Judging from my own experience this morning and several posts on birding community websites, last night was a good night for migration with many of the long-awaited warblers and other songbirds arriving this morning. I had 43 species on my eBird list, including a few warblers, rose-breasted grosbeak, Louisiana waterthrush, Baltimore oriole, and American woodcock.
Here are a few shots from the day.
I saw a yellow-rumped warbler, a few pine warblers and several palm warblers on my last bird walk. That can only mean one thing: time for my annual spring warbler column.
The aforementioned warblers are the earliest to arrive in New England in the spring. The rest will follow shortly.
But first, what is a warbler? A warbler is a small Neotropical songbird. Many are colorful but not all of them. Yellow is a common color among warblers, but white, black, orange, brown and tan are also found frequently on warblers. While some spend their winters in the southern part of the U.S., most migrate farther to Central or South America, or the islands south of the U.S. A few stragglers may be spotted in New England during the winter, but it’s not common.
Warblers breed throughout the U.S., mostly in the northern states and into Canada. By late September and into October, warblers do their southward migration. In April and May, they pass through the area again — this time in their fresh spring plumage.
Many warblers will remain in New England to raise families, and others will head farther north. Yellow warblers and common yellowthroats, for me anyway, are the species most commonly seen during the summer raising their families. I’ve also found the breeding spots of American redstart, ovenbird, pine warbler and a few other species.
Warblers are best known in New England for their spring migration. In their best breeding plumage, dozens of species of warblers pass through New England in April and May with the peak being the first two weeks in May. This also coincides with the return of other colorful songbirds such as rose-breasted grosbeak, scarlet tanager, indigo bunting and Baltimore oriole.
Watching warblers can be incredibly rewarding and frustrating at the same time. With a few exceptions, warblers do not visit birdfeeders, meaning they must be found “in the wild.” Sometimes they are easy to find, but usually they are flitting among the leaves and hard to pinpoint. The typical size of a warbler is about five inches, so it’s not like trying to find a blue jay or robin.
Their songs are usually sung softly, so it takes a good ear to find them that way too. Also, there are dozens of warbler species and learning their songs, while infinitely valuable when in the field, is not the easiest task. Try the Merlin app to help identify warblers by song. Remember, though, while the app is extremely helpful and accurate, it is not 100 percent accurate. It’s best to “get eyes” on the birds in addition to having Merlin ID it by sound.
Some of the most common species to look for include the yellow warbler, yellow-rumped warbler, American redstart, common yellowthroat, northern parula, chestnut-sided warbler, blue-winged warbler, black-and-white warbler, black-throated green warbler, black-throated blue warbler and magnolia warbler. Ovenbirds, whose loud “teacher, teacher, teacher” song if often heard in the New England woods in the spring, are also warblers.
As I mentioned, there are dozens of other warbler species that pass through or breed in New England. A good field guide, whether an app on a smartphone or an old-fashioned paper book, is a must for identifying warblers. I wish I could describe each warbler in detail here, but obviously, that’s not feasible.
The spring warbler migration is a highlight of the year for many birdwatchers, myself included. There will be a dizzying assortment of birds to find in the coming weeks. Let me know your highlights.
Well, it’s April and that means we are awaiting the arrival of warblers. It also means taking lots of photos of eastern towhees while we wait. Here are a few of this year’s shots. Their large size and awesome coloration belie the fact that towhees are members of the sparrow family.
The weather icons on my iPhone showed rain starting at 8 a.m. I figured that would give me about an hour of dry weather to look for some early spring migrating birds.
No such luck. The rain started even before sunrise so my hour of dry weather wasn’t going to happen. Instead of rolling over and going back to sleep (a very tempting option) or mindlessly scrolling through social media, I decided to head out into the rain anyway. OK, I did take a few minutes to do Wordle quickly before heading out.
The walk started in a light rain, and a lot of birds were out singing. Immediately, I heard robins, cardinals, blue jays, song sparrows and a field sparrow in the distance. Field sparrows have a very distinctive song that sounds like a ping-pong ball bouncing on a table with the time between bounces getting progressively shorter, just like a real ball would do.
As soon as I committed to a trail leading me farther into the woods, the rain picked up. It never turned into a downpour, but it was a good, steady rain. Thankfully, the temperature was a very manageable 55 degrees, so I just got wet instead of wet and cold. I like birdwatching in all types of weather, but a cold rain is probably the worst. Heavy wind is not much fun either, but I would take it over a cold rain.
The walk progressed without any overly thrilling sightings. There were a few eastern phoebes, a handful of northern flickers and a fairly large group of red-winged blackbirds. I looked through the binoculars to see if there were any other blackbird species mixed in with the red-wings, but the dark gray sky, foggy aura and falling rain made it hard to pick out any details on the birds.
On the way back to the parking lot, I did hear and see a few nice early migrants: a lone gray catbird singing and skulking in the brush, and a few male eastern towhees in the bramble. One curious towhee popped up and showed me his handsome white, black, and rusty-red plumage.
Despite the rain, I ventured down to the pond for a little detour to see what might be on or around the water. The winter ducks such as mergansers and ring-necked ducks had all disappeared (they were there last time I visited), but a male wood duck swam across the surprisingly calm water and an unseen kingfisher rattled in the trees somewhere along the pond’s edge.
