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Some days you have it, some days you don’t.
I guess that saying goes for seasons, too, because I’m having a lousy spring in ter songbirds/bw-warb5.jpg

ms of finding migrants, especially songbirds. To be forthright, I’m not exactly trying very hard as free time is hard to come by with a five year old and soon-to-be two year old vying for daddy’s attention. Throw in a high-maintenance,stubborn yard and birding time is at a premium.
But I have been out there in short spurts and I’ve certainly spent enough time in the yard to see what may have landed at my home base. Besides, an observant birdwatcher usually stumbles across migrants as they go about their daily lives. Not this year. Not for me anyway.
Other than a rose-breasted grosbeak, a hermit thrush, a few kinglets and an eastern phoebe, the migrants have completely avoided my yard. Not a single warbler species has visited yet, at least not that I’ve been around for. My only experience with a warbler this spring in my yard was hearing a pine warbler’s trill — once.
Oh well, there’s still time.
In my travels I’ve come across a few yellow warblers, an American redstart, and a yellow-rumped warbler. I did see another rose-breasted grosbeak at a local park as I watched Andrew and Will enjoy the playground there. I’ve also been fortunate enough to find both Baltimore and orchard orioles. Other than that, not much more in terms of songbirds.
With the aforementioned information as a background, I set out to reverse my fortune on Saturday morning with a little bird walk with Andrew (the five year old) in tow. I visited a park that has traditionally treated me well during spring migration.
I would say we fared, well, OK. We had a good time walking around the park and taking a little break at the playground. That’s really all that matters in the grand scheme of things, to be sure.
However, we did go there to find birds and we met with limited success. We found five warbler species (black-and-white, yellow, redstart, yellowthroat, and black-throated green), a few Baltimore orioles, a house wren, plenty of robins and catbirds, and a ton of house sparrows and grackles. An osprey circled overhead, too, which excited Andrew. I guess kids like the big birds best.
Considering some birders find upwards of 15 or even 20 warbler species during one trip to a New England warbler hot spot, five species seems a rather humble number. I’m certainly not saying five is anything to brag about, but as I’ve said before, just being outside enjoying nature is what’s really important.
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What have you seen in your backyard lately? Drop me a line at www.birdsofnewengland.com and let me know.

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