange places, like neighborhoods in Denver," he said. "The frequency (of seeing them here) is incredibly rare."
As of Saturday morning, Chipper said, eight sightings of the Pine Warbler had been accepted in Denver County.
When asked if he hopes to get the ninth record, he demurred a bit.
"No, no. [But] there's certainly a chance," he said. "Someone saw it like maybe a couple of houses down about 10 o'clock this morning."