The rest of the walk back was uneventful until I got within half a football field’s length away from the car. There, I noticed a pileated woodpecker working the top of a dead tree. When I walked a few more steps and changed my angle, I noticed a northern flicker sharing the same tree a few yards farther down the trunk. I’m pretty sure it was the first time I had seen a pileated woodpecker and northern flicker in the same tree.
While there are some obvious disadvantages to birding in the rain, such as poor photography conditions and getting soaked, one of the great advantages is that you are almost guaranteed to have the area to yourself. I did cross paths with one hardy jogger, but that was it in terms of other human beings. Not that this park is usually crowded, but there are typically a decent amount of people enjoying their various hobbies.
It wasn’t a long walk or a particularly successful walk in terms of bird species, but it was refreshing and much more invigorating than lounging in bed all morning. In fact, after the long winter, the warm rain felt quite nice.
Just a few random shots of birds I saw last month. Spring migration is upon us and gaining speed every day. Be sure to be out there to enjoy the show.
The average person most likely would not understand my excitement. Anyone who has more than a casual appreciation of nature, including everyone who is reading this I’m sure, will get where I’m coming from.
From an outsider’s perspective, a winter wren is not much to get excited about. It’s a small brown bird – even smaller and more nondescript than a sparrow. Big deal.
Well, winter wrens are a pretty big deal, to me anyway. That’s why I went out of my way to try to photograph one the other day. I ventured off the trail, tromped through brush that was probably tick-infested and patiently waited for this little brown bird to take a perch and start singing.
Winter wrens, like so many other birds, are not easy to photograph. They are shy and don’t like to sit still. I’ve been unsuccessful in many attempts to photograph these birds. This time my patience paid off. The photos I got will never end up in National Geographic, but for me, I’m happy with what I got.
Winter wrens are northern birds. They breed in the northern New England forests and well into Canada. In winter, they migrate as far as northern Florida.
A major part of what makes them so special is that they are not seen as often as the other wrens. House wrens are fairly common throughout the spring, summer and fall, and Carolina wrens are now a solid year-round resident throughout much of New England. Carolina wrens and house wrens are fairly loud and conspicuous, particularly Carolina wrens, which have a booming voice that belies their small stature. Winter wrens, on the other hand, usually stay hidden in the brush or understory and do not like to be seen as much as their cousins.
Winter wrens do have interesting vocalizations that are fun to listen to when you are lucky enough to find one. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology describes the winter wren’s song as “A cascading, bubbly song that lasts about 5-10 seconds. Each song is made up of dozens of bell-like notes that they combine and change up from time to time.”
Winter wrens are usually found on or near the ground. Fallen logs and rock walls are where I usually find them. When spotted, they are good at doing a disappearing act. I’ve watched them hop all over a fallen log looking for food and, whenever I take one step closer, they are gone without a trace. I don’t see or hear them fly off, but they are nowhere to be found.
Earlier, I described them as nondescript little brown birds. Well, that is true for the most part, but a closer look reveals interesting barring patterns on their wings, belly and tail – similar to the other wrens. The winter wren is the smallest of the wrens found in New England, being about an inch smaller than a house wren. The thin, short tail is perhaps its most distinguishing feature.
It was a fun day finding and photographing the winter wren. To some, I may have looked silly tromping through the woods to photograph a tiny brown bird. To others, my fascination is completely understandable. The latter are my kind of people.
It may not be the most technically sound bird photo (none of mine are really), but I kind of like the composition. Song sparrow.
Beautiful sights in nature can be long-lasting or fleeting. Sometimes a split second is all it takes to leave an impression.
A beautiful view from a mountaintop is always there. You could hike to the top of Mount Monadnock or Mount Washington and enjoy the panoramic splendor today, tomorrow or next month. The view will always be there. Sure, it will change with the seasons and weather, but the mountain isn’t going anywhere. You could plan months or even years ahead and count on seeing the beautiful view.
An awe-inspiring sunrise or sunset is more fleeting. First of all, there is no guarantee a gorgeous sunrise or sunset will happen at all. But when you do happen to catch one, the view lasts for 20 or 30 minutes. You could grab a seat and watch the show until it is either dark or light, depending on whether it’s a sunrise or sunset.
With birdwatching, most memorable sights are fleeting, and unless you are visiting a zoo or nature center, there are no guarantees. There are some almost certainties, such as a hawk watch location in the fall or a bald eagle watching spot in the winter, but those sightings are mostly fleeting. During a hawk watch, the bird is spotted as it approaches, observed as it flies overhead and then disappears into the distant sky. Eagle watches can offer a longer view as the large birds rest in trees near the water, but they can take off at any time.
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Crows are exceedingly smart, timberdoodles are back and cardinals just may be nesting already. Those are some of the interesting email topics I have received recently.
Don from Laconia wrote to say he has observed some interesting behavior from crows that hang around his yard. When the crows find a piece of food that is too big or hard, they carry the food to a nearby puddle and dip the food into the water to soften it and make it more manageable.
It has long been known that crows and other corvids, such as ravens and blue jays, have a high degree of intelligence. There is a video on YouTube with close to 10 million views that shows an experiment with a crow figuring out how to access food from tubes using water displacement. The pieces of food are floating on water in a tube just out of reach of the crow’s beak. In a series of tests, the crow has to figure out how to raise the level of water enough to reach the food. The crow eventually aces all of the tests and gets to the food each time.
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It won’t be long until white-throated sparrows become more scarce as they head north and become less conspicuous for the breeding season. Until then, there are still photo opportunities like this …
Birds of New England.com 